By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Undefeated state champions, it doesnât get much better than that.
After flirting with perfection for years, the Southeast of Saline football team finally ascended to the mountaintop in 2024, defeating Nemaha Central to claim their second state title in program history and finish a 13-0 masterpiece.
Most programs would take a long, well-deserved victory lap to bask in the hard-fought glory of an achievement 19 years in the making.
Southeast of Saline is not most programs.
âThereâs no part of this team on the staff or in the locker room thatâs thinking about last year,â SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. âWhether you get beat early on or win it all, you have to focus on whatâs ahead, and I think our guys have done an outstanding job of focusing on what we need to do for this year.â
Many around the state, both in the media and in opposing locker rooms, are expecting Southeast of Saline to maintain their spot at the top, and while the Trojanâs have spent plenty of seasons looking to prove naysayers wrong, this year, itâs about proving those outside voices right.
âWe have high expectations for ourselves, we always do,â Gebhardt said. âBecause we won a state championship, a lot of people think we have things going and that weâre going to do big things, we want to prove ourselves and them right.â
From a personnel standpoint, the Trojans will be in an excellent position to run things back in 2025, with key members of last yearâs title-winning team returning in droves.
Quarterback Gannon Jacobson, who completed 57% of his passes for 2,146 yards and 33 touchdowns last year, returns to wreak havoc on opposing secondaries, with a senior-heavy receiving corps led by Kanyon Douglas, Kaden Barragan, and Malachi Hopkins to throw to.
In the run game, bruising tailback Grady Gebhardt will look to follow up on a season that saw him rush for 1,439 yards and find the end zone 18 total times, behind an offensive line that also returns most of its depth from 2024.
On defense, Drew Weller and Brody Chambers are back in the trenches, Douglas and Gebhardt return to a linebacking corps that also brings back Killian Vaughan and Bryson Lippold, and Jacobson, Hopkins, Barragan, and Amarion Holub all reprise their roles patrolling the deepest parts of the field.
While all that talent is certainly a feather in the cap of a Trojan team with an embarrassment of riches, itâs the experience that has Coach Gebhardt excited to try and run things back in 2025.
âExperience is big in anything you do, and Iâm not saying itâll be easier, but these kids understand the grind of a football season and of a varsity game,â he said. âNothing about winning a football game is easy, and if you donât put the work in, youâre going to end up on the short end of the stick. We have to get better and come together better as a team every single week.â
Expectations in Gypsum are high, and while it can be difficult not to think back on a magical 2024 season, or to look ahead to what 2025 could represent, you wonât hear talk of either in a Trojan locker room whose only focus is on their week one matchup.
âThe success that weâve had over the years has been built on our kids working hard and our players doing things the way they're supposed to be done,â Gebhardt said. âIâm proud of our kids for believing in what we do and working hard to do things correctly. âOur only goal right now is to play well and go 1-0 this week.â
The Trojans will kick off the new campaign on the road in Minneapolis.
All Southeast of Saline football games will be broadcast on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and live-streamed on Salina Post with Devin Hanney and Tyler Smith providing commentary in the booth.
Full 2025 Football Schedule
9/5 - at Minneapolis
9/12 - vs. Clay Center
9/19 - at Beloit
9/26 - vs. Kingman
10/3 - at Lyons
10/10 - vs. Hillsboro
10/17 - at Halstead
10/24 - vs. Ellsworth