By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
For a second straight season, the Southeast of Saline Trojans (7-0) and Ellsworth Bearcats (7-0) will meet in week eight as undefeateds with a whole pile of riches on the line.
Not only will the winner of this game remain perfect on the year, but the victor will also earn a league title, a district title, and perhaps most importantly, a 1-seed in the 2A playoffs.
“This is a good game for us,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “The most important game for us is always going to be our next one but this is a good challenge. Ellsworth has a fantastic football team and we’re going to have to be good on every down against them or they’re going to take advantage.”
Both of these programs have lit up the stat sheets this season, and each ranks top 20 in every statistical category in Class 2A.
The Trojans and Bearcats rank 5th and 6th respectively in scoring defense, each holding opponents under nine points per game, with both programs in the top 15 in scoring offense as well.
While SES did a fair bit of reloading over the offseason, Ellsworth graduated just one senior from last year’s squad, before adding Salina South transfer Ian Andalon (RB/CB), who has been a boon to the Bearcats in 2023.
“We picked up where we left off and our defense is really strong again,” Ellsworth HC Josh Homolka said. “We can also run the ball in ways we couldn’t last year and we’re bigger, faster, and stronger across the board with another year of experience.”
While both teams haven’t faltered for a minute this year, the Trojans have seen teams like this before after knocking off a pair of 3A foes in Clay Center and Rock Creek earlier this year.
“Ellsworth doesn’t have much of a weakness across the board,” Gebhardt said. “We look for areas where teams don’t do things as well but they really don’t have any of those. They’re aggressive, they’re physical, they play good team football and they do a good job in all facets of the game.”
That respect is mutual coming into this game, as the Bearcats prepare for far and away the toughest opponent they’ve faced throughout the 2023 campaign.
“The word that comes to my mind when I watch Southeast is chaos,” Homolka said. “They bring so many people and it feels like they have 15 guys on the field on defense. Offensively they want to run a lot of plays from the no-huddle and they take their shots.”
To have success, Southeast will have to shut down a whole stable of backs that includes Ian Andalon, Loden West, and Landin Johnson, and currently ranks 8th in 2A in rushing offense (237 yds/g).
“They run the ball very well, I would even say better than last year,” Gebhardt said. “We need to take care of the football, limit our penalties, pick up first downs, and play good solid team defense.”
On the other side, to hand the Trojans their first regular season loss since 2019, the Bearcats will have to handle the Southeast pressure on both sides of the ball, something opponents have struggled with all season.
“SES does such a good job of blitzing we have to get a hat on a hat to pick that up,” Homolka said. “Defensively we have to get settled into the tempo of the game and not let the speed of the game get to us early.”
Kickoff between the Trojans and Bearcats is scheduled for 7:00 at Ellsworth High School and as always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM), or streamed with live audio and video on the Salina Post HERE.