Sluggish Solon gets by Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON - The anticipated rout on Route 1 did not materialize last night.

Third-ranked Solon easily handled former conference rival Mount Vernon, 34-14, in a non-district game at the Mustangs' field.

But the game left Solon Coach Kevin Miller seething at his club's performance.

'We didn't execute tonight,” he said. 'We may have set a school record for penalties. We have to correct a lot of things, but we had kind of a poor week of practice.”

The Class 3A Spartans ended Iowa City Regina's 56-game winning streak, 29-28, last Friday night. They open district play next Friday at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

'That may have had something to do with it,” said Miller, whose team overcame 90 yards of penalties. 'We have to be more mature as a football team and we have to be able to handle success.”

Solon (2-0) had four big plays that led to 34 consecutive points after Mount Vernon returned the opening kickoff 87 yards to the 3, then scored on its first play from scrimmage on a fumble into the end zone.

Brandon Kramer had a 46-yard scoring run that tied the game, Nathaniel Christensen's interception set up the go-ahead TD, a blocked punt led to another score and quarterback Brandon Childs raced 60 yards to set up another score.

Solon finished with 205 yards rushing, but 127 came on three plays.

Kramer ran for 76 yards and two TD, Childs 66 and Colton Hansel 53. Childs also completed 12 of 18 passes for 70 yards and a TD to Christensen.

The Solon defense held Mount Vernon (0-2) to 24 total yards, minus-21 on the ground.

Mount Vernon quarterback Tommy Hook was knocked out of the game in the third quarter after being sacked for a fifth time and did not return. Sophomore Jack Cochrane subbed and led the Mustangs to a fourth-quarter touchdown, hooking up with Connor Herrmann on a 23-yard pass play.