By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After a 26-7 triumph over the Rock Creek Mustangs to begin their 2023 campaign, the Southeast of Saline Trojans will return to Gypsum on Friday for the Trojan War against Beloit.
The Orange Trojan unit began their year with a narrow 22-14 loss at the hands of a surging Ellsworth, and will come into week two hungry for revenge, and eager not to fall behind a considerably improved NCAA.
“The league is outstanding this year,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “I think all of the schools in the NCAA are going to be very good in football and we’ll play good teams night in and night out.”
While many of the names and positions around Beloit have changed, their run-heavy wishbone formation, and physical brand of football have not, and Southeast will have their work cut out for them once again despite having won each of the last five meetings.
“They’re very well coached and they always have been,” Gebhardt said. “Those guys do a tremendous job and they’re always going to play hard. Their expectation is to win and they’re going to play power football on the ground. They do a good job of blocking well and running downhill, we’ll have to be ready for that.”
While Beloit did rack up 176 yards on the ground last week, averaging nearly four yards per carry, the Trojans did leave points on the field, which ultimately led to the narrow week one loss.
“Beloit is physical and their defense did a good job against a high-powered Ellsworth offense last week,” he said. “Offensively they didn’t get in on a couple of scoring opportunities but they moved the ball well.”
Meanwhile, SES appeared to not miss a beat despite graduating several key pieces from a season ago, as Danny Kejr completed 15-21 for just shy of 200 yards and a touchdown through the air, while the offense racked up over 200 yards and three additional scores on the ground.
“We played well together at Rock Creek,” Gebhardt said. “That was a question mark early in our season with some newcomers slotting in alongside some of the older guys but I thought we handled everything well.”
While it’s no secret that the players in these two locker rooms are far from fond of one another, Southeast remains committed to approaching this game just like any other, which has been a key in their success over rivals like Beloit in the past.
“We preach 1-0 no matter who we’re playing and Beloit has a very good football program,” he said. “I don’t know if the rivalry adds an extra layer but we know who we’re playing and we know if we don’t prepare right all week long we’re going to have a long evening ahead.”
Despite a strong performance over a solid Rock Creek team in week one, SES will look to limit their turnovers and cut down on their penalties as they begin their slow and steady climb of consistent improvement.
Kickoff of the Trojan War is set for 7:00 at “The Fritz” in Gypsum, and as always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM), or streamed with live audio and video on the Salina Post courtesy of Eagle Radio.