Your Prep Sports

WILLIAMSBURG – Solon didn’t get off to the start it was looking for on Friday.

There was nothing wrong with the way the Spartans finished.

Solon rattled off 33 consecutive points after facing an seven-point deficit and rolled to a 33-14 win over Williamsburg in a non-district contest at Bob Murphy Field in Williamsburg.

“I really liked the way we responded,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “It wasn’t the start that we necessarily wanted to have and we’ve been in that situation in this game before with this same opponent and we knew that they were going to punch back, they are a very proud program but I was super proud of our kids’ response.”

Last season Solon fell into an early 7-0 hole, trailed 21-13 at the half and never full recovered in a 42-13 loss at Williamsburg.

The Spartans fell behind early again on Friday but had a much different response to the first-quarter deficit.

Eli Kampman and Maddox Kelley both had rushing touchdowns and Kampman tossed a 20-yard touchdown strike to Kaden Hoeper during a 20-point Solon second quarter that gave the Spartans a lead they would never give up.

“Obviously we weren’t really pleased with that first score but their response to that was fantastic,” Stanton said. “Not to discredit anything Williamsburg did, they are a great football team, but we just told our kids that right now we feel like it was more of what we did and not what they did.”

Kampman passed for 277 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for a score as Solon improved to 2-0 on the season while snapping a two-game losing skid to the Raiders.

Hoeper caught a pair of touchdowns for the second consecutive game and finished with 86 yards receiving while Kelley caught five passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.

Junior Cody Milliman had five receptions for a team-high 98 yards in the win.

“I don’t believe there is a better receiver room in the state,” Kampman said. “I will always take my guys one-on-one against anyone.”

A Solon fumble in the first quarter set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Rogan Ackerman to Albert Bamrick that gave Williamsburg a 7-0 lead with 5:07 left in the opening quarter.

Solon took control of the game with a flurry in the final seven minutes of the first half.

Kelley scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the score with 6:50 remaining in the first half.

Solon took its first lead when a 47-yard pass to Milliman set up a 6-yard touchdown run by Kampman with 1:51 left before halftime.

“It is something that we talk about a lot is how we respond,” Stanton said. “I’ve never been in a football game no matter the score where there hasn’t been adversity and we talk about it all the time that the best teams have the best responses and if we want to be one of the best teams we have to have the best responses so I thought we handled it really well.”

Solon struck once more before the half when Hoeper made a leaping catch for a 20-yard touchdown grab with just 15 seconds left in the opening half.

The Spartan defense took care of the rest.

Ethan Ulch picked off a pass to set up a 61-yard touchdown strike from Kampman to Hoeper that made the score 27-6.

Kyler Jensen led Solon with eight tackles including two for loss while junior James Thomsen had three sacks.

Colby Myers had a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss while Simon Einwalter and Dylan Branscomb each added sacks for the Spartans.

Solon held Williamsburg to just 165 yards of total offense and just 45 rushing yards on 34 carries.

“I think it was just we got back to really just it’s about us and our fundamentals and we do on defense,” Stanton said. “Our defensive line got off the ball really well and disrupted some things, our linebackers ran to the football and we tackled pretty well for the most part. It wasn’t anything special it was just doing what we do.”

Kampman finished 16-of-18 passing, completing passes to five different players.

“We need to start hot, we can’t get behind in the first quarter,” Kampan said. “We need to come out swinging like we did in the second half.”

Solon will host Mount Vernon (2-0) on Friday.

The Mustangs defeated Benton Community 30-20 on Friday.

“It’s always a big game,” Stanton said of the Mount Vernon game. “Like I told the kids enjoy this because winning is hard, it’s not for everybody and you want to enjoy the journey of it but we will be ready for them, our kids are confident and they will enjoy this for a day or two and then we will get into the Mount Vernon film and get to work.”

SOL                WIL

First downs                14                    13

Rushes-yards             29-24               34-45

Comp-Att-Int            16-18-1           12-16-1

Passing yards             277                  120

Total yards                301                  165

Punts-Avg.                 3-41                 4-33

Fumbles-lost              3-1                   2-1

Penalties-yards          4-34                 2-8

Solon                          0  20  7  6  –  33

Williamsburg            7   0   0  7  –  14

WIL – Albert Bamrick 28 pass from Rogan Ackerman (Keegan Kendall kick)

SOL – Maddox Kelley 1 run (Collin McKie kick)

SOL – Eli Kampman 6 run (McKie kick)

SOL – Kaden Hoeper 20 pass from Kampman (Kick failed)

SOL – Hoeper 61 pass from Kampman (McKie kick)

SOL – Kelley 28 pass from Kampman (Pass failed)

WIL – Ackerman 1 run (Kendall kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Hunter Sonntag 2-22, Maddox Kelley 7-9, Luis Buck 2-8, Jackson Burk 2-7, Eli Kampman 9-3, Tripp Johnson 1-1, Brady White 1-(-3), Einar Stecher 4-(-7), team 1-(-16).

WIL: Dallin Sullivan 12-43, Gibson Scott 3-27, Sawyer Kirby 2-7, Grady Wetjen 2-(-3), Rogan Ackerman 15-(-29).

PASSING – SOL: Eli Kampman 16-18-1 277. WIL: Rogan Ackerman 12-16-1 120.

RECEIVING – SOL: Cody Milliman 5-98, Kaden Hoeper 3-86, Maddox Kelley 5-82, Owen Bock 1-12, Grant Gordon 1-10, Eli Kampman 1-(-11). WIL: Grady Wetjen 4-33, Kale Bailey 4-33, Albert Bamrick 1-28, Sawyer Kirby 1-12, Dallin Sullivan 1-9, Dylan Weisskopf 1-5.

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