Southeast of Saline wins Trojans War, 32-6

Friday night’s weather did not cooperate as two local football powers looked to renew their rivalry. Saturday, the weather would cooperate just enough to see the two square off.

Southeast of Saline faced off with Beloit in the “Trojan War,” from JRI Stadium at the Graves Family Sports Complex.

“Well, you know, we’re routine. We do things one way, and that’s the way we do things, so when something like this happens, you always wonder how the kids are going to handle that and everything else,” said Southeast of Saline Head Coach Mitch Gebhardt of the weather delaying the game by 24 hours. “We don’t play on Saturdays very often, and so it was completely different for us. But I really felt like our kids dealt with that adversity very well, handled the difference in playing on Saturday and all the things that go with that, and the weather as well.”

With a light rain falling from the sky, Beloit would strike first, scoring on a long 70-yard touchdown run by Joel Rexroat, taking a 6-0 lead after Southeast of Saline blocked the extra point attempt. Those would be the only points Beloit would score in the game.

From that moment, Southeast of Saline would command the night.

The purple-clad Trojans would score the game’s final 32 points on their way to a dominant 32-6, starting the season 3-0.

Southeast would score their first points of the night on a five yard pass from Quarterback Gannon Jacobson to Receiver Evan Watkins to tie the game, and Southeast would take their first lead on the two point try.

The ensuing kickoff would be a play that changed the game.

A short, low kick would bounce off the turf and skip away from Beloit and be recovered by Southeast of Saline’s Evan Watkins, just moments after his touchdown catch.

On the very next play, Jacobson would again connect with one of his trusty wideouts, as Tucker Thaxton hauled in a 30-yard score down the sideline, and on the two point conversion, SES would extend their lead out to 16-6.

The kick return into the touchdown gave seemingly all momentum to Southeast of Saline, but Coach Gebhardt knew his special teams unit could make a game-winning play.

“We were battling for momentum. I felt like we kind of got it going there,” said Gebhardt of the kickoff recovery. “We work on special teams pretty regularly, and I felt like that was a key moment in the game.”

Just ahead of halftime, Southeast’s solid defense would make another massive play, pushing momentum even further onto the home sideline. Southeast of Saline would recover a fumble in Beloit territory, again setting up the SES offense in great position.

Southeast of Saline wouldn’t waste the chance, tacking on one more score ahead of the intermission. The connection of Jacobson and Thaxton would strike again to give Southeast of Saline a 24-6 advantage heading to the locker room.

In the second half, the defenses would command the action, with both teams holding strong until the tail end of the third quarter.

With 1:08 to go in the third, Southeast would punch in it’s final score of the night, as Running Back Amarion Holub would break a tackle and dash 27 yards for the score. Holub would then punch in yet another two point try and give Southeast of Saline its 32-6 lead that would stick to the final whistle.

“I was really proud of the goal line stand we had in the first quarter. We did a good job of getting that shut down. And then, I felt like the whole game, they’re big, they’re strong, and they’re good, I mean we had to battle the whole game,” said Gebhardt of his defense’s performance. “I felt like after we got things going after that first long run, everything else, I thought our kids did a pretty good job.”

With the win, Southeast of Saline improves to 3-0 on the season, extending its regular season game winning streak to 35 consecutive games. The Trojans have not lost a regular season contest since 2019.

Southeast of Saline will head on the road next week, visiting the Kingman Eagles on Friday night.

Beloit falls to 2-1 on the season and will visit Phillipsburg on Friday night.