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SOLON LOOKING THE PART — SPARTANS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP

🏈 SATURDAY MORNING BLITZ

SOLON LOOKING THE PART — SPARTANS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP

There is a difference between having a talented football team and developing a championship football team. Head Coach Lucas Stanton and the Solon Spartans look like they are working toward the latter.

Solon moved to 3-0 with an impressive 41-7 victory over rival Mount Vernon, and this was another solid outing for Stanton and company. What continues to stand out to me is the amount of experience being developed across this roster while the Spartans continue winning football games.

This wasn’t just one player carrying the load.

Maddox Kelley was outstanding at quarterback, completing 11 of 15 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Kelley also carried it 11 times for 86 yards and another touchdown. That’s 326 yards of total offense and four touchdowns from your senior quarterback.

Owen Bock gave Kelley a major weapon on the outside, hauling in 7 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yard reception. Kaden Hoeper added two receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown.

The Spartans weren’t one-dimensional, either. They finished with 144 rushing yards on 26 carries, led by Kelley, while Jackson Burk added 52 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

Defensively, this might be the part that should really get people’s attention.

Solon held Mount Vernon to seven points while recording 46 total tackles, 33 solo stops, six tackles for loss and a sack. Simon Einwalter and Lucas Feuerbach each recorded 5.5 tackles, James Thomsen had 4.5, and Foster Owens added four. Einwalter recorded two tackles for loss and the Spartans’ sack, while Feuerbach, Thomsen, Wyatt Young and Cohen Liechtman also registered tackles behind the line.

And don’t overlook special teams. Collin McKie went 5-for-5 on PATs and 2-for-3 on field goals, including a 35-yarder.

That’s complementary football.

The thing I like about Lucas Stanton’s squad is that this doesn’t feel like a team trying to peak in September. It feels like a program building toward something.

Young players are gaining snaps. Veterans are producing. Different players are contributing. The defense is playing physical football, the offense has multiple ways to hurt you, and the Spartans continue accumulating the kind of game experience that becomes incredibly valuable when October and November arrive.

41-7 over Mount Vernon. 3-0 on the season.

There’s a lot of football left to play, but Solon continues to look like a state-championship-caliber football team.

Coach Stanton and company aren’t holding the trophy today.

They’re building the team that wants to be holding it when it matters.

One game at a time. One rep at a time. One layer of experience at a time.

#SaturdayMorningBlitz #DogHouseTour #CoachingCultureInAthletics #CCA #SolonSpartans #SolonFootball #IowaHighSchoolFootball #IHSAAFootball #FridayNightLights #ChampionshipCulture #OneGameAtATime #BuiltForNovember #HighSchoolFootball

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Published by cbanks1972

## Charles “Chuck” Banks ### Founder and Voice of Coaching Culture in Athletics Radio Broadcast Network Charles “Chuck” Banks—known to many throughout the tri-state sports community as Coach Banks or “Chuck the Tank”—is the founder and lead broadcaster of the Coaching Culture in Athletics Radio Broadcast Network. Built from more than two decades of coaching, teaching, leadership, and relationship-building, the network is dedicated to telling the stories of the coaches, athletes, schools, and communities that make local sports special. A native of rural Iowa, Banks has spent 20 years in education and more than 25 years coaching football. He earned his bachelor’s degree in History and Secondary Education from Graceland University in 2004 before completing a master’s degree in Secondary Education and Educational Administration and a specialist degree in Educational Leadership. Throughout his coaching career, Banks worked with programs across southeastern Iowa. His stops included Centerville, Central Lee, and Fort Madison, along with seven years coaching girls basketball and additional experience in junior-high track. At Central Lee, Banks served as an assistant defensive coach and activities director before becoming the Hawks’ head football coach from 2020 through 2022. Central Lee reached the playoffs during his final season. He was also part of multiple playoff teams and a district championship during his time with the program. At Centerville, Banks spent nine years as an assistant and helped the Big Reds capture a district championship and earn multiple playoff appearances. Most recently, he coached at Fort Madison under Head Coach Derek Doherty, helping develop younger players within the Bloodhound football program. Banks’ defensive coaching journey evolved from the traditional 5-2 defense to the 3-3-5 before he found his preferred home in the 4-2-5. However, his coaching philosophy has never been limited to schemes, formations, wins, or losses. He believes the greatest responsibility of a coach is to build relationships, develop leaders, create belonging, and prepare young people for life beyond the playing field. That belief became the foundation for Coaching Culture in Athletics. What began as an effort to create meaningful conversations about coaching and leadership grew into a full sports-media and broadcasting network. Coaching Culture in Athletics now serves as the umbrella for Dog Pound Radio, The Coach Show, the Dog House Tour, Dog Pound U, Hound Talk, the Dog House Saturday Morning Blitz, live game broadcasts, team previews, rankings, interviews, historical features, and year-round coverage of local athletics. Through the Dog House Tour, Banks visits practices, meets coaching staffs, interviews athletes, studies programs, and gives local teams the type of detailed coverage normally reserved for much larger schools. The network’s reach extends throughout southeastern Iowa, western Illinois, and northeastern Missouri, connecting communities across the tri-state region. Banks has covered and developed relationships with programs including Fort Madison, Central Lee, Centerville, West Burlington–Notre Dame, Mount Pleasant, Macomb, West Hancock, and Brown County. His work highlights more than star players and final scores. It recognizes assistant coaches, linemen, managers, scout-team players, school traditions, historic stadiums, longtime community supporters, and the people working behind the scenes. The Coach Show allows Banks to sit down with coaches from the high-school and college levels for honest conversations about leadership, program development, adversity, family, faith, and the profession of coaching. His interviews are guided by experience rather than observation alone. He understands the pressure of leading a program, the hours spent preparing, the sacrifices made by coaching families, and the responsibility that comes with mentoring young people. Dog Pound Radio brings a more energetic edge to the network. Inspired by Banks’ love for football and his beagles, Leo and Loki, Dog Pound Radio combines local sports reporting with the unmistakable “Dawg Mentality”—toughness, loyalty, preparation, perseverance, and love for the team. Loki continues to serve as a central part of the brand, while the memory of Leo remains woven into its heart. Banks’ journey has also been shaped by significant personal adversity. After suffering multiple strokes, undergoing heart surgery, and facing additional serious health concerns, he stepped away from coaching and entered what he describes as medical retirement from the sideline. He also speaks openly about depression, adult ADHD, recovery, and the importance of faith, family, purpose, and mental health. Although his health changed the way he could serve, it did not take away his calling. Broadcasting became a new sideline. Through Coaching Culture in Athletics, Banks found another way to teach, coach, encourage, and advocate. His experiences have given his work a deeper sense of urgency: appreciate the people around you, tell their stories while you can, recognize the unseen contributors, and never underestimate the impact a coach can have on a young person’s life. Faith and family remain at the center of Banks’ life. He and his wife, Stephanie, have built a life rooted in southeastern Iowa and are the proud parents of Chelsey, Peyton, and Katarina. Their growing family includes son-in-law Donald Archambault and grandchildren Orion, Owen, and Ollie. Banks often credits his family for standing beside him through the demanding seasons of coaching, education, broadcasting, illness, and recovery. Today, Chuck Banks brings together the perspective of a coach, educator, broadcaster, historian, husband, father, grandfather, and survivor. His voice is passionate, direct, knowledgeable, and deeply connected to the communities he covers. The mission of the Coaching Culture in Athletics Radio Broadcast Network is simple: promote the positive impact of athletics, strengthen coaching culture, celebrate local communities, preserve sports history, and provide athletes and coaches with a platform where their work matters. This is more than a radio network. It is a celebration of coaches, culture, athletes, families, and communities. It is local sports coverage built on relationships. It is where coaches, culture, and communities connect. It is Coaching Culture in Athletics.

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