116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Spartans too much to handle for the Bobcats
The Solon Spartans defeated Benton Community 31-6 in a rematch of last years first round Iowa High School football playoff match
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SOLON — After its first few offensive plays sputtered, Solon opened it up.
That meant getting the ball to Maddox Kelley.
"He's really elusive," Solon Coach Lucas Stanton said after the Class 3A second-ranked Spartans routed Benton Community, 31-6, in the first round of the high school football playoffs Friday night at Solon High School. "He's fast, he's quick, he's got great body control and he's got a really good football IQ, too.
“I've said that about him since he was a sophomore playing late year. His IQ for football is a little more advanced than his age. He gets it and he thrives in the big moments. He was the ball in his hands. The moment was not too big for him at all."
Including penalties, Solon had negative total yardage through its first six plays from scrimmage, but that was quickly forgotten when senior quarterback Eli Kampman heaved a pass downfield to Kelley, who zigzagged through the Benton secondary for an electrifying 88-yard touchdown.
“I saw the quarterback roll out and I decided to go find some open space,” Kelley said. "I decided just run. He saw me, got me the ball and I had to go score."
After Solon linebacker Tripp Johnson forced a fumble that lineman Lucas Feuerbach recovered, Kelley collected his second TD reception in less than two minutes, this time from 25 yards away. He later added a rushing score to push his overall TD total to 25 this season.
"I think it is our team," said Kelley, who finished the game with 144 receiving yards and 23 on the ground. "We have tons of wide receivers, so people can't prepare for one person. They have to prepare for everybody, so they don't know what is going to happen. When they move me around, it messes with their defense and it kind of just messes them up."
Kampman later added a 62-yard scoring toss to Kaden Hoeper to cap a night in which he threw for 276 yards and ran for 95.
This will be the seventh state quarterfinal appearance in a row for Solon, which is now 10-0 for the first time since the 2021 team won its first 11 games en route to the 3A state semifinals.
Elias Bieschke ran for 60 yards and a score for Benton (5-5).
Solon likely will host Winterset (7-3) in the quarterfinal round next Friday.
"Like I told them in the locker room, let's enjoy this tonight," Stanton said. "Enjoy it, then when we put the film up of Winterset tomorrow, we'll start focusing on them."
No. 2 Solon 31, Benton Community 6
AT SOLON
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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