On Friday, November 29th the Southeast of Saline (SES) football team won the State Championship game making them the 2024 Kansas class 2A State Champions.
Prior to the State playoffs, SES won all of their regular season games resulting in an 8-0 record. In the first round of the playoffs, SES faced off against Larned, winning with a score of 76-12. From there, they advanced to the Regionals game where they played Norton and won 34-7. That led to the Sectionals game where SES played Hoisington, winning with a score of 30-8.
In the final game before State, SES played Beloit, seeing them for the second time this season. After a back and forth game, SES won with a last second touchdown pass from Gannon Jacobson to Kanyon Douglas making the final score 34-30. After this win, SES advanced to the State game where they would face off against Nemaha Central, the winner of the previous two State Championships.
The last time that SES advanced to the State Championship game was in 2005, when they played Silver Lake, winning a close game 30-28. For the last few years, SES has had strong teams that have remained undefeated until the playoffs and then have fallen short in the Sectionals and Sub-State games. Because of this, the team and Coach Gebhardt were determined to go all the way this year.
In the weeks leading up to the State game, the team ran their practices on the Dean Evans baseball field. Running plays and trying to prepare for the State football game on a baseball field came with its complications, and the team had to make several adjustments. Practices were longer, lasting until 6:45 each night, and the plays were set up along the curve of the baseball field, which took time for the players to adjust to. Although the field came with drawbacks, there were also some benefits to playing at this location.he players got the opportunity to practice on a turf field, similar to the field they would compete on in Hutchinson.
The Trojans spent the entire season preparing for the State championship game, and when November 29th arrived, they were ready. The first half of the State game started exactly how the Trojans expected, and they had all the momentum going into the locker room at half-time with a 20-7 lead. However, the second half was less desirable for the Trojans.
Both SES and Nemaha Central’s second half opening drives were busts with no points scored. Then, on their second drive of the third quarter, Nemaha Central scored, making the score 20-13. After two fumbles resulting in touchdowns, Nemaha Central took the 28-20 lead from the Trojans. But after their comeback win against Beloit in the Sub-State game, the Trojans were confident they could pull out a win regardless of the score deficit.
With less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, SES drove down field scoring a touchdown. After the critical two-point conversion was good on a throw from Tucker Thaxton to Malachai Hopkins, the game was tied 28-28. Then, on the kick-off after the touchdown, a fumble occured and the Trojans recovered the ball, putting them in the perfect position to score in the last minute to take the lead and avoid overtime. On fourth and nine with thirty seconds left in the game, Gannon Jacobson scrambled, running time off the clock, and then passed to Tucker Thaxton who ran the ball into the endzone for a touchdown. After another successful two point conversion the Trojans took back the lead with a score of 36-28.
With eleven seconds left, Nemaha Central had enough time to run two plays: one incomplete pass and one complete pass that was stopped at the fifty yard line. These two plays concluded the game, and the SES Trojans were crowned the 2024 Kansas class 2A State champions.
SES finished their season with an undefeated record of 13-0, the first time in SES history that a football team finished completely undefeated. After coming so close the last few years, this win was important for both the team and Coach Gebhardt who stated, “I really felt like throughout the year the players never gave up on anything, so the last two games were fitting for the boys we were coaching because that’s how they approached the whole season. It was exciting for this group of boys to break into the State game and win.”
Overall, the SES Trojans football team accomplished great feats this year, and they are ready and prepared to continue this success next year and beyond.