Matt Coss

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Mount Vernon High School’s football team had ample scoring opportunities Friday night.

Solon turned them away time and time again.

Thanks to a defense that held Mount Vernon scoreless on seven consecutive possessions in its territory, Class 3A fifth-ranked Solon escaped with a 7-6 non-district triumph on Armed Forces Night at Spartan Stadium.

“It was just us being resilient,” Solon junior linebacker Kyler Jensen said.

“When it was time to make a play, we did,” Spartan senior and two-way starter Eddie Johnson summarized.

Solon (4-0) intercepted Mount Vernon quarterback Kellen Haverback three times, forced three punts and turned the Mustangs over on downs once on its end of the field.

Still, its biggest defensive stop came in the final two minutes.

After the Mustangs’ Watson Krob hauled in a 65-yard touchdown reception to make it a one-point game, seventh-ranked Mount Vernon (3-1) elected to go for two and the lead.

Lined up in a swinging gate formation, Haverback took the snap, rolled to his right and his throw into traffic was caught.

However, the official ruled the receiver was out of the end zone.

“I was so scared,” Jensen said, “but when I saw the (official) signal he was out, it was a great feeling.”

Solon recovered the ensuing onside kick and chewed up the final 1:53 to secure the win.

“That’s a really big win for us,” Jensen said. “It is our rival and we lost to them the last time we played here at home.”

The Spartans took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards in six plays for their only score. Quarterback Tyler Bell hit Johnson on a swing pass for a 45-yard gain.

Johnson tallied his eighth rushing touchdown of the season on a 2-yard plunge.

From there, it was a lot of Mount Vernon driving into Solon territory and getting turned back.

Jensen recorded a fourth-down sack to halt the Mustangs’ first series at the 28-yard line.

A punt on fourth and 15 from the Solon 30 ended the second Mount Vernon series.

Then, Solon intercepted passes on Mount Vernon’s next three possessions — two by sophomore Maddox Kelley and another by Owen Einwalter.

Two of those picks came on tipped passes.

“Coach talks a lot about adversity and having to respond when it comes during the point of the game,” Kelley said. “We just had to keep our heads down and push through it.”

Kelley has been Solon’s top receiver through the first three games.

He managed only two receptions on offense, but he was all over on the field on defense with double-digit tackles and two picks.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “Whether that’s on offense or defense, he’s going to come up with the ball and make plays. He’s pretty good in the open field tackling guys as well.”

Kelley said his father, who was a defensive back, has been instrumental in his development.

“He’s helped me a lot to where I’m at,” he noted. “I believe I can do great things here and have a chance to go somewhere.”

Mount Vernon had two other possessions in the fourth quarter where it reached the Solon 46- and 31-yard lines but couldn’t produce points.

“We were put in some bad situations and they responded,” Stanton said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our kids.

“We practice those types of situations, just obviously not that many times. We really don’t care who started the fire, we’re just going to put it out.”

It was a signature win for Solon after clobbering Davenport Assumption (33-7), Clear Creek Amana (42-14) and Central DeWitt (55-2) in its first three games.

“This was a big win for us,” Johnson said. “We’ve been (high in the rankings) and we haven’t really had a big win yet. This was our chance to prove ourselves to the state. We didn’t get the margin that we wanted, but we got the win.”

And despite a young roster with heavy turnover from last season’s state semifinal squad, Solon has its second 4-0 start in four years.

“If our guys didn’t believe (we were a good team) before tonight, they better believe now,” Stanton said.

Johnson rushed for a game-high 109 yards on 23 carries.

Bell was efficient in the pass game completing 14 of 17 throws for 98 yards, but Solon never could create space on the perimeter for its playmakers against Mount Vernon’s stingy defense.

Solon had 10 first downs, only three in the second half, and 218 total yards.

“We kind of leveled off after that first drive,” Johnson said. “Our defense played great, but we could have played a lot better on the offensive side. We’ve got a lot to learn from this week.”

The Spartans have plenty of challenges on the horizon.

They welcome unbeaten Grinnell to town for homecoming next Friday before road games against Benton Community and Williamsburg.

“What I learned tonight is, this group can do anything and we can beat anyone,” Jensen said. “If we stick to what we know best, we can go far.”

                                       MV                SOL

First downs                19                    10

Rushes-yards             42-135             31-120

Comp-Att-Int            10-22-3           14-17-0

Passing yards             127                  98

Total yards                262                  218

Punts-avg.                  4-30.5              7-28.6

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards         5-32                 5-50

Mount Vernon        0  0  0  6  –  6

Solon                          7  0  0  0  –  7

SOL – Eddie Johnson 2 run (Ryan Locke kick)

MV – Watson Krob 65 pass from Kellen Haverback (pass failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — MV: Jase Jaspers 22-102, Cooper Hird 9-32, Michael Ryan 5-31, Team 1-(-14), Kellen Haverback 5-(-16). Solon: Eddie Johnson 23-109, Cole Carney 3-16, Ty Bell 1-2, Einar Stecher 1-(-3), Team 3-(-4).

PASSING — MV: Haverback 10-22-3 127. Solon: Bell 14-17-0, 98

RECEIVING — MV: Watson Krob 3-77, Jaspers 3-21, Ryan 1-17, Hird 2-12, Miles Locke 1-0. Solon: Johnson 2-53, Karsyn Regennitter 6-26, Cody Milliman 1-8, Owen Einwalter 2-6, Eli Kampman 1-4, Maddox Kelley 2-1.

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