Prep Football: Solon Survives Opening Week Scare

By Jeff Hare, Reporter

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By Grant Burkhardt

Story Created: Aug 25, 2012 at 12:06 AM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 25, 2012 at 12:06 AM CDT

SOLON — The word around Solon is building a new tradition. And with the new stadium finally completed, the Spartans are set to do just that.

Though it wasn’t as pretty as they would have liked, the Spartans overcame Mount Vernon and walked away with a 21-11 prep football win last night.

Early on it was all Mustangs. Midway through the first quarter, Jake Muller hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Logan Walker. Marshall Tuerler scampered around the right end for the conversion, and Mount Vernon was up, 8-0.

“I really felt we didn’t execute in that first half,” said Spartan Coach Kevin Miller. “I thought we left too many plays on the field.”

Solon got a 5-yard score from Tim Lance late in the quarter, but failed on the PAT. Mount Vernon’s Robbie Blythe kicked a 30-yard field goal, putting the Mustangs up 11-6 at intermission, silencing the estimated crowd of 3,000.

Then the Spartans’ defense took over.

“We made some adjustments at halftime and I thought that it made a huge difference,” Miller said. “I also thought that we got some more consistent play on the line of scrimmage in the second half.

“They helped us both on offense and defense.”

That defensive unit held Mount Vernon to one second-half first down. The Spartans took control on two long touchdown drives in the third, both featuring passes from Rory Siddell to Nathan Hawkins.

“It was the same pattern on both plays,” Siddell said. “We saw that they were rolling their safeties, and we thought we could take advantage.”

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