Spartans stop Marion cold, 42-0

SOLON -- The Solon Spartans stopped themselves for a while.

They stopped Marion the whole way.

Solon held the Indians to 25 total yards, including minus-15 in the first half, and walloped the Indians, 42-0, in a Class 3A District 6 football game Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

"That was a championship effort on defense," said Solon Coach Kevin Miller. "We've put a premium on being more physical on defense, and it starts up front -- 11 hats to the football."

Solon (6-1 overall, 4-0 3A-6) won its fifth straight game and remained in a first-place tie atop the district with Maquoketa. The Spartans play at Maquoketa next week.

The Spartans didn't manage a first down in the first quarter, and penalties were mostly to blame. Solon was sacked with 60 yards of penalties in the first period, including a holding call that wiped out a 51-yard touchdown run by Jacob Black.

"We made some dumb mistakes early, some foolish penalties," Miller said. "The second quarter, we were much better, and we were able to get to the perimeter."

We had a script to start the game, but we had to just get back to our roots and pound the ball off tackle.

"Once the Spartans cleaned things up, they ran away with it. After going without so much as a first down on their first three drives, Solon scored touchdowns on the next six.

Black ran for touchdown runs of 2 yards and 6 yards on successive drives, then connected with Nathan Hawkins for a 29-yard score to make it 19-0 shortly before halftime.

Hawkins ran a stop and go on the right side of the field, and Black located him for an easy score after a pump fake.

Marion (3-4, 2-2) could do nothing either by land or air in the first half. Thirteen rushing attempts went for minus-10 yards, and Trevor Hardman was 2-for-9 passing for minus-5.

Jordan Wymer ran for a 2-yard touchdown, then Black hit Tyler Shaffer for a 35-yard TD in the third quarter to make it 33-0.

Wymer's 23-yard scoring jaunt -- up the middle on fourth-and-4 -- concluded the offensive scoring. The Spartans tacked on a team safety for the final points.

Black ran for 131 yards on 15 carries. He completed just 2 of 8 passes, but both hook-ups went for touchdowns.

Brandon Kramer added 123 rushing yards on 17 attempts.Marion is at Clear Creek Amana next week. 

Solon 42, Marion 0

AT SOLON

TEAM STATISTICS

Marion

Solon

First downs

7

15

Rushes-yards

33 - 6

44 - 301

Passing yards

19

64

Comp-Att-Int

4 - 15 - 0

2 - 8 - 0

Total yards

25

365

Fumbles-lost

2 - 0

1 - 1

Punts-average

7 - 26.3

2 - 39.5

Penalties-yards

2 - 17

7 - 75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  Marion – Kory Walsh 14-31 , Dontavious Young 4-5 , Carter Stigge 2-5 , Preston Murphy 1-3 , Austin Brown 4-1  Solon – Jacob Black 15-131 , Brandon Kramer 17-123 , Jordan Wymer 10-45 , Colton Hansel 2-2

Passing:  Marion – Trevor Hardman 4-14-0-19 , Hayden Meister 0-1-0-0  Solon – Black 2-8-0-64

Receiving:  Marion – Logan Fuller 1-15 , Dalton Gardner 1-9 , Preston Murphy 1-4  Solon – Tyler Shaffer 1-35 , Nathan Hawkins 1-29

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Marion

–

Solon

19

14

9

–

42

SCORING SUMMARY

S - Jacob Black 2 run (kick failed)

S - Black 6 run (run failed)

S - Nathan Hawkins 29 pass from Black (Jackson Rushek kick)

S - Jordan Wymer 2 run (Rushek kick)

S - Tyler Shaffer 35 pass from Black (Rushek kick)

S - Wymer 23 run (Rushek kick)

S - Team safety