Mike Kabela

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Senior Eddie Johnson scored four first-half touchdowns and added a school-record tying fifth early in the second half as Class 3A second-ranked Solon defeated Clear Creek Amana 42-14 in Tiffin.

With both teams coming off dominating performances in week one, it was the Spartans who struck first on Friday night.

Starting at the CCA 15 yard line, senior quarterback Ty Bell converted a pair of third down passes each to sophomores Maddox Kelley and Cody Milliman.

The drive appeared to stall when Bell threw incomplete on third-and-11 from the CCA 36 but an offside penalty and a Johnson 10-yard run on fourth down gave the Spartans a first down at the CCA 21 and Johson ran into the end zone on the next play.

Kelley recovered a fumble on the next Clipper drive setting up Solon on the CCA 23.

Bell hit Johnson to convert another third down with an 18-yard scoring strike at the 41 second mark in the first quarter making the score 14-0.

The Clippers didn’t panic as junior Conlan Poynton ripped off a 13-yard run with a 15-yard facemask penalty added on putting CCA in Solon territory.

The drive stalled however and a punt put Solon on their 23 yard line.

The Spartan offense hit high gear with Bell hitting Kelley for 27 yards, Johnson ripping off a 20-yard run and senior running back Cole Carney dashing 21 yards to the Clipper 4 yard line.

Johnson hit pay dirt for his third TD from four yards out and the Solon crowd was in celebration mode with a 21-0 score.

Solon added another score 37 seconds later when junior Eli Kampman picked off a Wyatt Key pass and returned it 46 yards to the end zone.

Once again, the Clipper offense took the ball and went on the move, this time racing from its own 12 to the Solon 33 on five consecutive Poynton runs.

After a Solon timeout the defense stiffened and the Clippers came up a yard short on fourth down.

Still the Clippers would not give in and after a Nolan Howell interception the Clipper offense sparked with senior Owen Rosenberg taking a short pass 54 yards to the Solon six yard line.

Poynton ran for five yards and then blasted into the end zone from a yard out to make the score 28-7.

The Spartans were still in quick strike mode through and after a 67-yard kickoff return by Kelley, Solon handed the ball to Johnson four straight times before he danced into the end zone a fourth time from four yards out putting the Spartans up 35-7 going into halftime.

Johnson struck again early in the third quarter after Bell hit senior Owen Einwalter for a 17-yard pick up converting yet another third down.

Johnson ran four yards to cap the drive and put his name in the Solon record book with several players including former Iowa running back Eddie Donovan.

Junior Ryan Locke kicked his sixth extra point of the night and the score was 42-7.

Rosenberg hauled in a 41-yard pass to set up the night’s final score, Poynton’s second 1-yard touchdown run.

Johnson finished the game with 138 yards on the ground to compliment Bell’s 189 yards through the air.

Kelley led the Spartan receivers with eight catches and 90 yards.

Rosenberg hailed in seven passes for 119 yards and Poynton carried 18 times for 89 yards and two scores to lead Clear Creek Amana.

Key threw for 134 yards, completing 13-of-23 passes with Poynton adding 65 passing yards on 4-of-6 throwing.

When asked if he expected this kind of success against the Clippers Johnson gave credit to his line.

“They (Clear Creek Amana) looked good on film but our line really got after it tonight,” Johnson said. “Tey cam right at them, no fear.”

Johnson said there is still work to do.

“This game was good for us,” Johnson said. “We came out the last two games and put up 30 and 35 but we’ve got to finish games, not get complacent.”

Bell said the team’s third-down success is based on the trust he has with his teammates.

“I trust everyone on our team, but when you have guys like Eddie, Karsyn (Regennitter) and Maddox you know they’re going to make a play when you need it.”

Solon (2-0) travels to Central DeWitt (0-2) next Friday while Clear Creek Amana hosts defending 3A state champion Williamsburg (1-1).

                                     SOL                CCA

First downs                24                    17

Rushes-yards             46-203             25-116

Comp-Att-Int            16-24-1           19-32-2

Passing yards             169                  211

Total yards                372                  327

Punts-Avg.                 3-21.7              4-28

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards         3-35                 7-39

Solon                                      14  21  7  0  –  42

Clear Creek Amana            0    7   0  7  –  14                   

SOL – Eddie Johnson 21 run (Ryan Locke kick)

SOL – Johnson 18 pass from Ty Bell (Locke kick)

SOL – Johnson 4 run (Locke kick)

SOL – Eli Kampman 46 interception return (Locke kick)

CCA – Conlan Poynton 1 run (Cale Berry kick)

SOL – Johnson 3 run (Locke kick)

SOL – Johnson 3 run (Locke kick)

CCA – Poynton 1 run (Aiden Gross kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Eddie Johnson 21-138, Einar Stecher 14-35, Ty Bell 2-5, Eli Kampman 1-(-5). CCA: Conlan Poynton 18-89, Ethan Vice 4-19, Wyatt Key 2-10, Noah Collis 1-(-2)

PASSING – SOL: Ty Bell 16-24-1 169. CCA: Wyatt Key 13-23-1 134, Conlan Poynton 4-6-0 65, Avery Sorensen 2-3-1 12

RECEIVING – SOL: Maddox Kelley 8-90, Cody Milliman 2-29, Eddie Johnson 2-28, Owen Einwalter 2-17, Karsyn Regennitter 1-5, Kaden Hoeper 1-0. CCA: Owen Rosenberg 7-119, Cale Nash 7-49, Cale Berry 1-18, Avery Sorensen 1-12, Tay Seals 2-7, Nick Daniel 1-6  

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