Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – It would have been difficult to script a better season-opening performance for the Solon football team.

The Spartans welcomed West Liberty to Spartan Stadium Friday night in a fashion that was far from hospitable.

Solon scored touchdowns on its first seven offensive possessions and its defense was equally dominant in a 63-0 rout of the short-handed Comets in a non-district prep football game.

“I was really pleased with our effort, our execution,” second-year Solon Coach Lucas Stanton said. “Just watching our guys go out and compete. You can’t ask for a better start than that. … The most important thing was, we executed pretty well, we played together and that is important for this team. That has been a big point of emphasis. Playing as a team and I was really pleased to see that.”

Solon quarterback Blake Timmons was electric in his lone half of work.

On the Spartans’ second play from scrimmage, Timmons raced 61 yards through the West Liberty defense for the first touchdown of the game.

“Blake is a phenomenal athlete,” Stanton said. “But I think one of the most important things that a lot of people know, but not everyone knows about him, is he is a great kid. He is a good leader. High character guy. He kind of keeps our team together.”

Timmons set up the second Solon score with a twisting, turning 55-yard scamper that seemingly eluded all 11 members of the West Liberty defense – some more than once – before he was finally corralled at the Comets’ three-yard-line.

“I was just trying not to go down,” Timmons said. “I was trying to get in there. Just making a play.”

Three plays later, a Mike Pipolo plunge into the end zone from a yard away gave the Spartans a 14-0 lead less than seven minutes into the contest.

Timmons added first-half touchdown passes of 39 yards to junior tailback Sean Stahle, 30 to junior receiver Oaken Foster and 38 senior receiver Grant Gerdin.

He finished the half with 147 rushing yards (via just four attempts), 137 passing yards and four total touchdowns.

“We want to stretch out the defense a little bit more this year,” Timmons said. “We have so many skill guys that can do so many different things. We want them to decide what they want to guard and just take what they give us.”

Stahle also had a 69-yard rushing touchdown as the Spartans posted more touchdowns (six) than first downs (five) in the first half.

“Just straight green,” Stahle said of his long TD.

He finished with four carries for 86 yards.

Solon senior defensive back Colin Werner closed the dominant 42-0 first half with an interception on the final play of the frame.

The Solon defense allowed just 106 total yards and forced two turnovers.

“We have a great defensive line,” Solon senior linebacker Carson Miller said. “They do an awesome job taking up blocks and allowing me and Brett White and Jacob Timmons to have run-through lanes and make tackles for losses and they themselves make a lot of great plays in the backfield, too.”

With the Solon reserves on the field for the second half, junior quarterback Brayden Ruskey threw a 77-yard TD pass to junior receiver Rhyse Wear, while junior tailback Mac McCarty and junior receiver Quinton Heineman each tallied late scores on the ground.

“That was a great opportunity to get some twos and threes in there,” Stanton said. “We have good numbers, we have good depth but a lot of guys that have not seen a lot of varsity time.”

West Liberty was without standout senior tailback Jahsiah Galvan, who ran for 1,673 yards and 14 touchdowns last season and currently has eight scholarship offers, including Northern Iowa and Nebraska.

He is reportedly serving a two-week suspension.

If Solon wants to nitpick its performance, it can point to penalties.

The Spartans were flagged 11 times for 115 yards.

“We have got to be smarter and not make stupid decisions,” Miller said. “If we can clean those things up, we should be in pretty good shape.”

West Liberty (0-1) hosts Iowa City Regina next week, while Solon continues the non-district portion of its schedule with a road game against rival Mount Vernon next Friday.

“It brings a lot of momentum,” Stahle said. “I think we will go in there and play pretty well.”

                                        WL                   SOL

First Downs                     11                         8

Rushes-yards                   22-28                 27-342

Comp-Att-Int                   11-27-0               6-9-0

Passing yards                    78                        214

Total yards                        106                      556

Punts-avg.                          5-37                    1-19

Fumbles-lost                      2-1                      0-0

Penalties-yards                 4-30                    11-115

West Liberty          0       0     0    0    –   0

Solon                        21    21     14   7    –   63

SOL – Blake Timmons 61 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Mike Pipolo 1 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Sean Stahle 39 pass from Blake Timmons (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Oaken Foster 30 pass from Blake Timmons (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Sean Stahle 69 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Grant Gerdin 38 pass from Blake Timmons (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Rhyse Wear 77 pass from Brayden Ruskey (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Mac McCarty 34 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Quinton Heineman 7 run (Brent Lumpkin kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – West Liberty: Caleb Wulf 3-(-10), Drake Collins 5-(-11), Joshua Zeman 4-5, Gabriel Martinez 9-39, Quinton Rocha 1-5. Solon: Blake Timmons 4-147, Sean Stahle 4-86, Mike Pipolo 4-9, Jake Quillin 1-5, Mac McCarty 4-42, Michael Purdy 3-13, Tino Longo 3-15, Brayden Ruskey 3-18, Quinton Heineman 1-7.

PASSING – West Liberty: Caleb Wulf 10-25-1-78, Drake Collins 1-2-0-0. Solon: Blake Timmons 5-7-0-137, Brayden Ruskey 1-2-0-77.

RECEIVING – West Liberty: Joshua Zeman 1-0, Tyler Jones 5-50, Mason Young 2-6, Morgan Lehman 1-12, Blaze Maas 2-10. Solon: Sean Stahle 1-39, Trin Eidahl 1-13, Jacob Timmons 1-17, Oaken Foster 1-30, Grant Gerdin 1-38, Rhyse Wear 1-77.

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