By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After two weeks away from home, the Southeast of Saline football team (6-0), still ranked as the #4 squad in Class 2A, will return to Gypsum to square off with the winless Lyons Lions (0-6).
The Trojans come into this game fresh off of a convincing 46-14 win over Hillsboro despite suffering five turnovers in an otherwise comfortable victory.
“We dealt with some adversity in that game and those turnovers put our defense in some bad spots but we kept playing hard,” SES head coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “The defense only gave up one touchdown and that’s big against a team that throws the ball as good as they do.”
Now, SES gets a brief respite in the midst of a stretch that sees them play three of their final four games on the road, and will have the opportunity to celebrate senior night against a team they manhandled a season ago.
“It’s always great to play at home,” Gebhardt said. “We have great fans, we’re comfortable here and it’s always good to play in front of them. We did a good job of handling those road games but now we get to be back in Gypsum.”
In their 2022 matchup with the Lions, the Trojans led 46-0 after the first quarter, 74-0 at the half, and 94-0 when all was said and done, without the aid of a single starter throughout the second half.
This year could bring more of the same, as Lyons has stumbled out of the gates to an 0-6 record, holding a point differential of -282 with just two games remaining in their season.
The Lions have struggled mightily on both sides of the ball, allowing the most points (49), and the fifth most yards (343) per game of any team in Class 2A, while also contributing the fewest points (2), and yards (84) on average.
Worse yet has been Lyons run game, which has gone in reverse this season to the tune of -41 net yards on the season.
Despite all of this, Southeast will prepare for this contest just like any other, refusing to sacrifice their ideals regardless of the opponent in front of them.
“We’re going to have to play good team defense against them and we want to continue operating effectively no matter what they throw at us because they change up what they do quite a bit,” Gebhardt said. “We have to be locked in when the game starts. It’s senior night for us and we want to play at our highest level throughout the game.”
Kickoff between the Trojans and Lions is set for 7:00 at “The Fritz” 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 HERE.