Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – As a whole last season it is hard to look at last season as anything but a massive success for Solon.

The Spartans won 11 consecutive games to open the season, claimed a district title and advanced to the state semifinals.

It’s the way the season ended, a 29-10 loss to eventual champion Nevada in the Class 3A semifinals, that left the Spartans with a sour taste.

“The full season was good but the end, we just have to learn to finish better,” Solon senior Cody Milliman said. “That’s something we’ve talked about a lot is when it gets tough we need to push through and finish.”

With seven players that earned all-state honors in 2025 highlighting a talented list of 11 returning starters Solon has its sights set on a much different finish this fall.

The lingering motivation of last year’s semifinal loss gives the Spartans an even bigger boost heading into an anticipated season.

“It was a successful season last year, but it’s a fine line of not looking back too much but also realizing that with all the stuff that comes out with the rankings a lot of that is based on what you did last year but we say ‘sorry guys you don’t get credit for that’,” Solon coach Lucas Stanton said. “We want to learn from that, and I think our guys are motivated and I think they feel like we we’ve been knocking on the door and they want to break through that.”

The list of returning starters for the Spartans is long and filled with talent across the board.

Senior Maddox Kelley (5-10, 185) makes the move to quarterback after earning first-team all-state honors as a wide receiver last fall.

In his first season as the starter at quarterback Kelley will have the luxury of a deep group of receivers as well as an experienced offensive line.

Returning all-staters seniors Kaden Hoeper (6-2, 190) and Cody Milliman (6-2, 200) return to lead the receiving group along with junior Owen Bock (6-1, 180).

Hoeper had 42 receptions for 691 yards and nine touchdowns and Milliman caught 35 passes for 516 yards and four touchdowns last season.

Bock added 13 catches for 265 yards and two scores.

“One of the reasons that we felt really comfortable moving Maddox to quarterback is how deep we were at wide receiver,” Stanton said. “That’s how much we trust those guys out there is being able to fill that void of Maddox being at quarterback.”

Solon returns a pair of all-staters on the offensive line in seniors Lucas Feuerbach (6-2, 260) and Bradyn Schnoor (6-0, 250) while fellow senior Simon Einwalter (6-3, 215) steps in at left tackle.

Feuerbach and Einwalter join returning senior all-stater James Thomsen (6-3, 230) on a Solon defensive line that should be among the best in the state.

“With our front four, as long as they do their job and they do what they’ve been coached to do that makes the jobs easier on the less experienced linebackers that we have,” Stanton said. “The young linebackers have practiced really well so we feel like those guys are going to step in and those guys are going to make the job a little easier on those guys that haven’t played as much.”

A first-team all-state pick as a defensive lineman, Feuerbach ranked third on the team with 53 tackles including 12 for loss and four sacks last season.

Thomsen had 39 tackles with a team-high 12.5 for loss and 5.5 sacks and Einwalter had 25.5 tackles with 12 for loss and two sacks.

Einwalter sees that group being even better in 2026.

“I think we can get better tackling and running to the ball too,” Einwalter said. “That’s always something that we pride ourselves on is running to the ball but that has to be a consistent thing.”

Milliman and senior Sawyer Hansel (6-0, 185) return at linebacker while Hoeper and Kelley both return in the secondary.

Kelley ranked fourth on the team with 41 tackles and led Solon with six interceptions and Hoeper had 22.5 tackles a year ago.

Solon returns six of its top 10 tacklers from a defense that allowed 9.8 points and 211 total yards per game last season.

“I think our leadership has really grown this season,” Einwalter said. “Last year we had the seniors lead us and now it’s our turn to lead so stepping into that role has been a great kind of growing up moment for us.

Solon also returns a weapon in special teams in senior all-stater Collin McKie (5-11, 180) who ranked fourth in the state last season averaging 43.4 yards per punt.
The goal for Solon is a return to the UNI-Dome only this season producing a much different finish.

“The overarching goal is always to win state,” Einwalter said. “But an underlying goal is building a community that values hard work and really just wants to win.”

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