Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – In the opening two weeks of the season it was the Solon defense that did most of the playmaking for the Spartans.

Last week the defense did a majority of the heavy lifting in a 7-3 win over Clear Creek Amana.

On Friday the Spartan offense and special teams got into the act.

Ty Bell threw for a career-high 145 yards and two touchdowns and Keenan Kruse recovered a fumbled snap on a punt for a touchdown as Solon (2-1) rolled to a 41-6 win over Central DeWitt on a beautiful evening at Spartan Stadium.

That was kind of our focus all week is we just felt like if we could eliminate some errors on offense and continue to play the way we have on defense and special teams that we could be a really good football team,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “It was just huge to get some confidence for our offense tonight.”

The defense did its thing as usual, holding Central DeWitt (1-2) to 160 yards of total offense and forcing four turnovers.

However, it was the breakthrough for the offense that stood out.

After averaging 150 total yards through the first two games Solon had a season-high 316 total yards on Friday and averaged a season-best 6.3 yards per play.

“When you get in a groove you start to settle in and tonight we got into a groove,” Bell said. “Once you get into a game, once you get a little confidence you are ready to go and once I got that first touchdown pass it was a huge weight off my back. It felt great.”

Bell threw his first career touchdown pass on the Spartan’s opening drive of the game, a 7-play, 74-yard masterpiece that featured a 31-yard run from junior Eddie Johnson.

The longest scoring drive of the season for the Spartans was capped by a 16-yard strike from Bell to Johnson on a third-and-five play.

“We worked on that play all summer and all year and we knew it was going to be a touchdown scorer for us,” Bell said. “That’s what it ended up being.”

Solon went three-and-out on its next offensive possession but the Solon defense and special teams quickly turned the momentum back to the home sideline.

After forcing Central DeWitt to go three-and-out the punt sailed over the head of the Saber punt and Kruse tracked it down in the end zone for a touchdown.

Solon led 14-0 with 1:21 remaining in the first quarter.

“Coach was telling us to be safe and not do anything crazy but I saw the ball over his head and went after it,” Kruse said. “I think he was trying to kick it out of the endzone but I was able to jump on it.”

Solon took a 21-0 lead when Barret Schade capped a 7-play, 66-yard march with a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:05 remaining in the first half.

Bell completed two passes on third down on the drive good for 28 yards including a 20-yarder to Grant Knipper on a third-and-11 play that set Solon with a first and goal at the one.

“Right after that touchdown a lot of momentum went our way,” Kruse said. “We started rolling, our offense looked like a totally different offense and I think it was all about momentum.”

Solon led 28-6 at the half and put the game out of reach early in the third quarter.

Nash Kotar picked off a Gus Pickup pass to give Solon the ball at the 49 yard line with 7:53 remaining in the third quarter.

“I had been watching film all week and I knew he was running a corner,” Kotar said. “I was in position and I was able to make a play.”

Two plays later Kotar hauled in a 52-yard touchdown pass from Bell to give the Spartans a 34-6 lead.

Kotar beat his defender on a corner route and Bell dropped the throw just over the diving defender.

“We’d been talking about it all week that we were going to get a touchdown,” Kotar said. “We talked about that exact play all week and we knew it was going to be there.”

Bell finished 8-of-13 for 145 yards and two touchdowns while Brayden Moore rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Schade and Milo Ashbacker each added touchdown runs as Solon rolled up a season-high 171 rushing yards.

“There were a lot of things not right about last week offensively but after a win it’s a little easier to go back and learn,” Stanton said. “I think when we went back and watched film it was easy for our kids to see how close we were to doing some really good things on offense.

                                      SOL               CD

First Downs                12                   11

Rushes-yards             37–171             32-61

Comp-Att-Int            8-13-0             8-16-2

Passing yards            145                  99

Total yards                 316                 160

Punts-avg.                  5-34.2              5-38.4

Fumbles-lost               5-2                  2-0

Penalties-yards           8-80               10-67

Central DeWitt                     0    6    0   0  –   6

Solon                                      14  14  13  0  –  41

SOL – Eddie Johnson 16 pass from Ty Bell (Grant Knipper kick)

SOL – Keenan Kruse fumble recovery in end zone (Knipper kick)

SOL – Barret Schade 1 run (Knipper kick)

CD – Tristan Rheingans 31 pass from Gus Pickup (Kick blocked)

SOL – Brayden Moore 1 run (Knipper kick)

SOL – Nash Kotar 52 pass from Ty Bell (Kick failed)

SOL – Milo Ashbacker 5 run (Knipper kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Solon: Brayden Moore 12-56, Milo Ashbacker 5-38, Brayden Miller 8-35, Eddie Johnson 4-31, Ty Bell 8-13, Cole Carney 1-3, Barret Schade 2-0, Nicholas Johnson 1-(-5). Central DeWitt: Michael Cabrera 22-80, Abe Krukow 2-9, Tristan Rheingans 1-5, Max Burgmeier 2-0, Jacob Maher 2-0, Gus Pickup 2-(-4), Team 1-(-29).

PASSING – Solon: Ty Bell 8-13-0 145. Central DeWitt: Gus Pickup 7-13-1 95, Max Burgmeier 1-3-1 4.

RECEIVING – Solon: Eddie Johnson 3-60, Grant Knipper 4-33, Nash Kotar 1-52. Central DeWitt: Tristan Rheingans 4-56, Chris Wrage 1-23, Jacob Maher 1-10, Anthony Meyer 1-6, Cal Kueter 1-4.

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