Scott Seagren

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – The Solon Spartans fell behind early but rallied to win their district opener over the Grinnell Tigers 26-7 on homecoming in Spartan Stadium Friday night.

The Tigers took an early 7-0 lead in the at the 6:33 mark of the 1^st quarter.

On the Spartans’ 2^nd possession, the Tigers intercepted a tipped pass and returned it to the Spartan 17 yard line.

Four plays later, Grinnell quarterback Brady Coffman scored on a keeper from 8 yards out for what would turn out to be the Tigers lone score of the night.

The Spartans answered back on their next possession with a 10 play, 80 yard drive finished off when Ty Bell hit Owen Einwalter for a 10 yard touchdown pass. An unsportsmanlike penalty and errant snap would lead to a missed PAT attempt, and with 3:49 remaining in the 1^st Grinnell clung to a 7-6 lead.

That Tiger lead disappeared for good in the 2^nd quarter. After Ty Bell pinned the Tigers back on their 8 yard line with a 38 yard punt into the corner, Colby Myers stripped the ball loose from the Tigers quarterback in the end zone.

Eddie Johnson scooped up the loose ball and the Spartans took over on the Tiger 4 yard line.

Two plays later Johnson took it up the middle for the Spartan touchdown, putting the Spartans up 12-7 with 9:13 remaining in the half.

When asked about the strip sack, Myers was quick to show the team-first spirit that defines these Spartans, saying “I give all the credit to my teammate Jackson Feuerbach, he opened that up for me so I could get out and make that play. I give all the credit to him. I just finished the job.”

After forcing a Tiger punt on the ensuing possession, Maddox Kelley gave the Spartans good field position at the Tiger 38 with a 26-yard punt return.

After a big 27-yard pass from Bell to Johnson, Kelley finished the drive he started, as Bell found Kelley in the end zone on a 5 yard slant pass to give the Spartans a 19-7 halftime lead.

After a scoreless 3^rd quarter, the Spartans added an insurance score in the 4^th on a 4-yard Cole Carney touchdown run to make the final score 26-7.

Carney finished the night with 127 rushing yard and Johnson added 112 yards on the ground.

As a team, the Spartans rushed for 311 yards on 48 carries.

The Spartan defense held the Tigers to only 6 first downs and only 126 yards of offense. Kyler Jensen and Maddox Kelley led the Spartans with 7 tackles each.

The Spartans outgained the Tigers 477 yards to 126 and forced 2 turnovers.

The only blemishes on the night were three interceptions and numerous costly penalties against the Spartans, all of which they were able to overcome for the 26-7 victory, extending their record to 5-0.

The Spartans now take their undefeated record on the road for two games at Benton Community and at third-ranked Williamsburg.

Coach Lucas Stanton said “It feels good to be undefeated but I’d feel better if we had played a cleaner game. Heading into those road games we are going to really have to clean things up from tonight. We were super sloppy and had a lot of penalties, that’s not us and that’s not who we are.”

The win capped an exciting homecoming week for the Spartans and homecoming king Eddie Johnson, crowned Wednesday night at the pep rally. “It’s pretty special, pretty good feeling. I’m just happy we got the win tonight.”

                                      SOL                GRI

First downs                25                    7

Rushes-yards             48-319             20-45

Comp-Att-Int            14-24-3           11-31-1

Passing yards             166                  87

Total yards                485                  132

Punts-Avg.                 3-35.3              9-40.2

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-1

Penalties yards          6-60                 0-0

Grinnell                     7   0   0  0  –  7

Solon                          6  13  0  7  –  26                      

GRI – Brady Coffman 8 run (Jack Hoopes kick)

SOL – Owen Einwalter 10 pass from Ty Bell (Kick failed)

SOL – Eddie Johnson 3 run (Kick failed)

SOL – Maddox Kelley (Ryan Locke kick)

SOL – Cole Carney 4 run (Lock kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Cole Carney 16-127, Eddie Johnson 22-115, Ty Bell 5-53, Einar Stecher 4-27, Eli Kampman 1-(-3). GRI: Brady Coffman 11-33, Josh Ringler 6-13, Beni Kiphanzu 2-1, Jack Hoopes 1-(-2).

PASSING – SOL: Tyler Bell 14-23-3 166, Eli Kampman 0-1-0 0.

RECEVING – SOL: Maddox Kelley 4-41, Karsyn Regennitter 3-42, Owen Einwalter 3-36, Cody Milliman 2-20, Eddie Johnson 1-27, Eli Kampman 1-0. GRI: Broc Heishman 3-45, Kellan Harter 2-18, Kayne Pavey 2-12, Josh Ringler 3-7, Jake Van Compernolle 1-5

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.