By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a shaky first half, the Southeast of Saline Trojans came out of the locker room and outscored Minneapolis 16-0 in the second half, en route to a hard-fought 32-16 victory.
The defense and special teams shined the brightest, as the Trojans opening night win was highlighted by two blocks, two fumble recoveries and an electric kickoff return for a touchdown by sophomore Michael Murray.
While SES will exit week one with a 1-0 record, no one on the Trojan side of things is fully satisfied with the way the team played on Friday night.
“I think we need to keep on doing what we’re doing but do it better,” Trojan head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “Obviously these kids were happy with the win but they know we didn’t do some things well.”
One of the biggest problems for SES was penalties, as on multiple occasions the Trojans found themselves moving in the wrong direction.
“I don’t know how many penalties we had but it’s as many as I can remember a team here at Southeast having,” he said. “That’s something we need to clean up.
Despite the penalties and a lackluster night on offense, Southeast got the job done, and defeated Minneapolis for the fifth time in their last six meetings.
Junior Chase Poague got the scoring started for SES at the end of the first quarter, with a 19-yard touchdown run on an end-around to give the Trojans an 8-0 lead.
After conceding a safety and a touchdown that tied the game at 8, Michael Murray got to the edge on the ensuing kickoff, hit the gas and never looked back to put the Trojans back on top 16-8.
Minneapolis would strike again on a long drive before halftime that was aided by multiple SES penalties, and after a two point conversion the teams headed into the half knotted up at 16.
Whatever adjustments Southeast made on the defensive side in the locker room paid dividends as Minneapolis failed to find the end zone once in the second half.
After Sterling Harp jumped on a loose ball in the third quarter, the Trojans marched 30 yards on two plays, capping the drive off with a Jaxson Gebhardt touchdown run.
Gebhardt would find the end zone again on the teams next drive, icing the game with less than five minutes to play.
Despite rushing for two touchdowns, Jaxson knows that the team has some work to do before taking the field next week.
“We have a lot of little things to work on but if we can get those things cleaned up we’re gonna be scary,” he said.
The Trojans will remain at home next week to face a Beloit squad coming off a 30-14 loss at the hands of Republic County. Minneapolis will stay on the road and hope to find their first win against Riley County, who dispatched St. Marys 47-8 to start their season.