Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Rivalry games are won at the line of scrimmage.

At least that’s what Eli Kampman and his Solon teammates believed entering Friday’s Highway 1 showdown with Mount Vernon.

The Spartans won the battle up front on Friday and won their third straight over rival Mount Vernon 35-20 at Spartan Stadium in Solon.

“Whenever it’s a rivalry, that’s always what you are doing is trying to be the more physical team,” Kampman said. “It was a big focal point this week that we were going to be the more physical team, the more dominant team and show that we are real contenders.”

Kampman rushed for 119 yards and Maddox Kelley added 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns as Solon rolled up a season-high 230 yards on the ground.

After rushing for 133 yards combined in wins over Davenport Assumption and Benton Community to open the season Solon committed to running the football on Friday.

That running game, along with three touchdown strikes from Kampman to three different players helped Solon extend its winning streak over Mount Vernon to three.

“We felt like defensively they were going to do some things where we were going to have to show we can run the ball,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “I think that’s going to put a lot of stress on opposing defenses going forward knowing that we can run the ball whether that’s Eli, Maddox or Einar (Stecher). We have guys that can run the ball.”

Solon had 173 of its 2430 rushing yards in the first half while building a 21-7 lead.

The Spartans averaged better than 6 yards per carry on Friday and finished with a 230-30 edge in rushing yards.

“Our o-line stepped it up big time this week,” Kampman said. “All the credit goes to them they were just animals this game.”

Solon largely bottled up a Mount Vernon offense that entered averaging 43 points per game.

Senior two-way lineman Colby Myers had 2.5 sacks as Solon limited Mount Vernon to 276 total yards.

“We knew it was going to be a slugfest,” Solon senior lineman Colby Myers said. “We wanted it more I think, we wanted it more tonight.”

The Spartans outgained Mount Vernon 256 to 45 in the opening half while taking a 21-7 lead that would never be seriously threatened.

Solon opened the scoring when Kelley capped a 43-yard touchdown drive that featured four consecutive running plays with a 4-yard touchdown run with 8:15 remaining in the opening quarter.

The drive featured 22 and 12-yard runs by Kampman and was a forecast of what was coming for the Spartan run game.

“We knew that they wanted to take away the pass and they came out and only had a five-man box so we knew we were going to beat them on the ground,” Kampman said. “That’s what we did.”

Mount Vernon (2-1) pulled even when sophomore Holden Hlavacek burst up the middle and returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

Solon retook the lead when Kampman connected with Kaden Hoeper for a 31-yard touchdown strike with 1:05 remaining in the first quarter.

The Spartans took a 21-7 lead when Kelley hauled in a 8-yard touchdown pass from Kampman with 9:24 remaining in the first half following a 9-yard Mount Vernon punt.

“We just didn’t want to stop,” Myers said. “We got that first touchdown and when they struck back that hurt but we didn’t stop. We wanted to keep going.”

After a scoreless third quarter Solon upped the lead to 28-7 on a 4-yard touchdown run by Kelley.

The Spartans then put the game away when Kampman found sophomore Owen Bock over the middle for a 77-yard catch and run that put Solon up 35-13.

“Whatever the defense is going to take away we will take what they are giving us and make them adjust,” Stanton said. “If they take someone away it’s going to be somebody else’s night.”

Senior linebacker Kyler Jensen had 10 tackles to lead a strong Solon defensive effort while Nick Gerdin recovered a fumble.

“I just wanted to get to Kellen (Haverback),” Myers said. “He’s an amazing guy, he’s so nice, he’s a great quarterback but I wanted to get to him. I wanted the win, that’s what I wanted.”

SOL                MV

First downs                22                    19

Rushes-yards             38-230             22-30

Comp-Att-Int            11-18-0           23-37-0

Passing yards             192                  246

Total yards                422                  276

Punts-Avg.                 1-42                 5-33

Fumbles-lost              2-1                   3-1

Penalties-yards          2-25                 7-40

Mount Vernon           7   0  0  13  –  20

Solon                         14  7  0  14  –  35

SOL – Maddox Kelley 6 run (Ryan Locke kick)

MV – Holden Hlavacek 94 kick off return (Jack Carnes kick)

SOL – Kaden Hoeper 31 pass from Eli Kampman (Locke kick)

SOL – Kelley 8 pass from Kampman (Locke kick)

SOL – Kelley 4 run (Locke kick)

MV – Toby Neal 47 pass from Kellen Haverback (Kick failed)

SOL – Owen Bock 77 pass from Kampman (Locke kick)

MV – Haverback 1 run (Carnes kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Eli Kampman 19-119, Maddox Kelley 13-110, Einar Stecher 6-1. MV: Jakob Yock 7-29, Kellen Haverback 13-2, Michael Ryan 2-(-1).

PASSING – SOL: Eli Kampman 11-18-0 192. MV: Kellen Haverback 23-37-0 246.

RECEIVING – SOL: Owen Bock 4-108, Kaden Hoeper 3-44, Maddox Kelley 3-21, Cody Milliman 1-19. MV: Tommy Rhomberg 5-52, Toby Neal 1-47, Michael Ryan 5-44, Maddox Curran 5-42, Jakob Yock 4-32, Seth Rushford 2-22, Holden Hlavacek 1-7.

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