Trojans take on red-hot Spartans

FAIRFIELD — Just one more football game remains at Trojan Stadium in 2023. Fairfield dawns its home uniforms one last time in the regular season, as the Trojans host No. 3 (3A) Solon in district play.

Fairfield comes into this Week 8 matchup after winning its first game in almost a month, a 20-7 road win over South Tama.

  Buy Photo

The Trojan defense is coming off one of its best performances of the season. Fairfield held South Tama to less than 200 total yards to earn its third win of the season, and the first in district play.

The Trojans (3-4, 1-2) will battle perhaps the hottest team in Class 3A, a stacked Solon Spartan squad, which comes in 6-1 overall and 3-0 in district play.

Solon got off to a tough start to the season, falling 34-7 on the road to Assumption, a team currently ranked No. 8 in the Class 3A Gazette high school football poll. The Spartans haven’t lost since.

In the last four weeks, Solon has put together quite the resume. The Spartans smashed a Top-5 Mount Vernon team, 37-20, crushed Grinnell, 40-7, defeated Benton 16-13, and then knocked off previously top-ranked Williamsburg 21-14.

Solon and Fairfield have played six times since 2016. The Spartans have won every matchup, including a 45-25 win at Fairfield last season.

Fairfield hopes its running game can push the Trojans to an upset win. Going into the South Tama game, the Trojans had rushed for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns, including 724 yards and six scores from Cason Miller. Wyatt Johnson has rushed for 307 yards, and Lucas Konczal has found the end zone twice.

Trojan quarterback Sam Weaton hasn’t racked up the passing yards so far, but he has gotten it done with his legs. Weaton rushed for two touchdowns in the win over South Tama last Friday.

The Trojans will have their hands full trying to stop Solon’s offense. Led by a strong running game, the Spartans are closing in on 2,000 total yards this year, despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the class.

Fairfield will have to watch out for Solon sophomore Conlan Poynton, who has rushed for 501 yards and five touchdowns this season to lead the ground game.

Quarterback Tyler Bell has thrown for 748 yards and seven touchdowns for the Spartans. His favorite targets are senior Grant Knipper, junior Eddie Johnson and senior Nash Kotar, each of which has over 175 receiving yards.

The Spartans’ defense has been fantastic at taking the ball away this season. Solon has recovered 12 fumbles and taken four of them back for defensive touchdowns, and the Spartans have picked off five passes.

Friday night’s game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.