Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Benton Community has had its moments recently against Solon.

Last season, the Spartans’ undefeated start was upended by the Bobcats, though Solon enacted revenge in the playoffs.

This year, Benton is the only team to stay within single digits of the Spartans.

So when it came time for the two teams to meet for the fourth time in 13 months, every Solon player was sitting up straight and paying close attention during the week’s playoff preparation.

“We felt like we left a lot out there the first time we played them,” sixth-year Solon Coach Lucas Stanton said after the Class 3A second-ranked Spartans routed Benton Community, 31-6, in a first round playoff game Friday night at Solon High School. “We kind of took that as, ‘Hey, that has been our toughest game this year’ and we wanted to make a statement. But more so about our team. Our guys wanted to start fast and take the fight to them. I think their preparation throughout the week was some of the best we’ve had since I have been here. They were really locked in.”

Senior quarterback Eli Kampman threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns for Solon (10-0), including scores of 88 and 25 yards in the first quarter to junior receiver Maddox Kelley.

“He’s an animal,” Kampman said of Kelley. “He can do anything on the field and it’s really nice to have him.”

Kampman also ran for 95 yards and added a 62-yard scoring strike to junior receiver Kaden Hoeper in the third quarter.

“We just knew where their weaknesses were and we attacked them,” Kampman said.

Late in the second quarter, Kelley lined up at tailback added a third touchdown with a one-yard plunge to push the Solon lead to 24-0 by halftime.

He finished the game with four receptions for 144 yards, nine rushes for 23 yards and the three scores.

“Our team locked in in practice a lot more,” Kelley said. “I think it was one of the better practices we had during the week, so coming into it we had a lot of confidence. Especially knowing Benton. They are a good team. It’s a good team no matter what seed they are. They were a wild card, but either way we knew it was going to be a fight.”

This was the fourth meeting in 13 months between Benton and Solon.

In the three previous games – all on the road – Solon allowed an average of 23 points per contest to the Benton offense.

But from the comforts of Spartan Stadium, Solon limited Benton to less than 300 total yards, forced three turnovers and kept the Bobcats off the scoreboard until the final three-and-a-half minutes.

“We moved our tackles in different spots,” Solon junior defensive lineman Lucas Feuerbach said. “We basically just did our own thing. Just kept it simple. Pretty good score at the end. We’re happy about that.”

Feuerbach helped set up the second Solon TD by recovering a fumble that was forced by senior linebacker Tripp Johnson, who also collected an interception.

“Just stay structured,” Johnson said. “Just have that trust within each other to do each other’s jobs so we don’t have to worry about it. Everyone worrying about their own job. It worked out very nicely.”

Hoeper snagged five receptions for 89 yards, while Cody Milliman also intercepted a pass for Solon, which is 10-0 for the first time since the 2021 team reached the state quarterfinals with an 11-0 mark.

The current Spartans can also achieve 11-0 with a win next Friday in a state quarterfinal – their seventh quarterfinal appearance in a row – likely against Winterset (7-3) at home.

“Just another game of Solon football,” Kampman said. “Playing to our standard.”

BC                         SOL

First Downs                     15                          13

Rushes-yards                31-116                 33-137

Comp-Att-Int                  18-30-2              14-23-1

Passing yards                173                       276

Total yards                       289                       413

Punts-avg.                        4-31.31              4-43.3

Fumbles-lost                  2-1                         0-0

Penalties-yards            6-55                     10-79

Benton Community  0    0    0   6  –  6

Solon                             14  10   7   0  – 31

SOL – Maddox Kelley 88 pass from Eli Kampman (Ryan Locke kick)

SOL – Maddox Kelley 25 pass from Eli Kampman (Ryan Locke kick)

SOL – FG Ryan Locke 42

SOL – Maddox Kelley 1 run (Ryan Locke kick)

SOL – Kaden Hoeper 62 pass from Eli Kampman (Ryan Locke kick)

BC – Elias Bieschke 9 run (kick blocked)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Benton Community: Carson Nolan 16-42, Elias Bieschke 14-60, Kaden Wright 1-14. Solon: Eli Kampman 18-95, Maddox Kelley 9-23, Hunter Sonntag 3-9, Brady White 3-10.

PASSING – Benton Community: Carson Nolan 18-30-2 173, Kaiser Townsley 0-0-0 0. Solon: Eli Kampman 14-22-1 276, Luke Merrick 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – Benton Community: Grant Volesky 1-12, Brody Timmerman 7-56, Evan Martin 2-14, Owen Von Ahsen 5-47, Elias Bieschke 1-6, Eli Patterson 2-38. Solon: Maddox Kelley 4-144, Kaden Hoeper 5-89, Cody Milliman 2-33, Owen Bock 2-2, Teague Williams 1-8.

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