By JEREMY OBERMEYER
Salina Post Contributor
The Southeast of Saline Trojans have never lost a season opener under Head Coach Mitch Gebhardt, and their series between Minneapolis has been particularly one-sided during his tenure, dominating it 8-2.
The Trojans weren’t about to let things change this year.
Grady Gebhardt got SES great field position with a big return on the opening kickoff, but after that, it would be the defense's turn to shine.
It would take until the 4:36 mark of the opening quarter before the game's first score as Gebhardt scored over the left side from 26 yards out.
From that point on, it would be all purple as the Trojans scored two more touchdowns in the first quarter, and three in the second and third.
Gebhardt would take four of those touchdowns for himself in the running game, cashing in from 26, 23, 53, and 75 to cap off a monstrous performance.
By the final whistle, Gebhardt had amassed 267 rushing yards, tacking on three catches for 22 more in the passing game.
Minneapolis scored on two Owen Just passing strikes to Brayton Peters, but it wasn’t enough as the game ended with a 64-14 victory for Southeast of Saline.
The Trojan offense amassed 443 yards of total offense, and while Gebhardt led the ground attack, Tucker Thaxton anchored Southeast in the receiving department with 49 yards on 4 catches.
Southeast (1-0) will be back in action next week as they travel to Clay Center to take on the Tigers (1-0) while Minneapolis (0-1) returns home to host Lyons (0-1).
You can watch the full broadcast of this game on-demand below.