By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
All eyes were on Minneapolis tonight as the Lions hosted Southeast of Saline in the lone 2A matchup across the state to feature two 2-0 teams.
Despite all the pregame hype, the game was over before it even really began as Cameron Witte took the opening kickoff 78 yards to the house to put the Trojans on top 8-0 less than 15 seconds into the game.
“We really set the tone with our special teams to start the game,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. We’ve got two 2-0 teams coming in here to play and we did that. When you start a game that way, you know good things are going to happen.”
Good things did in fact happen for the Trojans, who wasted no time cracking down on the Lions defensively as Danny Kejr picked off Ryan Parks on his first passing attempt of the game.
In a flash, Southeast marched down the field and punched in a Gebhardt to Gebhardt touchdown as Luke found Jake from the edge of the red zone to give SES a 16-point lead with 8:11 to play in the first.
With all the momentum favoring the visitors, many would have expected a somber scene in Minneapolis, but the purple and white showed out in force in what almost felt like a Trojan home game.
“The road support from our fans means a lot and we see that,” Gebhardt said. “This community has always followed their teams well and it’s exciting to see so many people in the stands like this.”
SES ensured that this game would be a rout in record time, holding a 24-0 lead after the first quarter, and a 51-0 advantage at the half, giving the varsity starters an early evening off.
The Trojan secondary didn’t allow a complete pass all night, holding the Lions to just 14 yards of total offense in the first half and just 88 for the entire game.
Offensively SES looked just as good, as Luke Gebhardt racked up over 200 yards and four touchdowns through the air to add to 32 and a score on the ground
Southeast has now defeated Minneapolis in each of the last three seasons by a combined score of 133-16, completely shutting the Lions out in the last two matchups.
With a Madison loss to Lebo elsewhere in the state tonight, the Trojans now hold the second longest active regular-season winning streak in all divisions, and will look to extend that to 20 games next week.
The Trojans will wrap up their three-game road trip in Halstead next Friday when they take on the 1-2 Dragons.