By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After stomping the Minneapolis Lions 50-0 in their season opener, the Southeast of Saline Trojan football team will hit the road to Beloit for another installment of the Trojan War.
SES is 5-1 in the series’ last six games, including a convincing 18-0 shutout at home just a season ago.
During a rivalry game on the road however, all bets are off and the Trojans in purple will have to prepare themselves for another power-run assault from Beloit.
“Beloit is a very good, well-coached football team,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “They’re going to play physical, they’re going to get after it and they’re going to run the ball hard. Defensively they’re awfully good, they have a solid line and all of the guys behind them follow suit.”
To shut down Beloits rushing attack, Southeast will need an effort similar to last year from their defense, which held Beloit to just two yards per carry and never allowed their offense to sniff the end zone.
“We have to play physically and do our job,” Gebhardt said. “When you play against a power-run team like Beloit you have to match that physicality."
For Beloit, it looks like more of the same as the Trojans bunched up and ran their way to a 24-12 win against Marysville to open their season.
This game will also pose another test for the new backfield of Luke Gebhardt and Matthew Rodriguez, who suffered a few miscues early but turned it on in the second half of the opener.
“That win was big for our new backfield,” he said. “They know they’re going to have the football in their hands throughout the season and after the first quarter I think they got more comfortable with all of it.”
If the SES defense that held Minneapolis scoreless for four quarters a week ago can disrupt the Beloit running game, they may be forced to play less one-dimensionally. Last year, despite averaging just two yards per carry Beloit did not attempt a pass all game.
While many teams would see a 50-0 blowout as an indication that nothing needs to change, the SES coaching staff still sees a lot of work to be done in preparation for this week's matchup.
“I think we have a lot of upside with how much we can still improve,” Gebhardt said. “We were far from playing a perfect game last week and I think we still have a lot of things that we can work on moving forward.”
Kickoff between Trojans is scheduled for 7:00 at Beloit High School. As always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed on the Salina Post courtesy of Eagle Radio.
For continuing coverage of the SES football team in 2021, stay tuned to the Salina Post.
Feature photo courtesy of Lori Blake