From the Salina Journal:
Rossville found a way to beat Southeast of Saline at its own game.
Southeast was able to put up some big offensive numbers and featured a stingy defense while going unbeaten in the month of September. Rossville was able to do the same when the teams met in a Class 2A district contest Saturday afternoon at Graves Family Sports Complex.
The Bulldawgs (3-2) had nearly 500 yards of total offense and did a good job of keeping the Trojans high-scoring offense out of the end zone in a 43-7 victory. The game was originally scheduled for Friday night at Southeast, but was delayed and moved to the Kansas Wesleyan facility because of Friday’s heavy rains.
The loss ended Southeast’s four-game winning streak to start the season and puts the Trojans at 1-1 in 2A’s District 4.
“I think anytime you have a loss, you need to figure out what you need to improve on and go back to work,” Southeast coach Mitch Gebhardt said. “Football is a long season and if you don’t continue to improve, you aren’t going to win many games.”
Rossville was coming off a 34-15 loss last week to Riley County and needed Saturday’s win to avoid dropping to 0-2 in district. Southeast went 7-1 in the regular season in 2018, with its only loss to Rossville.
“I think Southeast is a good team, but we were just a little bit better today,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “For us it was about not playing very well last week and finding our identity again.”
The Bulldawgs scored on their first three possessions to go up 21-0 early in the second quarter. The first two Rossville touchdowns came when Southeast had its opponent in third-and-long situations.
Sophomore quarterback Torrey Horak had touchdown carries of 13 yards in the first quarter and 59 yards in the second. Horak also had a 67-yard touchdown pass to Bo Reeves, with Reeves making a leaping catch over the defender near midfield and then winning a footrace to the end zone.
The Trojans had not allowed more than 18 points in a game this season, but Rossville led 21-0 with 11:11 to play in the first half.
“Their quarterback made a lot of plays for them,” Gebhardt said. “He’s a good athlete and we didn’t defend him very well.”
Horak had 154 yards rushing and 102 passing in the first half, but the Trojans were only down 21-7 after putting together a 17-play, 80-yard drive. Southeast didn’t have a play go for more than 10 yards in that drive, but kept grinding away until a 1-yard Bryant Banks touchdown carry finally put his team on the board with 4:52 to play before halftime.
Rossville added to its lead only three plays into the second half when Woodrow Rezac broke free on a 42-yard scoring run.
“Rossville is obviously a good team and they scored on their first two drives to get us back on our heels,” Gebhardt said. “At the end of the first half we got a couple of stops and I thought we were headed in the right direction.
“They came out at the start of the second half and scored another touchdown on a third-down play. We worked hard to try to recover but never did.”
Southeast had each of its three third-quarter possessions end with a turnover, though Trojan junior Jaxson Gebhardt also intercepted two Rossville passes in that period to keep Southeast in the game.
Rezac got a second touchdown run less than two minutes into the fourth quarter to make it 36-7, and Horak’s 26-yard carry set up the Bulldawgs final score on a 1-yard Tyree Sowers run.
Southeast finished with 136 yards rushing and Jaxson Gebhardt threw for 140. Matthew Rodriguez had three catches for 52 yards and Chase Poague three for 39.
“I felt like we moved the ball OK, but good teams finish drives and score touchdowns,” coach Gebhardt said. “But give Rossville credit. They did a good job of defending and stopping us, especially when we were close to the goal line.”
“The key for us was to be good against the run, which seems odd because Southeast is a good passing team,” Hammes said. “But that makes the other team more predictable if they are one dimensional and in some ways we were able to do that today.”
