With slotback Jeff Bolen likely out for the season with torn knee ligaments, Regina Thunder quarterback Reid Quest had to find a new target that could get close to the 200-yard mark in a game.
He didn't have to look far.
In Sunday's 38-7 win over the Edmonton Huskies, wide receiver Kolten Solomon caught five passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns (of 37 and 87 yards). All but five of those yards were tallied in the first half.
"He's awesome," Quest said simply. "He's one of those guys, when you throw the ball up there, he's going to go get it. He helped me a lot today.
"Those plays give us that intimidation factor."
Solomon could have been of even more assistance, but had a 68-yard touchdown in the first quarter called back because of a holding call along the line of scrimmage.
"When I turned around and saw that flag I just thought, 'Aw no, what happened?' " Solomon said with a laugh. "I was hoping the defence was offside or something, but I knew it was holding."
"We wanted to set the tone early and that was a slap in the face after that," added Quest. "I'm glad we rebounded."
Rebound, they did. On the very next play, Solomon caught a 17-yard pass and three possessions later came the shorter of his two majors. The 87-yarder came just a few minutes later with the Thunder facing second-and-16.
For most of the day, Solomon was able to run simple fly patterns down the sideline to get behind the Huskies secondary.
"I don't know why they didn't put two guys on him to begin with," said Quest. "I think everyone in this league knows what he can do and they just let him to whatever he wanted today. He capitalized on it."
With Sunday's performance, Solomon is now the leading receiver in the Prairie Football Conference with 24 catches for 411 yards. Solomon has only played in three games, one less than most in the league. Bolen led the way after three weeks with 23 grabs for 354 yards.
"We knew (Solomon) had the capabilities to do that because he's always been that type of player," said Thunder head coach Erwin Klempner.
Coming into the contest with the Huskies, Solomon said he wasn't feeling any added pressure to perform with Bolen in a brace on the sideline.
"Our other receivers are just as good as starters," Solomon said. "Camille (Lagimodiere, who started for Bolen and had one catch for 30 yards) or Johnny O(ttaviano), they can fill in for Bolen and there wouldn't be that much of a drop off. Really, it was just a normal game."
