BY DEVIN HANNEY
Sports Director - Salina Post
For the first time on Friday night, Southeast of Saline faced something very unfamiliar: Potentially missing the Playoffs.
For the first time in a decade, the Trojans were in a "win and get it" situation as they hosted the Minneapolis Lions on Senior Night. SES didn't let that situation linger, jumping out in front and never looking back on their way to a 56-0 victory.
The Trojan offense hit the field first and struck quickly on a three play drive that blitzed over 65 yards. After two long pass plays, Senior quarterback Tiernan Ptacek entered the endzone on a short touchdown run. Ptacek then found Casson Klover on the 2-point conversion to jump ahead 8-0.
With 9:31 left to go in the first quarter, Minneapolis went for it on fourth down in their own territory. The Trojan defense stood tall and forced a turnover on downs, creating a short field for the SES offense. Just 12 seconds and 2 plays later, Tiernan Ptacek found Casson Klover for a 36-yard touchdown strike down the right sideline. The PAT failed and the Trojans led 14-0.
Just three minutes later after another defensive stand, SES scored on a two-play drive. Both plays were passes from Ptacek to Hendrix Lund. Lund was able to tuck the ball inside the pylon on a 38 yard touchdown pass right before Ptacek ran in the 2-point conversion.
After the Trojan defense recovered a Minneapolis fumble with just 43 seconds left in the opening quarter, Ptacek met up with Leighton Nutsch for a 19 yard touchdown pass. The PAT failed and SES led 28-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The offenses were relatively quiet in the second quarter; the Trojan defense did most of the work while the Trojan offense was able to assemble a long drive chewing up most of the clock. Marching 87 yards, SES scored on a 1 yard Ptacek TD run to take a 34-0 lead. SES got the ball back quickly holding the Lions to just three plays and forcing a punt. The final score of the second quarter came with just 17 seconds on the clock when Ptacek found Lyrik Lilley on a jump pass to convert a 4th down into a touchdown from 5 yards out. LaVone Hopkins ran in the 2 point conversion and the Trojans went to the locker room leading 42-0 at halftime.
To start the game, Southeast of Saline won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. However, Minneapolis chose to kick. That meant the Lions had to kick off to SES to start both halves.
The Trojans took the opening kick and drove to the Lions' 13-yard line. For the first time in the game, SES was unable to score and ran out of downs. The only score of the third quarter came with 2:21 left in the period when LaVone Hopkins ran to paydirt from 13 yards out. The PAT kick failed and SES led 48-0.
Southeast of Saline played their depth in the fourth quarter, giving sophomore quarterback Burton Brooks a chance to assemble a scoring drive. Brooks put a period on the scoring with an 11 yard touchdown run coming with 6:19 left in the game.
Southeast of Saline amassed 348 yards passing while gaining 213 yards rushing for a total of 561 yards of offense and no turnovers. The Trojan defense continued to play well limiting Minneapolis to just 88 yards of total offense.
With the 56-0 win, Southeast of Saline wins the NCAA league title outright, moves to 5-3 on the season and qualifies for the playoffs. The Trojans will travel to Marysville to face the Bulldogs next Friday, 10/30. The playoff game will be a rematch of a September 25th district game where Marysville won 28-14.