By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Going into their week four matchup with Halstead, Southeast of Saline anticipated a test, and although the Trojans cruised to a 49-17 victory on the scoreboard, the Dragons gave SES a real battle on Friday night.
“We talked to the kids all week about how physical Halstead plays and they showed that tonight,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “Their coverage team did an excellent job and they got pressure on [Luke], they’ve got some really good athletes and that was a good football game tonight.”
Halstead became the first team all season to take the lead on Southeast, cashing in on a 26-yard Thomas Burns field goal to go up 3-0 early.
Facing adversity and on the road, SES looked unphased, driving the ball down the field in under 2:00 and punching in a 14-yard Nathan Friesen run for six before completely turning the tide with a Jake Gebhardt interception.
From there, the Trojans went into showtime mode as Luke Gebhardt hit Michael Murray for a 51-yard bomb to get SES back on track with a 14-3 lead.
“I feel like our offense puts a lot of pressure on a lot of places and we always have guys on the field that can make plays,” Gebhardt said. “It’s not that I’m not scared of third and ten but I’ve coached teams where third and ten is a death sentence and that hasn’t been the case for the last 2-3 years.”
Halstead put up a valiant effort but Southeast proved to be too much to handle on both sides of the ball and held a 30-3 lead at the intermission.
When all was said and done the Trojan defense allowed just a single touchdown and held Halstead to under 200 yards of total offense while collecting just shy of 500 themselves.
Once again Luke Gebhardt and Nate Friesen gashed the defense on the ground, each rushing for over 100 yards in the Trojan victory.
It was also a special night for star wideout Michael Murray, who hauled in five passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns to add to a five-yard score on the ground.
SES has outscored their first four opponents 181-49, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that three of these first four contests came on the road.
“We’re excited to play at home and we’re going to have a lot of home games left,” Gebhardt said. “It feels like it’s been a long time since we played there and I’ll tell ya what, I’m tired of packing up that old van.”
As district play gets underway the Trojans will return to Gypsum for their final non-district game against a 3-1 Clay Center team that many would argue, is the toughest remaining test on the Southeast Schedule.
“I’ve seen some film on Clay Center already,” he said. “They play good defense, they’re very physical and they’ve got some really good athletes. We knew when the schedule came out that they had a really good sophomore and junior class moving up and we expect a good football game.”