By Jeremy Obermeyer
Salina Post Contributor
Southeast of Saline welcomed the Larned Indians to Steve Fritz Field on Friday night to open up the first round of Class 2A state playoffs.
The Trojans were heavy favorites coming into tonight’s game, but it was the Indians who drew first blood on a 62-yard strike from Carson Shaver to Deacon Martin.
From there however, it was all Southeast as the Trojans reeled off 76 straight points en route to a 76-12 rout.
Grady Gebhardt started the purple fury with three touchdown runs of 35, 11, and 56 yards.
Then came a 24-yard touchdown reception from Tucker Thaxton. sandwiched between Kanyon Douglas touchdowns on runs of 61 and 13 yards.
That closed out a 44-point first quarter, and Southeast added four more touchdowns in the second as the Trojan reserves started filtering in before halftime.
“I felt like our kids reacted pretty well," SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. It was a total team effort, everyone got to play, and that’s a big deal.”
Southeast finished the game with 335 yards rushing and 215 passing yards for a total of 550 yards.
Gannon Jacobson completed 8 of 9 passes for 157 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Gebhardt led the Trojans in rushing with 140 yards and 3 touchdowns on 7 carries.
Thaxton led the receivers with 104 yards and 2 touchdowns on 4 catches, and Bryson Lippold led the Trojan defense with 7 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries.
Southeast (9-0) will move on to the second round of the playoffs and will play host to Norton (8-1) next Friday while Larned ends their season with a 2-7 record.