Hanus, Solon score late to rally past DeWitt Central, 28-21

SOLON - All the inexperience these Solon Spartans have, they still have a veteran quarterback. And if you don't think that's huge, you weren't at Spartan Stadium last night.

J.J. Hanus scrambled for a 48-yard touchdown with 58 seconds left to rescue Solon and give it a 28-21 victory over DeWitt Central in a Class 3A non-district beauty.

"At the end there, we really came together as a team," said Hanus, who dedicated the game to his grandfather, who recently passed away. "We played as a team, started to execute. We all stayed in the game, we all knew what we had to do. We didn't lose focus on the task at hand.

"We needed to score that last touchdown, and we did."

Solon's 55th win in its last 56 games was actually of the come-from-behind variety, considering DeWitt led midway through the fourth quarter, 21-14. That's when Hanus - the starter on Solon's 2010 3A state championship team - took over.

He drove his club 61 yards, primarily through the air, to help get it the tying points: Aaron Shulista's 2-yard touchdown run and Josh Proehl's extra-point kick. After Solon forced a three-and-out, Hanus ran twice for a first down, taking the football to the DeWitt Central 48.

After an incompletion, Hanus rolled left on second down, met pressure, stepped up between two Sabers rushers and suddenly found open space, cutting to the middle and then the right to the end zone. Proehl booted the extra point, and that was it.

DeWitt could get only to its 37-yard line in the dying seconds, turning the ball over on downs.

"I rolled out and there were two guys coming down, so I had to set up," Hanus said. "I didn't see anything open, so I just kind of took off and started to cut it back. There was an open lane, so I  took it."

Solon looked like it would run away early when Hanus scored on a 6-yard keeper late in the first quarter and linebacker Cody Fritz scored on a 20-yard fumble return after stripping a DeWitt ball carrier.

But DeWitt Central regrouped, holding Solon scoreless in the second quarter and scoring twice in the third to stunningly tie it at 14-14.

Fullback Dustin Petersen broke free for an 84-yard touchdown burst up the middle to give the Sabers a 21-14 lead with 7:30 left. Central - a slower but bigger team - rushed for 308 yards, outgaining Solon by a 351-290 margin.

Solon, which has a number of two-way players, appeared to be worn out at one point in the fourth quarter. But it still had Hanus, who accounted for 172 of his team's yards: 71 rushing and 101 passing.

"We have a lot of work to do improving our stamina," said lineman Jay Pike, all over the field defensively. "I could tell, it seemed like, we were all wearing out there. Getting slower. That's how they caught up there. After we got down, we finally picked up the intensity. Played our hearts out."

Here's a copy of the game boxscore:

TEAM STATISTICS

Solon

DeWitt Central

First downs

14

12

Rushes-yards

37 - 189

45 - 308

Passing yards

101

43

Comp-Att-Int

7 - 16 - 0

3 - 12 - 0

Total yards

290

351

Fumbles-lost

3 - 2

4 - 2

Punts-average

4 - 29.8

5 - 35.4

Penalties-yards

2 - 15

6 - 52

Rushing:

 DeWitt Central –

Dustin Petersen 8-92 ,

Chris Lubben 16-82 ,

Jake Thumann 5-76 ,

Austin Lechtenberg 11-42 ,

Chris Keitel 2-8 ,

Jake Kagemann 1-2 ,

Mitch Green 1-2 ,

Team 1-2

 Solon –

J.J. Hanus 13-71 ,

Cody Fritz 12-59 ,

Aaron Shulista 4-21 ,

Jordan Wymer 2-13 ,

Andy Klouda 1-13 ,

Austin Dall 3-10 ,

Team 2-2

Passing:

 DeWitt Central –

Chris Lubben 3-12-0-43

 Solon –

J.J. Hanus 7-16-1-101

Receiving:

 DeWitt Central –

Chris Keitel 1-22 ,

Jake Thumann 1-18 ,

Dustin Petersen 1-3

 Solon –

Rory Siddell 2-45 ,

Aaron Shulista 2-35 ,

Jordan Wymer 1-15 ,

Colton Dall 1-3 ,

Austin Dall 1-2

DeWitt Central

14

7

21

Solon

14

14

28

Solon-J.J. Hanus 6 run (Josh Proehl kick)

Solon-Cody Fritz 20 fumble return (Proehl kick)

DC-Austin Lechtenberg 13 run (kick blocked)

DC-Lechtenberg 8 run (Chris Lubben run)

DC-Dustin Petersen 84 run (Adam Henningsen kick)

Solon-Aaron Shulista 2 run (Proehl kick)

Solon-Hanus 48 run (Proehl kick)