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Washington Evening Journal
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Solon snipes MP for district title
Panthers lose first game in league play, still hold playoff hopes in hands
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — The second-ranked Solon Spartans have been overpowering district opponents all year, and not much changed on Friday night at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex in Mt. Pleasant.
The Mt. Pleasant defense made some promising plays early, but the Panther offense was stifled all night in a 35-0 Solon win, which clinched the Class 3A District 4 title for the Spartans.
“We didn’t execute well offensively,” said Panther head coach John Bowlin. “We didn’t block very well and went the wrong way a lot.”
Mt. Pleasant’s defense showed it was in for a battle midway through the first quarter, when Solon drove to get a second-and-goal at the 1-yard line, but Mt. Pleasant stuffed the Spartans three-straight times.
After a pass interference call gave Solon the ball at the five-yard line, the Spartans gained four yards on a first-down pass to put them one yard away from pay dirt. The Panthers, however, made three huge stops to cut the Spartans down short.
What happened after that, however, was the theme of the day. Solon’s defense forced a punt, which gave the Spartans the ball right back, drove down and scored on a seven-yard run by Maddox Kelley.
The game was 7-0 after one quarter, and the Spartans were able to score in similar fashion in the second quarter. After a Griffin Jones interception gave the Panthers some momentum, the Spartan defense forced another punt, and capitalized when quarterback Eli Kampman hit Cody Millman on a deep pass down the middle of the field.
The Panther coaching staff was livid at what appeared to be Kampman throwing the pass past the line of scrimmage, but the call stood, and Solon had a two-score lead.
Then, up 14-0 late in the half, the Spartans found the end zone on another Kelley run, with just 43.3 seconds remaining in the second quarter. At halftime, Solon led 21-0.
The Panther offense continued to struggle in the second half, leading to a Kaden Hoeper touchdown catch in the third, and another rushing score by Kelley in the fourth to help Solon run away with the game, and the district.
“We gave ourselves chances,” Bowlin said. “I thought our defense gave us a chance in that first half, and there were a couple of things that really went against us in a negative way, but those guys were battling.”
That defense was led by Max Sloat, who came away with eight tackles in the win. Brody Clark had six, and Jones had the team’s only takeaway.
Offensively, Grayson Walker went 10-for-14 for 113 yards and an interception throwing the ball. Isaiah Lange had 59 yards receiving. Kaden Schadt and Brody Clark finished with 31 and 23 yards receiving each, and Ramzy Davis led the ground game with 33 yards rushing.
Solon is now 8-0 overall and 4-0 in district play, with a home playoff game coming no matter what happens against Ft. Madison next week.
Mt. Pleasant is now 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the district. The Panthers can clinch a playoff spot against Fairfield, but will lose their automatic bid with a loss and a Keokuk win against Washington.
Also, if Fairfield beats Mt. Pleasant this week and Washington wins in Keokuk, the final automatic spot will go to a three-way tiebreaker. Right now, Mt. Pleasant has that tiebreaker with a +18 total point differential in the district. Fairfield sits at -4, and Washington sits at -5, which means things could get interesting if the Trojans and Demons were to pull out victories.
