Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – A dominant defense effort helped Solon take care of business on Friday night against Vinton-Shellsburg.

Now comes the showdown.

Solon (3-2) didn’t allow an offensive touchdown for the third straight game while stretching its winning streak to three with a 28-6 win over Vinton-Shellsburg (1-4, 0-3) in a Class 2A, District 6 contest at Spartan Stadium.

The win moved Solon to 3-0 in District 6 play and sets up a rivalry showdown for the district lead next Friday when 2A sixth-ranked Mount Vernon (5-0, 3-0) comes to town.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of staying focused,” first-year Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “Everyone could see in their peripherals that we had Mount Vernon next week and they are 5-0 so it adds a little flavor to the rivalry when they are undefeated and we are coming in on a three-game win streak.”

In order to set up the high-stakes district showdown with Mount Vernon the Spartans first had to handle Vinton-Shellsburg.

Solon was sharp enough on both sides of the ball to do just that on Friday.

Sophomore quarterback Blake Timmons ran for two scores and passed for two more touchdowns and Solon held Vinton-Shellsburg to just a pair of first-half field goals in its third consecutive district win.

“We have the mindset that we are the best defense in the state and nothing is going to stop us,” Solon senior lineback Lucas TePoel said. “There is nothing in our heads that says that we aren’t.”

Vinton-Shellsburg led 3-0 after one quarter but Solon got is running game rolling while scoring 21 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Timmons capped a 9-play, 65-yard drive that came all on the ground with a 1-yard run with 9:17 left.

Senior tailback Jackson Ryan had the key play of the drive, taking a direct snap and ripping off 33 yards on a third-and-one play.

“We have improved so much from where we were,” Ryan said. “Our offensive line has improved so much from week one and it really shows.”

After the Solon defense forced a 3-and-out on the ensuing Viking possession Timmons scampered 12 yards for a score to put the finishing touches on a five-play, 40-yard march.

Vinton-Shellsburg cut the lead to 14-6 with a field goal on its ensuing possession but the Spartans seized the momentum before the half.

Solon quickly went 55 yards in five plays, taking a 21-6 halftime lead when Timmons found Ryan all alone for a 31-yard touchdown toss.

“That gave us some breathing room but it’s also demoralizing to the opposing team to give up a score like that right before the half,” Stanton said. “They had played a pretty good half of football and for us to go in on a high note was huge for momentum.”

It appeared Timmons was going to be sacked on the third-and-two play but the sophomore signal caller escaped a pair of defenders, rolled to his left and tossed a strike to Ryan who was wide open 20 yards down field.

“I was supposed to be wheeling up the sideline and looking back I just saw a clump of people and I couldn’t see Blake so I thought he got sacked,” Ryan said. “I just saw him pop out and there was no one around me and he threw me a perfect pass.”

That was more than enough for the Solon defense.

The Spartans held Vinton-Shellsburg to just 133 total yards, including just 73 rushing yards on 27 carries.

“We’ve made a lot of improvement but we are still just scratching the surface,” Solon senior linebacker Carson Shive said. “We are getting better and better every single game and that’s what we are striving for. We want to end playing our best at the end of the season.”

Solon rolled up 329 rushing yards on Friday and had four players with more than 90 yards on the ground.

Junior Hayden Taylor had a team-high 130 yards on 16 carries while Timmons had 97 yards on the ground and Ryan ran for 94 yards.

After averaging 147 rushing yards in back-to-back losses to open the season Solon is putting up better than 336 yards per game on the ground during its three-game winning streak.

“Our game plan at the beginning of the year was to run the ball, run the ball and the first couple of games it wasn’t really working,” Ryan said. “The last few games we’ve gotten that working and that’s when we’ve started winning.”

Now comes the game Solon has been waiting for.

Mount Vernon moved to 5-0 with a 36-0 win over Union on Friday. Solon has won 17 straight over the Mustangs including a 35-7 win last season in Mount Vernon.

“This is a game that we picked out early in the season that we saw where we could really prove ourselves,” Shive said. “We know they are a quality opponent and we are going to bring it all.”

                                   SOL                V-S

First downs                 17                    10

Rushes-yards              52-329             27-73

Comp-Att-Int              5-8-0               7-13-0

Passing yards              67                    60

Total yards                  396                  133

Punts-avg                    2-29                 5-37.2

Fumbles-lost               3-0                   2-1

Penalties-yards           10-110             2-7

Solon                              0  21  7   0  –  28

Vinton-Shellsburg          3   3   0   0  –   6

V-S – Jesse Pladsen 41 field goal

SOL – Blake Timmons 1 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Timmons 12 run (Lumpkin kick)

V-S – Pladsen 32 field goal

SOL – Jackson Ryan 31 pass from Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Carson Miller 14 pass from Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Solon: Hayden Taylor 16-130, Blake Timmons 17-97, Jackson Ryan 14-94, Kinnick Pusteoska 1-4, Tino Longo 3-3, Carson Miller 1-1. Vinton-Shellsburg: Brooks Erickson 14-26, Benett Rickels 5-25, Curtis Erickson 5-25, Elijah Kalous 1-2, John Engler 2-(-5).

PASSING – Solon: Blake Timmons 5-8-0 67. Vinton-Shellsburg: Brooks Erickson 7-12-0 60, C.J. Rickels 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – Solon: Carson Miller 2-19, Colton Hoffman 2-17, Jackson Ryan 1-31. Vinton-Shellsburg: Elijah Kalous 3-25, Curtis Erickson 2-9, C.J. Rickels 1-17, Ethan Rollinger 1-9.

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