By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After knocking off a perennial power in Clay Center on Friday night, the Southeast of Saline Trojans will find themselves in an early battle for league supremacy when they host Beloit for the Trojan War.
Beloit (2-0), has rolled through their first two opponents of the season decimating Lyons 52-6 and Concordia 28-0 while SES (2-0) holds wins over Minneapolis and Clay Center.
“That Clay Center game was a fun one to be a part of,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “I really felt like both teams played their butts off. It was as close to a playoff atmosphere as you could get in week two and it really did come down to a few plays, we were fortunate to make one more play than they did.”
Now, Southeast will have to go toe to toe with one of three remaining unbeatens in the NCAA, as the two Trojan teams join Ellsworth at the early 2-0 summit.
For years, the NCAA ran through Beloit, but for the better part of the last decade, those fortunes have changed, with Southeast winning each of the last six meetings between the two.
“Beloit is always a big game for us, it always has been,” Gebhardt said. “They’ve been coached well since I’ve been here and their kids always play hard and have good size. They present a lot of challenges and they know how to run power football. If we’re not tough, Beloit’s definitely gonna beat us.”
Despite beating one of the best teams in Class 3A last week, SES continues to seek steady improvement and will look to take another step forward this week.
“Defensively, we can still play better as a group and we’ll continue to work on that,” he said. “Offensively we need to make sure we’re making our reads and getting the right guys in the right spots. We still have a lot of kids who have only played in two varsity football games and I think we’re going to continue to get better.”
Southeast will also need to find an answer for a Beloit unit that has outscored its first two opponents 80-6 to open their season.
“Their size always presents problems,” Gebhardt said. “They’re always big and they really fly around and make tackles on defense. We need to play fast this week whether that’s making a run or running down the football. We need to play as a team on defense and pick up first downs to keep our offense on the field.”
Kickoff is set for 7 P.M. with pregame coverage on Salina Post and KINA at 6:40, Devin Hanney and Russ Cossell will have the call.
You can tune in for live stream video and audio commentary at the link below 100% free on Salina Post.