Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Two seasons ago Solon finished runner-up in Class 3A.

Last year despite breaking in a new coach, quarterback and a large group of first-year starters the Spartans were one win away from a return to the UNI-Dome.

While the goal of a trip to the UNI-Dome remains unchanged the focus for the 2021 Spartans is on starting at the beginning.

“Obviously, the Dome is the main goal but we have to start from the ground up,” Solon senior lineman Cayden Knipper said. “We have to build each other up. We want to win districts, that’s our main goal and then see how far we can go.”

After consecutive losses to open the 2020 season Solon rattled off seven consecutive wins under first-year coach Lucas Stanton before falling to eventual 2A state champion Waukon in the quarterfinals.

Solon was held to a season-low 64 rushing yards and 2.3 yards per play in the 24-8 quarterfinal loss at Waukon that served as a source of motivation for the returning Spartans during the offseason.

“It was definitely an eye-opener and left a little bit of a dirty taste in our mouth,” Knipper said. “We are hoping to get to that level this year and see how far we can go.”

Stanton said the Spartans learned something from the playoff loss to Waukon – namely the speed with which a championship caliber team plays.

Throughout the offseason and fall camp playing at a faster pace has been a point of emphasis for the Spartans.

“That game was kind of an eye opener for a lot of people as far as the speed that they played at,” Stanton said. “That is something that we have been preaching all offseason that we need to play at a faster pace so we have to practice at a faster pace. We’ve changed how we practice a little bit to really be able to impose our will not only physically but speed wise too and playing the game fast.”

Solon appears to have the personnel in place to play at a faster pace starting up front with a pair of athletic senior lineman in Gage Marty and Cayden Knipper.

Knipper (6-3, 245) and Marty (6-1, 240) are two of the more athletically gifted lineman around.

“They are great weight room guys,” Stanton said of Marty and Knipper. “They aren’t your prototypical 280-pound lineman, they are 225, 230 or 240 but they play much bigger than that because of their strength and their athleticism is hard to match, they use super well.”

Junior quarterback Blake Timmons (5-10, 180) is back to run the Solon offense after a strong debut season in which he accounted for 1,717 yards of total offense and 22 touchdowns.

Timmons passed for 1,078 yards and 14 touchdowns with just five interceptions and rushed for 639 yards and eight scores.

“We are just a lot further along I feel like offensively,” Stanton said. “You can see it in our players the confidence they have out here and the coaching staff too. I would saying everything is just running smoother.”

With Timmons and a pair of athletic lineman and senior receivers Logan Sieverding (6-0, 175), Jake Quillin (5-9, 165) and Parker Pentico (6-0, 170) among a group of eight returning starters the goal for Solon is to push the pace offensively.

“Our goal is to play as fast as we can and as quick as we can and get as many plays as we can,” Marty said. “That’s our biggest goal and another one is just communication within the line.”

Quillin is the top returning tackler for the Spartans after making 25 stops from his cornerback spot last season and Pentico returns after picking off a team-high three passes last season.

Those two along with Sieverding will anchor an experienced Spartan secondary while Knipper and Marty and senior Lucas Kampman give Solon a strong nucleus returning along the defensive line.

The question mark on defense is at linebacker where the Spartans must replace its three leading tacklers from a year ago in departed seniors Carson Shive, Colton Hoffman and Lucas TePoel.

“We return Parker Pentico, Jake Quillin, Logan Sieverding played quite a bit and we return some guys up front it’s the linebacker position where we have to have that mentality of next guy in which has always been the case here,” Stanton said. “We aren’t changing anything defensively, it’s still that same Solon defense, still preaching the same things that we’ve always preached.”

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