By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a 50-0 victory over the Minneapolis Lions, the Southeast of Saline football team headed to Beloit, where they faced their first true challenge of the season in the rival Beloit Trojans.
Both defenses came to play early as the game remained scoreless heading into the second quarter, but with just around five minutes to play in the first half, Beloit broke the deadlock when Branson Heisrote punched in a six-yard touchdown run.
For the first time in 2020, SES found themselves trailing. That didn’t last long as the offense rattled off 36 unanswered points and the defense slammed the door shut in a 36-6 rout.
Quarterback Luke Gebhardt had the air assault working, completing 9 of 15 including four touchdown passes.
The fireworks began when Gebhardt delivered a ten-yard strike to Chase Poague and followed it up with a two-point conversion to give SES an 8-6 lead at the break.
Out of the locker room, the offense didn’t miss a beat, extending their lead with a 46-yard pitch and catch from Gebhardt to Michael Murray.
They followed that up with a 41-yard bomb to Jake Gebhardt and before Matthew Rodriguez broke loose for a 38-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans wrapped things up with a second touchdown pass to Poague, putting the finishing touches on an impressive road win.
“I felt like our offense got going after we struggled in that first quarter,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “I didn’t feel like our kids got tired tonight. They had a good mindset and they worked their tails off.”
While the offense was putting up big points, the defense completely stifled the Beloit rushing attack, and their offense mustered just 21 yards the entire second half.
“I thought our defense did a pretty good job,” Gebhardt said. “We had that late pick but the defense stepped up and it says a lot that we held them to six points, that’s a pretty good football team.”
With this win, SES has won four in a row over Beloit and has allowed just 31 total points in those four games.
Southeast will be on the road again next week when they head to Ellsworth for another NCAA matchup.
For more on the SES football team in 2021, stay tuned to the Salina Post.