🏈 Trojans seek to maintain momentum against floundering Eagles

By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post

Entering 2025, the expectation for Southeast of Saline was to mount a strong challenge to defend their 2A state title.

Somehow, the Trojans have exceeded even those lofty goals, powering through their first three opponents, including two fellow playoff teams, with ease.

After blowing out Minneapolis 60-21 in their opener and breezing by Clay Center 46-7 in week two, the SES geared up for the Trojan War with Beloit, and a rematch of 2024’s state semifinal.

The game was never close, as Southeast obliterated Beloit in a 50-0 shutout to roll to 3-0.

“Any time you can go up to Beloit and win, that’s a good win for your program,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “Beloit is always good, but I was proud of our kids and the way we went up there and played really well on both sides of the ball.”

While the Trojan offense is averaging over 50 points per game through three weeks, what’s scarier is the defense, which has slowly tightened the screws over the course of the year.

“Our defense has gotten better each week, and that’s our goal,” Gebhardt said. “Many of those kids have a lot of experience, but it takes time to build leadership and understand schemes with a new season. We’re getting a lot of kids to the football and we’re understanding our roles better.”

Now, Southeast turns its attention to a perennial power in Kingman, but one that’s gotten off to a peculiar 0-3 start to the 2025 season.

The Eagles suffered blowout losses in weeks one and two, falling 23-7 to Chaparral and 38-0 to Cheney, respectively, before dropping a three-point contest to Wichita Trinity last week.

Despite those early struggles, this is a program and a coaching staff that SES holds a great deal of respect for, and one the Trojans expect a good shot from on Friday.

“Kingman’s coaching staff does a great job and they’re a scary team,” he said. “Any time you play them you have to be locked into what you’re doing and we need to continue to get better every week. Those kids play hard and we’ll have to bring our best this week.”

If the Eagles want a shot in this game, they will have to find an answer for Grady Gebhardt, who has more yards from scrimmage through three weeks than Kingman does as a team.

“Any time you can get Grady in space, good things can happen,” Gebhardt said. “The guys have been blocking well downfield; it goes beyond the line, without that, you don’t see those long touchdowns.”

Turnovers are likely to play a big role in this game as well, with Kingman having surrendered seven free possessions to opponents this season.

“We have to continue to take care of the football,” Gebhardt said. “We need to keep the ball moving and play as a team defensively. We need to get a lot of hats to the football and to tackle when we’re there.

Tonight’s game will be streamed live on Salina Post and can be heard on KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM).

You can tune in both live and on demand in the window below.