By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On Friday night, a 19-year wait came to an end for the Southeast of Saline faithful as the Trojans dethroned the two-time defending state champs in Nemaha Central 36-28 in an instant classic.
Southeast took a haymaker in this game that would have knocked out most other teams, but the Trojans picked themselves up off the mat and hit back, scoring two touchdowns in the final two minutes to complete a fourth-quarter comeback for the ages.
“These last two games have taken ten years off my life but that’s okay,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “This is the personality of these kids, they don’t give up, they keep working; we had some bad things happen to us and fumbled the ball twice after fumbling once all year but the kids kept clawing against a really good Nemaha Central team and we got the victory.”
Gannon Jacobson started the party for the Trojans early, leading SES down the field on their opening drive and scrambling 18 yards to give Southeast a 6-0 lead.
Nemaha Central wasted no time responding, as Carter Hajek did the same, capping off a long drive with a touchdown pass to Jack Macke.
Game on.
After the two sides traded punts, the Trojans found their footing on offense once again, this time via Grady Gebhardt, who took a right-side toss to the end zone for his first TD of the game.
One stop later, the Southeast offense was back on the field, and Gebhardt was back in the end zone, this time on a 3-yard throwback from Gannon Jacobson.
The Thunder came close to answering before the break, but another stand for the SES defense ensured a 20-7 Trojan lead going into halftime.
Those wondering when the two-time defending state champs would bare their teeth didn’t have to wait long, as near the end of the third quarter, Hajek kicked off a massive swing for the Thunder with a touchdown run from three yards out.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Trojans fumbled the ball away deep in their own territory, and Hajek wasted no time punishing them for that mistake, scoring his third touchdown of the day and tying the game at 20 on a three-yard rush.
In desperate need of an answer, Southeast, who had lost just one fumble all season long, inexplicably coughed up their second fumble of the day, and Hajek again engineered a long drive, delivering Nemaha Central a 28-20 lead with under 2:00 to play.
That 21-point swing should have been a knockout blow to a Trojan team that suddenly found themselves on the ropes against a squad many around the state fully expected to finish off their three-peat.
Southeast of Saline had other plans.
“In the last two weeks, our kids never wavered," Gebhardt said. "That’s a remarkable trait of this team to be able to perform under that much pressure, and I'm so proud of them for finding a way to get it done.”
The desperation drive began at their own 40-yard line, where Grady Gebhardt took a screen through two tackles to flip fields on a 20-yard gain.
Completions to Evan Watkins and Kanyon Douglas on back-to-back plays put the Trojans in the red zone, and a carry by Jacobson got them ahead to the four-yard-line.
On second and goal, Jacobson rolled to his left, slipped a potential sack in the backfield, and scampered up the middle of the field, absorbing contact on his way into the end zone to give the Trojans six points and new life.
Needing a two-point conversion, SES reached into their bag of tricks, handing the ball off to Tucker Thaxton who delivered a pass to the back corner, hitting Malachi Hopkins for a crucial two-point conversion for the tie.
That two-play swing completely shifted the momentum of this game, and with the wind in their sails, Southeast kicked off, hoping to get one last stop to send the game to overtime.
What happened next was something lifted straight out of a Hollywood movie.
A short kick into the wind took an awkward bounce at the 30-yard line and began moving back toward the advancing Trojan coverage team.
Southeast’s Kaden Barragan somehow managed to beat every white jersey on the field to the football, recovering for Southeast of Saline deep in Thunder territory with just under 1:00 left to play.
Nemaha’s defense held to force fourth and eight and appeared to have Southeast stopped with Jacobson scrambling around in the backfield, but smelling blood in the water, the Trojan signal caller improvised and found Tucker Thaxton at the 20-yard line.
Thaxton had a defender draped around his legs as he made the catch but managed to wrench himself free and scamper up the sideline behind a Kaden Barragan block, taking the ball all the way to the promised land to deliver the unlikeliest of leads to the underdog Trojans.
For good measure, Jacobson found Evan Watkins for the two-point conversion to make the lead eight, and one last Southeast stop turned the long-awaited dream into a concrete reality.
For the first time since 2005, the Southeast of Saline Trojans were state champions.
“If you keep knocking sooner or later that door is going to open," Gebhardt said. "You have to have some things go your way to get to this point and we’ve had some teams come awfully close but it’s a great feeling to finally win a state championship.”
This is the first undefeated season in SES history, as the Trojans lived up to their expectation of going 1-0 each week 13 times.
Gannon Jacobson finished the day 8-16 passing for 114 yards and two touchdowns, carrying the ball 11 times for 75 yards and two more scores on the ground.
Grady Gebhardt capped off his fantastic season with another 100-yard performance, scoring two of Southeast’s touchdowns on the day.
Tucker Thaxton did the same, scoring two times on just three catches but showing up when it mattered most.
Jacobson and Gebhardt will anchor a proverbial who’s who of returners when the Trojans look to defend their crown in 2025, but Southeast will have to say goodbye to a senior class that led them to a remarkable record over the last four seasons.
That class includes Tucker Thaxton, Evan Watkins, Kendall Minneman, Landon Allbrecht, Trey Droge, Ian Nickelson, Deacon Baier, Alec Sawyers, and Cooper Westhoff.
“Those guys are 45-3 in four years of high school football and they’ve been our leaders since taking the torch from the classes that came before them," he said. "They’ve had their heart broken three times in the last three years and for them to be able to win a state championship and go out this way it’s a great feeling for them and it’s a great feeling for me as a coach.”
This win also marks the first state title for head coach Mitch Gebhardt, whose record at Southeast of Saline now sits at 116-39, including a 54-4 run over the last five seasons.
“My coaching staff is unbelievable," Gebhardt said. "They go to work every day and we don’t set a clock, we work until the work gets done. I’m so proud of those guys, they’ve done such a great job for us over the years. I’m also proud of our kids and the way they kept battling. We’ve had a lot of awfully good football teams that have come up short but everyone can be proud of these guys for getting it done.”