By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
All season long, people have waited for Southeast of Saline to get careless on a Friday night, and this week, many thought that wish might be granted.
The Trojans turned the ball over five times, losing four fumbles and an interception, with four of those miscues coming in the red zone against the top passing offense in Class 2A.
They won 46-14.
While the victory will go down as a definitive one for Southeast, the Trojans know they will need to tighten things up down the stretch in order to contend with some of the bigger opponents ahead.
“It’s a win in district, that’s what you want to accomplish,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “But we turned the ball over way too much and we had way too many penalties. I feel like we got that 22-point lead out of the gate and we had spurts after that where we played well but we can’t play like this just because we’re up.”
Despite the struggles with ball security, it was still an excellent day for the Trojan offense as a whole, as Danny Kejr carried the ball for 246 yards and two TDs, perfectly complimenting Nathan Friesen, who tacked on 159 yards and four scores on the ground.
The Southeast defense held up their end of the bargain too, sacking the Hillsboro quarterback twice and holding one of the most potent passing attacks in Class 2A to just 140 yards through the air.
“I thought our lines both played well tonight,” Gebhardt said. “Our O-Line did a good job of opening up holes and giving Danny time to throw and our defensive line chased the quarterback well.”
Southeast will return to Gypsum next week for one final regular-season home game when they play host to the 0-6 Lyons Lions.