Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – The offense has gotten a bulk of the headlines for third-ranked Solon during its unbeaten start.

That’s sort of what happens when a team averages 45 points and 450 yards per game.

The Spartan defense gave another reminder on Friday that it is more than deserving of a little bit of publicity too.

3A third-ranked Solon held Fairfield to 10 total yards and without a first down in the first half while building a 42-0 lead and rolled to a 56-7 win over the Trojans in a meeting of Class 3A, District 5 unbeatens at Spartan Stadium in Solon.

“Our offense has been great but I don’t think our defense gets talked about enough,” Solon senior defensive back Jake Quillin said. “We are really solid on defense.”

Solon was more than solid on Friday.
The Spartans shut down a Fairfield squad that entered averaging better than 31 points per game on the season and had scored 38 or more in each of its past three games.

Solon held the Trojans to 42 total yards on Friday and just four first downs while allowing just 14 rushing yards on 21 carries.

“I’ve been happy with our defense all year,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “I think our defense has been a little overshadowed by some of the numbers we’ve put up and the offense always gets the attention but our defensive staff and players have done a really good job all season long.”

Solon posted two shutouts in its first six games while allowing 12 points and 205 yards of offense per game.

Still, much of the talk surrounding the Spartans was about an explosive offense.

Solon was still impressive offensively on Friday, scoring touchdowns on five of its six first-half possessions, but dominated the game defensively.

“I think we’ve made a huge jump from our first few weeks,” Quillin said. “All around we are just really fast and really getting to the ball. We have good athletes everywhere.”

A two-way starter for the Spartans Quillin has played a key role on both sides of the ball for the Spartans this season.

Quillin was big again on Friday catching a pair of touchdown passes as Solon improved to 7-0 on the season and moved alone atop the District 5 standings at 3-0.

He also played a key role on defense as Solon held Fairfield to a season-low scoring output.

“I think we played really good,” Quillin said. “We didn’t give up a first down the whole first half so you can’t do much better than that.”

Solon took the opening kickoff and needed less than two minutes to go 68 yards for a touchdown.

The drive was capped by a 29-yard touchdown strike from Blake Timmons to senior Grant Gerdin.

Solon took control of the game with touchdowns on five consecutive possessions to end the half.

Timmons scored on an 8-yard run to make it 14-0 and then hit Quillin with scoring strikes of 9 and 10 yards.

“We obviously want to start fast,” Timmons said. “All year we’ve been preaching going fast and pushing the tempo. We’ve said it all year that we have so much depth that we can do that and it really helps us out.”

After each Solon scoring drive came a three-and-out and a punt for Fairfield.

Seven first-half possessions for Fairfield accounted for 20 plays and 10 total yards.

“They have been solid all year and they get us the ball back so we can go score,” Timmons said. “They deserve most of the credit because they are getting us the ball.”

Sean Stahle returned a punt 58 yards for a score to put Solon up 35-0 and added a 6-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to give the Spartans a 42-0 halftime lead.

Timmons finished 7-of-15 passing for 119 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 46 yards and a score, all in the first half.
Quillin caught four passes for 72 yards and two scores and Stahle rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Still it was all about the Solon defense that allowed just a late touchdown in the final minutes.

“I like where we are at right now because this is the time of year that you want your defense to really be coming on and I feel like that’s what we’ve got going on right now with that group,” Stanton said. “Across the board on multiple positions we had some inexperienced players and question marks and those guys just continue to improve.”

 

                                     SOL                FAI

First downs                 16                    4

Rushes-yards              31-227             21-14

Comp-Att-Int              5-18-0             11-19-0

Passing yards              165                  28

Total yards                  392                  42

Punts-avg.                   0-0                   7-31.6

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   1-0

Penalties-yards           11-111             0-0

Solon              21  21  0  14  –  56

Fairfield         0    0   0   7   –   7

SOL – Grant Gerdin 29 pass from Blake Timmons (Brent Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Timmons 8 run (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Jake Quillin 9 pass from Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Quillin 10 pass from Timmons (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Sean Stahle 58 punt return (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Stahle 6 run (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Mike Pipolo 51 run (Lumpkin kick)

SOL – Mac McCarty 1 run (Lumpkin kick)

FAI – Max Weaton 10 pass from Tate Allen (Drew Twohill kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Solon: Sean Stahle 13-70, Blake Timmons 6-46, Mike Pipolo 3-53, Tino Longo 4-33, Jake Quillin 1-13, Mac McCarty 3-8, Brayden Ruskey 1-4. Fairfield: Hunter Cecchini 3-13, Teddy Metcalf 8-5, Tate Allen 10-(-4).

PASSING – Solon: Blake Timmons 7-14-0 119; Brayden Ruskey 3-4-0 46; Jake Quillin 0-1-0 0 Fairfield: Tate Allen 5-18-0 28.

RECEIVING – Solon: Jake Quillin 4-72, Trin Eidahl 2-35, Brady Mullen 2-20, Grant Gerdin 1-29, Jacob Timmons 1-9, Carson Miller 1-0. Fairfield: Max Weaton 3-16, Tate Richardson 2-12.

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