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SOLON – The secret to offensive success for Solon this season really isn’t a secret at all.

Seventh-ranked Solon has relied on its patented and punishing ground game during its current seven-game winning streak that has the Spartans one win away from a return to the UNI-Dome.

That doesn’t mean Solon isn’t capable of adding the occasional wrinkle into its offensive game plan predicated largely on its straight forward running game.

In fact its quite the opposite.

Sophomore quarterback Blake Timmons threw for 172 yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Colton Hoffman as Solon (7-2) advanced to the Class 2A quarterfinals with a 37-21 win over Independence (6-2) on Friday at chilly Spartan Stadium.

“It’s no secret that we are a run first team but Blake and I we stay after practice to work on our passing,” Hoffman said. “We know that is something we can go to whenever we need it.”

Solon had its usual success running the ball on Friday, racking up 235 yards on the ground led by 121 yards and two touchdowns from senior tailback Jackson Ryan.

It was a big play in the passing game that helped the Spartans take control of the game before halftime.

Ryan scored the second of his two touchdowns on a 5-yard run with 5:12 left in the first half.

Just two plays the senior picked off a Mitchell Johnson pass at the Independence 49 yard line.

On the first play following the turnover Timmons hit Hoffman with a 49-yard scoring strike that gave Solon a 20-0 lead it took into the locker room at halftime.

“It was a great call by coach,” Timmons said. “That pass really gave us some momentum and energy and it spread them out and opened up a couple of other things so that was really good.”

The 49-yard touchdown pass forced Independence into a dilemma to open the second half. Commit an extra defender to the run or leave another player in coverage?

With the Mustangs alert to the pass Solon opened the second half with a punishing 12-play, 62-yard touchdown drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock and ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Timmons.

“We know that teams really have to pick one or the other,” Hoffman said. “They either stack the box or put more guys out in coverage and depending what they do we can thrown the ball or run the ball and be effective.”

For the second consecutive playoff game Solon got off to a quick start.

The Spartans scored on the game’s opening drive on a 14-yard touchdown run by Ryan after Independence was flagged for pass interference on fourth down.

“Our mentality the whole year has been to come out and send a message right away and get our momentum quick,” Timmons said. “We’ve always wanted to run the ball so that’s how we came out and started.”

Solon then scored two touchdowns in less than 30 seconds on Ryan’s second TD run and the long pass to Hoffman set up by the Ryan interception.

“That was big in terms of getting them to loosen up a little bit but also just momentum wise too,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “That was exactly what we wanted.”

While Solon got its offense rolling on the ground and through the air the Mustangs couldn’t do much of anything against the Spartan defense in the first half.

Independence running back Marcus Beatty entered ranked third in 2A in rushing, averaging 205 yards per game, but had just 23 yards in the first half and finished with 83 on 17 carries.

“We had a really great week of practice this week,” Hoffman said. “We put the work in this week and it showed tonight.”

Timmons and Hoffman connected on a 40-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter on a run-pass option play.

The sophomore quarterback completed 9-of-12 passes for 172 yards and the two touchdowns and also rushed for 69 yards and a score as Solon rolled up 407 yards of total offense.

“Teams are obviously going to try to take away our run game and we know that,” Stanton said. “So being able to do some other things pass game wise and just kind of spreading people out and getting the ball other people because we have playmakers has helped us getting us off to those good starts.”

Hoffman finished with four receptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think we’ve really sharpened it up in the pass game,” Timmons said. “That is one thing that we rep and we know our mentality is to run the ball but we aren’t afraid to pass it and we think we can be effective in that.”

Last year’s 3A runner-up Solon will be seeking a second consecutive trip to the UNI-Dome when it travels to fifth-ranked Waukon (7-1) for a Class 2A quarterfinal next Friday at 7 p.m.

“We are definitely making huge strides but the biggest thing to improve on is just the penalties,” Hoffman said. “We get that stuff cleaned up and we are hard football team to beat.”

SOL                IND

First downs                 21                    11

Rushes-yards              50-235             20-76

Comp-Att-Int              9-12-0             8-19-1

Passing yards              172                  129

Total yards                  407                  205

Punts-avg                    5-32.6              3-47

Fumbles-lost               1-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards           13-125             3-24

Solon                             6  14  7  10  –  37

Independence            0   0   7  14  –  21

SOL – Jackson Ryan 14 run (Kick blocked)

SOL – Ryan 5 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Colton Hoffman 49 pass from Blake Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Timmons 5 run (Lumpkin kick)

IND – Jake Sidles 57 pass from Mitchell Johnson (Sawyer Wendling kick)

SOL – Lumpkin 21 field goal

IND – Marcus Beatty 25 pass from Johnson (Run failed)

SOL – Hoffman 40 pass from Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

IND – Beatty 33 run (Keegan Schmitt pass from Johnson)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Solon: Jackson Ryan 23-121, Blake Timmons 12-69, Carson Miller 5-29, Hayden Taylor 6-19, Sean Stahle 2-(-1), Colton Hoffman 1-(-2). Independence: Marcus Beatty 17-83, Mitchell 3-(-7).

PASSING – Solon: Blake Timmons 9-12-0 172. Independence: Mitchell Johnson 8-19-1 129.

RECEIVING – Solon: Colton Hoffman 4-122, Logan Sieverding 2-29, Carson Miller 1-8, Jackson Ryan 1-7, Jacob Timmons 1-6. Independence: Jake Sidles 1-57, Marcus Beatty 2-34, Keegan Schmitt 3-24, Brady McDonald 2-14

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