Indians Fought Tough Against Solon Machine
The Indians played four quarters with a tough Solon team.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It was homecoming week in Oskaloosa, and the Indians knew they had an uphill battle against number one ranked Solon if they were to get the win.
Going into the night, the Indians believed that they would match up closer in the game.
Oskaloosa Head Football Coach Jake Jenkins spoke about the team’s effort. “We got beat in all phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams.”
“I’m very disappointed that it wasn’t a closer game. We are one of the few teams in Class 3A that can match up with them up front, even though they are better than us up front. We should be able to do enough to slow them down defensively and we should be able to get the ball moving offensively,” said Jenkins.
“I am disappointed,” said Jenkins. “They just beat us tonight. Sometimes you just get beat. And when you get beat, you go back to the drawing board and you try to fix those mistakes and you try to get the right players in the right positions, and some of those players are maybe not on the field yet.”
The Indians were the first to score against the top ranked defense in the state. “I get frustrated because I look out there and there’s all those holes in their defense as solid as it is.”
“Anyone can be beaten on any given night, said Jenkins. “It’s frustrating when you see those openings and you know you can get some stuff going and you miss opportunity after opportunity.”
“Solon is good, but they’re not 43-7 good I don’t think,” said Jenkins. “They are a great team. That might be the best team in the state of Iowa.”
Jenkins could be heard on the sideline encouraging his team to not give up even until the end. “They didn’t” said Jenkins. “I don’t care what happens, play four quarters. Have respect for the opponent and for the game.”
Solon overpowered Oskaloosa 43-7, and goes to first place in the district.
Solon had 18 first downs compared to just 8 for Oskaloosa. 16 of those first downs for Solon came on the ground. Solon had 394 total yards to the Oskaloosa’s 75 yards.
The lone Indians touchdown came in the third quarter when Seth Howard passed to Jarad Kruse for the 11 yard touchdown.
Tyler Miller was the Indians leading rusher with 19 yards on just 1 carry. Seth Howard had 13 yards on 8 attempts.
In the air, Cole Henry grabbed 6 receptions for a total of 41 yards.
Tanner DeKock was lighting up the defensive effort with 17 total tackles on the evening. Jaden Van Roekel added an additional 12 tackles.
Nikolas Dykstra and Keaton DeKock each added 9 tackles for the Indians.
