Turnovers cost Raiders

SOLON — Williamsburg’s 28-game district winning streak is over, and its No. 1 ranking in Class 3A is most likely gone too.

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The Raiders could convert only one of three Solon miscues into points and turned the ball over four times themselves while giving up two touchdowns and getting upset by the seventh-ranked Spartans last Friday night at Solon, 21-14.

Williamsburg had not lost a district game since Oct. 20, 2017 when it fell to Mount Vernon-Lisbon 42-14. The Raiders went 25-0 over the next five district championship seasons and won their first three district contests this year before Solon stunned them and took a firm hold on the District 5 race.

The Spartans’ win left them 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the district, needing to beat only Fairfield (3-4, 2-3) or South Tama (0-7, 0-5) in the final two weeks to become 2023 champions.

Williamsburg fell to 6-1, 3-1, with two tough games remaining in the regular season — at home this Friday against Grinnell and the following week against Benton Community.

The Raiders had two golden opportunities early in the game to put the Spartans in a deep hole but only came away with seven points.

Junior linebacker Rayce Heitman gave Williamsburg great field position by recovering a fumbled punt return inside the Solon 30, but the Raiders couldn’t move the ball and senior place-kicker Logan Rethwisch missed a 27-yard field goal attempt wide left.

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The Spartans fumbled their next punt return as well. Senior Clayten Steckly recovered the free ball for Williamsburg at the Spartans’ 15, and this time the Raiders capitalized.

On fourth-and goal from the Solon 8, senior quarterback Kellen Cockrell hit Steckly with a slant pass for a touchdown. Rethwisch booted the point after and the Raiders led, 7-0.

Williamsburg returned the favor a couple minutes later with a turnover of its own. Cockrell dropped back to pass and was hit by Solon linebacker Brett White, causing a fumble.

Barret Schade scooped up the loose ball for the Spartans and sped 68 yards to the end zone. Grant Knipper’s PAT kick tied it 7-7 after one quarter.

White’s hit on Cockrell aggravated a sprained ankle he was nursing and, unable to put any weight on the ankle, Cockrell had to exit the game. Senior Derek Weisskopf stepped in.

Weisskopf quickly led the Raiders on a drive that reached the Solon 29-yard line, but it stalled. The big play in the series was a 36-yard pass from Weisskopf to Steckly.

Williamsburg was moving the ball again when Weisskopf attempted a pass to Steckly that was picked off by Jack McCarty at the Solon 32.

A 40-yard pass from Tyler Bell to Eddie Johnson, where the ball somehow found its way past two Raider defenders, set up a seven-yard TD run by Conian Poynton, sending the Spartans into halftime leading 14-7.

Aided by a face mask violation and two 15-yard Solon penalties for roughing the kicker, Williamsburg scored on its first possession of the second half on a 28-yard pass from Weisskopf to Steckly. Rethwisch’s PAT kick tied it 14-all.

The score held until the final two minutes of the game when Weisskopf was picked off for the second time on the Raiders’ 15-yard line, setting up a one-yard TD run by Johnson.

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Williamsburg got one last chance to win the game when they blocked a Solon punt that Raider senior John Eichhorn recovered at the Spartans’ 26 with a little over as minute left.

But this night belonged to Solon as it took the ball back on downs and ran out the clock.

“We were not good tonight,” said Williamsburg Coach Curt Ritchie. “Not good at all.”

Considering the bad situations the offense put them in, Williamsburg’s defense was pretty good, holding Solon to 213 total yards, 178 of that rushing.

Heitman was in on 11 tackles, 10 solo; Weisskopf eight tackles, seven solo; and Cael Moore and Simeon Armbrecht 5.5 and 4.5, respectively, all for lost yardage.

Steckly had his best offensive game as a Raider, making seven receptions for 103 yards and both Williamsburg touchdowns.