Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Senior lineman Tyler Linderbaum described Solon as being ‘solid’ in three consecutive wins to open the season.

Solid doesn’t begin to describe the performance of Linderbaum and his Solon teammates in a 40-0 win over previously unbeaten Washington (3-1) on Friday at Spartan Stadium.

“We played great,” Linderbaum said. “We had all 11 guys running to the ball and I think this was a statement game for us just to show that we think we are one of the best teams in Class 3A.”

Great?

Impressive, extraordinary or dominating would probably be more accurate.

Class 3A top-ranked Solon (4-0, 2-0) scored on four consecutive possessions to end the first half and rolled up 260 yards of offense before halftime while assuming control of the District 5 race.

Solon forced five turnovers and posted its third shutout of the season on Friday against a Washington squad that entered averaging 431 yards and 45 points per game.  

“I think we got better tonight and we had to get better because that is a good football team,” Solon coach Kevin Miller said. “We know that their quarterback is out and they aren’t the same football team without him but none the less I thought we played in all three phases of the game pretty well.”

 

Washington senior quarterback Ryan Reighard was limited to playing defense on Friday due to an injury and Solon never let Washington get anything going on offense in his absence.

Solon finished with 328 yards and scored 40 points for the second straight week but it was the play of the Spartan defense that had people buzzing.

The Spartans held Washington to 114 total yards, 52 of which came on a run late in the fourth quarter, and scored their fourth defensive touchdown of the season on a Jack Stahle 24-yard interception return.

“We are trying to hold everyone to a donut,” Stahle said. “If that doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen, we are just trying to win but that’s the goal.”

A dominant front seven led by Linderbaum, Zach and Spencer Wegmann and junior linebackers Adam Bock and Coal Flansburg limited Washington to -20 yards rushing in the first half as Solon built a 26-0 cushion.

Sophomore Cam Miller threw three first-half touchdown passes to AJ Coons, Kendrick Harris and Adam Bock as Solon scored on four of its five first-half possessions.

“Defensively we were outstanding and offensively we did the things that we need to do if we are going to continue to move the football,” Kevin Miller said. “We ran the ball, we mixed it up well. I thought Cam managed the game well, the offensive line protected him and we ran the football when we needed to.”

Solon marched 71 yards to the Demon 9 yard line on its opening drive of the game but turned the ball over on downs.

Washington answered by marching into Solon territory but the Spartan defense came up with its first big play of the game when Flansburg swallowed up Jaivonn Willis in the backfield on a fourth-and-two play.

Solon quickly turned that defensive momentum into points when Harris raced 51 yards down the sideline for a touchdown with 2:39 left in the first quarter.

“That was a big momentum swing,” Harris said of the touchdown. “That really got us confidence and we kept on going and going and grinding and we got that big run and it started to go downhill for them.”

 

Following the Harris touchdown Solon scored touchdowns on drives of 4, 13 and 8 plays to close the first half with a 26-0 lead.

Miller hit Harris on a 5-yard screen pass to make it 14-0 Solon and found Coons with a 5-yard TD pass with 6:03 left.

A 15-yard touchdown strike to Bock on third-and-10 with :10.7 left in the first half put Solon up 26-0.

Miller was 15-of-23 passing for 147 yards in the first half as Solon put up 260 yards.

“We were able to block up front, we were able to run outside, inside and be able to throw it,” Miller said. “We were able to do most things that we wanted to do against them.”

While the Solon offense was putting up points the defense was giving up nothing.

Literally.

Solon held Washington to zero total yards on 15 offensive snaps on four first-half possessions following the Harris touchdown.

“It’s a mentality, we hang our hat on our defense,” Linderbaum said. “We want to go out there with our ‘A’ game every game and I think we did that tonight.”

Solon put the game out of reach quickly in the third quarter.

Stahle jumped in front of a short pass by Luke Turner and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown to make it 34-0 Spartans with 8:16 left in the third quarter.

“They had been throwing that route a lot,” Stahle said. “I kind of picked up the signals and I expected it and I jumped it.”

Solon activated the continuous clock before the third quarter ended with an 11-play, 57-yard drive that featured seven runs by Hunter Kula for 50 yards.

After rushing for 72 yards in a win over Washington last season the Spartans ran for 175 yards on 33 carries on Friday.

“We have a different mentality on offense this year trying to be more physical up front,” Linderbaum said. “I think we did a great job with that tonight.”

                                    SOL                WASH

First Downs                 19                     6

Rushes-Yards               33-175             19-39

Comp-Att-Int                  17-28-0            9-17-0

Passing Yards              153                  75

Punts-Avg.                    3-35.3              4-22.8

Fumbles-Lost                0-0                   5-3

Penalties-Yards             7-75                6-35

Solon               6   20  14   0  – 40 

Washington     0    0    0    0  –  0

SOL – Kendrick Harris 51 run (kick failed)

SOL – Harris 5 pass from Cam Miller (Coal Flansburg run)

SOL – AJ Coons 5 pass from Miller (kick failed)

SOL – Adam Bock 15 pass from Miller (kick failed)

SOL – Jack Stahle 24 interception return (Ben Krutzfeldt pass from Miller)

SOL – Flansburg 1 run (kick failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Kendrick Harris 10-71, Hunter Kula 11-54, Spencer Wegmann 1-22, Mason Stahle 4-19, Coal Flansburg 2-6, Cam Miller 5-3. WASH: Jaivonn Willis 5-48, Luke Turner 5-12, Tristin Westphal-Edwards 2-8, Tanner Murphy 1-0, Dalton Myers 1-(-2), Team 1-(-13), Jack Redlinger 4-(-14).

PASSING – SOL: Cam Miller 17-26-0 153, Ben Krutzfeldt 0-2-0 0. WASH: Luke Turner 9-17-1 75.

RECEIVING – SOL: AJ Coons 8-69, Adam Bock 3-35, Kendrick Harris 2-13, Payton Bandy 2-12, Storm Scott 1-18, Ben Krutzfeldt 1-6. WASH: Dalton Myers 6-33, Jaivonn Willis 3-42.