Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

VAN HORNE – Earlier this season Solon let a late lead slip away in a 21-20 loss at Benton Community.

In the playoff rematch on Friday it was the Spartans that made the big plays late.

Eddie Johnson scored the go-ahead touchdown with 46 seconds remaining as Solon downed Benton Community 34-27 in a Class 3A opening-round playoff contest in Van Horne.

“They are a really tough football that tested us this game and the last one,” Johnson said. “Tonight, winning this game the way we did shows we can hang with any tough team.”

The win avenged a 21-20 regular season loss to the Bobcats back on October 4 and sends Solon into the Class 3A quarterfinals.

Solon (8-2) will travel to Humboldt (9-1) next Friday at 7 p.m. with a spot in the UNI-Dome on the line.

“This feels amazing,” Solon junior linebacker Kyler Jensen said. “We needed a win like this. I love this team and I think we can beat any team.”

Just like the regular season matchup with the Bobcats and last year’s 16-13 overtime win against Benton Community Friday night’s postseason opener came down to the final minute.

With the score tied 27-27 Solon put together a 12-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 3-yard run by Johnson, his third touchdown of the game.

“Those are the drives that you script out, you have plays for those situations and we were ready,” Solon senior quarterback Ty Bell said. “We prepare for those drives and we went out and executed this year.”

Bell was 2-for-3 passing for 23 yards on the go-ahead touchdown drive and also had two runs for 11 yards on the scoring march.

Solon drew an offside penalty for a first down on fourth-and-three and converted a third-and-three on a 3 4-yard run by Johnson.

“We have matured as a team from when we played them in the regular season to now,” Bell said. “This shows the growth and the commitment we have made.”

Solon put the game away with a defensive stop in the final minute.

Benton Community moved the ball to midfield but Jensen came up with a nine-yard sack on second down and the Spartans forced a pair of incompletions to secure the win.

“Our defense stepped up today and played great,” Jensen said. “We played Solon defense. That’s what we talked about is doing what we do best which is playing hard and fast.”

Benton Community led 13-12 at the half on a pair of touchdown runs by senior Dylan LeFebvere.

The Spartans appeared to take control with a pair of touchdowns in a span of less than five minutes in the third quarter.

Bell found Johnson for a 29-yard touchdown pass and after a Benton Community punt Bell hit sophomore Maddox Kelley with a perfectly thrown 12-yard touchdown strike in the corner of the end zone.

“You can throw a ball anywhere to that kid and he is going to make a play,” Bell said. “We run that play all the time in practice and we went out and executed.”

Benton Community responded quickly.

Owen Von Ahsen returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown and the Bobcats got the ball back when Carson Nolan picked off a Bell pass over the middle.

Nolan then capped a 13-play, 40-yard touchdown drive with a 1-yard dive that evened the game at 27-all and set up the game-winning drive for the Spartans.

“Those guys weren’t going anywhere, Benton is one of the best teams in the state for a reason,” Stanton said. “They are well-coached, tough players and so for them to come all the way back and for us to respond the way we did it’s a sign that we are young but we are growing up.”

Bell finished 17-of-23 for 219 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 16 yards while Johnson ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass.

“It felt good,” Johnson said. “We grind all year and it’s all just for this. These four games in the playoffs.”

Kelley caught eight passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns and Jensen led the Solon defense with 14 tackles including two for loss and a sack.

LeFebvere ran for 141 yards and two touchdown and Nolan ran for 92 yards and a touchdown as the Bobcats rolled up 246 rushing yards.

“Up front I think we just did a better job holding our ground,” Solon senior lineman Grant Wilson said. “They are big and athletic. They feed them whatever they can find here, they are big and we locked in a little bit and got some stops.”

                                         SOL                BC

First downs                24                    19

Rushes-yards             34-124             46-246

Comp-Att-Int            17-23-1           6-15-0

Passing yards             219                  76

Total yards                343                  322

Punts-Avg.                 1-34                 3-37

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   0-0

Penalties yards          2-15                 7-60

Solon                                      6   6  15  7  –  34

Benton Community          0  13  7   7  –  27

SOL – Eddie Johnson 2 run (Kick failed)

BC – Dylan LeFebvere 2 run (Elijah Kupka kick)

SOL – Maddox Kelley 19 pass from Ty Bell (Kick failed)

BC – LeFebvere 1 run (Kick failed)

SOL – Johnson 29 pass from Bell (Johnson run)

SOL – Kelley 12 pass from Bell (Ryan Locke kick)

BC – Owen Von Ahsen 97 kick off return (Kupka kick)

BC – Carson Nolan 1 run (Kupka kick)

SOL – Johnson 3 run (Locke kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Solon: Eddie Johnson 20-92, Maddox Kelley 5-20, Ty Bell 8-16, Einar Stecher 1-(-4). Benton Community: Dylan LeFebvere 27-141, Carson Nolan 17-92, Logan Upah 2-13.

PASSING – Solon: 17-23-1 219. Benton Community: Carson Nolan 6-15-0 76.

RECEVING – Solon: Maddox Kelley 8-118, Karsyn Regennitter 5-54, Eddie Johnson 2-29, Owen Einwalter 2-18. Benton Community: Logan Upah 4-54, Eli Patterson 2-22.

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