By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
In 2005, Southeast of Saline appeared in and won its first state football championship in school history, defeating Silver Lake 30-28.
The road back to that promised land has been anything but straight and simple, but on Friday night, the Trojans have earned an opportunity to play for a second state title in Hutch against the two-time defending state champs in Nemaha Central.
In the 19 years since their last championship appearance, Southeast of Saline underwent a coaching change, joined a league, and fought through several re-classifications, but one thing has remained the same: the tradition of excellence in Gypsum.
Under 15th-year head coach Mitch Gebhardt, the Trojans have posted 12 winning seasons and made several deep playoff runs, but even amidst all that success, the last five years have been a sight to behold.
Since kicking off the 2020 season, Southeast has an overall record of 53-4, with each of those losses capping off a deep playoff run in a state quarter or semifinal.
Those campaigns served as building blocks as the Trojans grew their program from a feel good success story, into an emerging dynasty, and now, just one box remains unchecked.
“We’ve had so many good teams over the years, and all of those guys helped us build towards getting to this game,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “It’s a great feeling to play in this game, and our kids are awfully proud and excited to do it.”
In addition to great teams on the field, Gebhardt has built a small but mighty coaching staff, with Chance Ptacek, Trenton Douglas, Todd Baird and Kent Jacobson helping to elevate the program to new heights.
“The guys I get to coach with are outstanding,” Gebhardt said. “They don’t worry about how long it takes; they just worry about getting the job done, and that’s a big deal when you’re coaching football. Some weeks take longer than others, but those guys do everything they have to put our kids in a position to be successful.”
The Trojans picked up right where they left off in 2024, rolling eight opponents to finish a fifth straight undefeated regular season.
From there, they handed a loss to Larned 76-12, knocked off Norton 34-7, held off Hoisington 30-8, and last week, beat Beloit 34-30 on a thrilling buzzer-beating touchdown.
“I’m really proud of how we handled the situations we faced in that Beloit game,” he said. “Our kids did a great job of not panicking and I think our defense set us up for that finish. We stuck to the game plan, made tackles when we needed to and gave our offense an opportunity to score with 42 seconds left. That was a proud coach moment.”
With 12 wins behind them, just one opponent remains, but the Trojans will have their work cut out for them against a Nemaha Central team that has served as Class 2A’s final boss for three years running.
“Nemaha Central has been outstanding over the years, and their coaching staff does a great job with their guys,” Gebhardt said. “It’s neat that we get to go up against the two-time defending state champs to see how we stack up against them.”
The Thunder have strung together a run rivaling that of SES, winning three state championships since merging Nemaha Valley and Baileyville B&B in 2014.
In addition to two state titles, Nemaha Central boasts a record of 37-1 over the last three years and will be considered favorites by many to three-peat, an outside attitude that suits Southeast just fine.
“If you look at the big picture, they’re the two-time defending state champions, and I think a lot of people will view us as underdogs in this game,” he said. “That’s something that we’ll embrace and talk about, but they’re the champs until they’re not, and we have to take that mentality into this game.”
That lone loss for the Thunder came in a 16-8 headscratcher to Marysville in week one, but since then, Nemaha has been perfect, winning their last seven in the regular season and rolling through Fredonia, Sabetha, Osage City and Council Grove in these playoffs.
Much of Nemaha Central’s success has come on the back of quarterback Carter Hajek, who has completed 60% of his passes for 1,026 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.
Hajek truly shines on the ground, where he leads the Thunder with 330 carries for 2,148 yards and 38 touchdowns, with just one fumble all season long.
“Their quarterback run game is what that offense revolves around,” Gebhardts said. “You can’t stop that, but you can try to slow it down a little. He gets a lot of the credit but they do a great job with their scheme and blocking for him to make that happen. We’ll have to get a lot of hats to the football and play together on defense on Friday.”
Hajak has certainly garnered a lot of media attention in the buildup to this game and should rightfully be considered the best pure athlete on the field. But with a three-headed monster on offense and a swarming defense that allows just 11 points per game, Southeast will be ready to challenge the kings on Friday night.
Despite being a first-year starter, Gannon Jacobson has already etched his name into the record books at Southeast of Saline, completing 58% of his passes for over 2,000 yards, 31 touchdowns and ten interceptions while also rushing for just shy of 1,000 yards and eight more touchdowns on the ground.
“Gannon works hard, and he’s a good athlete,” he said. “We knew he’d be good, but he’s continued to improve throughout the year. When you struggle with something you get better, and he struggled early on but he’s worked hard at it and things have slowed down for him. He sees things now that he didn’t before.”
While Jacobson rules the air, Grady Gebhardt, the youngest son of head coach Mitch Gebhardt, has owned the ground, toting the rock 176 times for 1,340 yards and 14 touchdowns, adding 20 receptions for 303 yards and two more scores in the passing game.
“Getting an opportunity to coach my kids and the kids in their classes has been outstanding,” he said. “All of them bring something a little different to the table, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.”
Teams that have managed to slow down Jacobson and Gebhardt have seldom had an answer for Tucker Thaxton on the edge, as the senior has torched opposing secondaries for 935 yards and 14 touchdowns as Jacobson’s favorite target.
“Tucker has great speed but his route running is outstanding,” Gebhardt said. “He’s worked his tail off to get to where he’s at. Defensively, he’s hard-nosed; he’ll come up and make a hard tackle when he needs to but he knows when to hunt that football too.”
All of this is to say nothing of the Trojan defense led by Brody Chambers (66 tackles, 20 TFL, 6 sacks), Kanyon Douglas (98 tackles, 3 INT), Bryson Lippold (66 tackles), and a slew others, who have allowed 21 or more points just one time all season.
While the Trojans have not played in a football state title game since 2005, this group of players is no stranger to pressure, having played through multiple deep playoff runs in almost every sport in Gypsum.
“These kids have played in so many big games between football, basketball, baseball and track,” he said. “I think they’ll handle this moment well. Winning a game like we did last week helps confidence and helps the way you look at things as well.”
A win over Nemaha Central will take nothing less than the Trojan’s best game of football on Friday, but Southeast is ready to leave it all on the field as they look to cap off the first undefeated season in program history with a 2A title.
“We have to make sure that we take care of the football and get first downs on offense,” Gebhardt said. “In games like this every play matters and when we have an opportunity to make a play we have to make a play. Defensively we have to play as a team and get to the football together. In big teams like this a special teams play can also make a big difference.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 on Friday at HCC-Gowans Stadium in Hutch.
As always, the game can be heard locally on KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM) or online at 910KINA.com with Devin Hanney and Russ Cossel on the call.
Due to KSHSAA regulations, the game will not be streamed live on Salina Post but will be available to watch on-demand immediately following the game by clicking HERE.