Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Some quarterbacks have been known to take their offensive linemen out for dinner in as a way to show appreciation for all the work put in by the big guys up front.

Late in Friday’s senior night home finale against Grinnell Solon senior signal caller Blake Timmons had a different reward for his offensive line classmates.

With Solon in control Timmons went to head coach Lucas Stanton on the sideline with a request.

To get the big fellas the ball.

“It’s awesome giving it to those big guys because they are the center piece of everything that happens for us,” Timmons said. “We’ve been repping that all week and I went over to coach and I said ‘we have to give them a shot’. Seeing their faces light up in the huddle was so special.”

Stanton agreed and senior linemen Adam Smith, Braydon Hoffman and Aiden Doyle took turns toting the football on what would end as a touchdown drive for Solon.

The late lineman touches was all part of a happy senior night at Spartan Stadium that ended with a 51-7 win over Grinnell (4-4, 3-1) that clinched the Class 3A, District 5 title for seventh-ranked Solon (6-2, 4-0).

“They do all the dirty work to get where we are,” Timmons said. “It’s awesome for them to get that little reward.”

The reward for the lineman was a fun way to end.

It was Timmons that did the early work to set up the late celebration for his lineman.

Timmons rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns, threw a touchdown pass and picked off three passes from his safety spot as Solon pushed its winning streak to five.

“It’s an emotional night and with a district title on the line it was easy to get up for it,” Timmons said. “It was just a fun night all around.”

Senior Sean Stahle got Solon going early.

On the first play from scrimmage Stahle ripped the ball away from a Grinnell receiver after a short reception and raced 26 yards for a touchdown to put the Spartans up 7-0 just 20 seconds in the game.

Grinnell responded with its best drive of the game, a 9-play, 65-yard march and tied the game at 7-7 on a 3-yard touchdown run by Kinnick Johnson.

It was all Timmons and Solon the rest of the way.

Timmons scored on a 20-yard touchdown run three plays later then picked off passes on the ensuing two Tiger possessions.

He gave Solon a 21-7 lead with a 6-yard touchdown run with 1:31 remaining in the opening half and picked off his third pass of the half at the Spartan 2 yard line to end the ensuing Grinnell possession.

“He is a punt returner, a kick returner, a defensive player he can do it all,” Stanton said. “He really can.”

Timmons raced 67 yards for a score on the first play of the second half, tossed a 9-yard scoring strike to Oaken Foster on the next Spartan possession and then the fun started.

“Before our third offensive possession I went into the huddle and I said, ‘hey it’s just football’,” Timmons said. “I told them if we played our brand of football things would take care of themselves and after that we did well.”

With Solon leading 37-7 it was the big boys turn to tote the football.

Senior offensive guard and defensive tackle Adam Smith was the first senior lineman to line up in the backfield gaining three yards on a third-and-1.

“Maybemiddle school tight end was the last time I had the ball,” Smith said. “It made me smile. I was just trying not to fumble.”

Line mates Braydon Hoffman and Aiden Doyle each followed with two-yard runs on a nine-play Spartan touchdown drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Mac McCarty.

The lineman did a lot more than just rumble for a few yards late.

Hoffman, Smith and Doyle helped pave the way for the Spartans to rush for 328 yards and limited Grinnell to 47 yards on 32 carries.

“We have a relatively young line so those guys have gotten into it and gotten after as the weeks have gone on,” Smith said. “They have practiced hard and gotten better and its starting to show.”

Brett White added 70 yards on eight carries for the Spartans as Solon finished with a season-high rushing total.

“We had a lot of nerves, they were pretty good up front but we just calmed down and started doing our job,” Smith said. “We just kept playing hard.”

SOL                GRI

First Downs                           15                    8

Rushes-yards                         39-328             32-47

Comp-Att-Int                        5-12-1             9-22-3

Passing yards                        45                    55

Total yards                            373                  102

Punts-Avg.                             3-37.3              4-27

Fumbles-lost                          1-0                   7-2

Penalties-yards                       3-35                2-20

Grinnell                     7   0   0    0   –   7

Solon                          14  7  16  14  –  51

SOL – Sean Stahle 26 fumble return (Grant Knipper kick)

GRI – Kinnick Johnson 3 run (Christopher MacArtney kick)

SOL – Blake Timmons 20 run (Knipper kick)

SOL – Timmons 6 run (Knipper kick)

SOL – Timmons 67 run (Knipper kick)

SOL – Oaken Foster 9 pass from Timmons (Knipper kick)

SOL – Safety penalty in end zone

SOL – Mac McCarty 3 run (Knipper kick)

SOL – Brayden Ruskey 38 run (Zeb Kleinsmith kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Blake Timmons 16-172, Brett White 8-70, Brayden Ruskey 1-38, Mac McCarty 3-12, Sean Stahle 3-12, Brayden Moore 2-7, Zach Capper 1-4, Aiden Doyle 1-2, Barret Schade 1-9, Adam Smith 1-3, Braydon Hoffman 1-2, Eddie Johnson 1-(-3). GRI: Kinnick Johnson 10-29, Brady Coffman 16-20, Derek Doty 3-10, Kayne Pavey 2-4, Team 1-(-16).

PASSING – SOL: Blake Timmons 5-12-1 45. GRI: Brady Coffman 8-17-3 50, Derek Doty 1-4-0 5.

RECEIVING – SOL: Oaken Foster 4-35, Brett White 1-10. GRI: Carson Penyich 4-35, Braden Johnson 2-14, Kinnick Johnson 3-6.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.