By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline Trojans emerged victorious over Clay Center on Friday, topping the Tigers 26-14 in the best battle SES has seen since last postseason.
With this win, Southeast moves to 5-0 while Clay Center falls to 3-2.
Six drives into this game the average fan could be forgiven for thinking this would be another dominant effort by Southeast.
The Trojans forced Clay Center 3-and-out on their first three drives and drove the length of the field each time on offense, but an interception in the end zone and two missed two-point conversions kept the score at 12-0.
In desperate need of a spark before halftime the Tiger offense, which gains just 20% of its yards through the air on average, began to let it fly, connecting on four big passing plays before punching their first score in on the ground to make it a 12-7 game at the intermission.
The Trojans received the opening kick of the second half and sent the offense onto the field to take back the momentum but were stonewalled into a 3-and-out of their own and forced to give the ball back to the Tigers in good field position.
Clay Center wasted no time picking up where they left off as quarterback Mark Hoffman engineered another big drive, finding paydirt on the ground from nine yards out to put the Tigers on top 14-12.
It was the first regular season second-half deficit the Trojans had faced since 2019.
“We didn’t execute some things as well as we wanted and part of that is Clay Center having a really good football team,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “We kept working and kept working and I think staying physical and running the football eventually paid off for us.”
Southeast never sulked for a second and on the very next drive, Luke Gebhardt manufactured a big drive of his own as the Trojans pounded the ball on the ground, reclaiming the lead on a quarterback run.
The Tigers tightened the screws on defense, allowing just one more score before the final whistle but the SES defense held the line on three occasions, racking up sacks and winning the line of scrimmage to hold onto a narrow 26-14 victory.
“I thought our front three did a really good job,” Gebhardt said. “We let the quarterback get outside a few times but I thought those guys played well.”
Despite the close nature of this contest, Southeast outgained Clay Center by nearly 300 yards of total offense, but the Tigers finished +3 in the turnover battle, something the Trojans will need to clean up as the season progresses.
Aside from a pair of picks, Gebhardt looked good again racking up 100 yards and two scores on the ground to go along with over 150 yards and two more TDs through the air.
It was another efficient night for feature-back Nate Friesen as well, who carried the ball 13 times for 90 yards in the big Southeast win.
The Tigers will host Concordia next week while the Trojans remain at home to entertain 1-4 Hillsboro.