By CONOR NICHOLL
Beloit senior quarterback Owen Eilert’s parents are BHS graduates. His mother, Brennan, is the Trojans’ high school counselor and a 1993 Beloit alumna. Owen’s father, Ryan, graduated Beloit in 1995. Ryan is a longtime business teacher and Beloit boys’ basketball coach.
Owen, the oldest child in his family, has long been ensconced in the Trojan War: the Beloit versus Southeast of Saline rivalry. Both teams share the same nickname. Beloit wears orange and black, SES purple and white. The longtime North Central Activities Association foes are separated by just 83 miles on US-81 and US-24 highways.
“I just know that when we lose to them in basketball, that eats away at him, and so ever since I have been young, I have really had a sense of who we like and who we don’t like,” Owen said. “And Southeast is one of those that we are always competitive with, and they always bring a good team. We always bring a good team, and it’s just a fun rivalry to be in.”
Southeast of Saline head football coach Mitch Gebhardt is in his 12th season. Gebhardt said the Beloit/SES rivalry predates him, and he heard about the matchup before he took over. The teams generally play by at least Week 6. This marks the fourth straight year the squads have faced in Week 2, a timeframe Gebhardt likes. He labeled the series a good test and good rivalry.
On Friday, Beloit plays host to Southeast Saline in a matchup that should again decide the league crown. Both teams are 1-0. Beloit returned its entire offensive line from a surprise 5-7 season that ended with a Class 2A state semifinal run.
“It’s about preparation,” Gebhardt said. “The Beloit coaches do an outstanding job, have for a long time.”
The Trojans had its original Week 1 game versus Republic County cancelled, picked up Marysville in late week and won 24-12. Beloit is ranked No. 4 in 3A.
SES finished 9-1 last year and No. 2 in 3A scoring defense with 7.3 points allowed a game. It marked the best scoring defense in school history, just ahead of 1984’s 8.0 points permitted a contest and 8.2 permitted in 1970.
Southeast rolled over Minneapolis, 50-0, last Friday. Junior Luke Gebhardt replaced his brother, Jaxson, as the Trojans’ starting quarterback. Those two and junior Jake are Mitch’s sons. Luke completed 12 of 17 passes for 194 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Senior Dawson Adams, a three-year starter on the lines, paced with nine tackles, four for loss. Junior Caden Isaacson, a special teams player in 2020, finished with six tackles in a performance Gebhardt labeled “outstanding.”
“Our defense came out and played really well to start with,” Gebhardt said.
Senior middle linebacker Matthew Rodriguez tallied six tackles, two for loss and a forced fumble. Rodriguez, a two-time state wrestling runner-up and one of Kansas’ best defensive players for all classes, has 201 tackles, 42 for loss in his career. Rodriguez carried nine times for 26 yards and two scores.
Last season, Rodriguez finished with 19 carries for 111 yards and a TD. This summer, Rodriguez went several places for wrestling and didn’t hardly miss anything in football. Gebhardt called Rodriguez a “great leader” and a player SES is comfortable with carrying the ball some in addition to his defensive duties.
“Probably the best shape he’s ever been in,” Gebhardt said.
Southeast of Saline won its 11th straight regular season/Week 9 bracket game. Senior Chase Poague caught three passes for 75 yards and a score. Poague, the defending 3A state champion in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, has always been fast and continued to get better.
“The weight room has been good to him,” Gebhardt said.
SES has plenty talented depth and brought back senior defensive lineman Jasper McDowell, who delivered six tackles, three for loss. McDowell hurt his back last season and couldn’t play, though was still at practice everyday.
Senior Braxton Blake anchored at center, and senior Dalton Bunch played well up front, too. The 289-pound Adams, 235-pound Evan Nickelson and 300-pound Eli Jackson all were key on the line.
SES has won at least seven games in seven of the past eight years. Gebhardt said the 2021 team’s work ethic is similar of past years and some leaders have emerged. The offensive line is as big as any group under Gebhardt, and the team has a lot of speed.
“This defense is as good as we’ve ever had,” Gebhardt said.
SES has won the last three in the Beloit series, 14-13, 20-12 and 18-0. The teams have played every year since 1992, per the Kansas Football History database. Southeast of Saline has not lost a league game in the last three years. SES also won the league in ’15-16. Beloit captured league crowns every year from ’10-14.
“It’s a great rivalry,” Eilert said. “Because we are two of the schools that are usually at the top of our league, and always very competitive with each other, and we use them as motivation a lot of the times, because they have gotten us in the recent (past), and so we are having to get them back this year.”
Last season, Beloit had its well-publicized turnaround. The Trojans had an inexperienced group and changed to the power run game after some early struggles. In the playoffs, Beloit earned a big road win against Thomas More Prep-Marian, picked up a COVID-19 forfeit victory versus Phillipsburg and then defeated Haven in double overtime.
“Especially with the league teams, we remember those losses, and they kind of eat away at us,” Eilert said. “Last year, I know starting out the season really slow, we didn’t necessarily do what we wanted, so we had to make improvements throughout the year, and we kind of used those games as motivation.”
Beloit returns nearly everyone from last year’s group, including Eilert, junior tailback Benson Berndt and the front that includes tight end Brennan Walker, along with linemen Grady Seyfert, Cameron Konkel, Gage Robinson, Brody Widrig, and Wes Adolph.
“Those guys are my best friends, and I trust them with my life pretty much back there,” Eilert said. “…They are the ones that set the tone for us and pave the way.”
Plus, Braden Burks switched to fullback, and defensive back Jackson Rexroat is back after a first team all-conference season. Coach Brad Gober stands at 25-18 in his fifth year.
“He is not going to be the most athletic kid in the world out there as far as speed-wise, but the thing that he does is he is extremely smart,” Gober said of Rexroat this summer. “He is very instinctive, and because he is instinctive, and he studies film and all that stuff, he is able to make a lot of plays in the defensive backfield.”
Eilert played right tackle in sixth grade. In seventh grade, he grew tallier and lankier and switched to running back, and eventually quarterback. Last season, Eilert threw for 654 yards with eight touchdowns against five interceptions. Berndt rushed for 1,213 yards and eight TDs.
“Beloit’s always been known for downhill, power football,” Eilert said. “And so that is what we have went to, and we kind of thrived in that system.”
“His growth from Game 1 to Game 12 was tremendous,” Gober added of Eilert.
Last season, COVID played a big role in Beloit’s schedule. Beloit faced Centralia in Week 6 after Norton cancelled. Then, Beloit had the playoff win when Phillipsburg couldn’t play. After the semifinal loss to Hoisington, Beloit got a big game clock that was a countdown until the next game, the Week 1 contest this fall against Belleville-Republic County – 287 days later.
Last week, RC cancelled.
“We went through the whole summer working out in the mornings and everything, just watching that clock slowly count down,” Eilert said. “And it was at about three days I believe, and all of a sudden, our game got cancelled. And it was just really disappointing, because we had been building toward that for as long as I can remember, and it’s just gone right in that instant.”
Beloit still went to practice that day. Marysville was eventually added as a replacement.
Beloit had a rainy practice Thursday trying to prep for Marysville. Eilert said preparing for Marysville was challenging, not only because of the compressed schedule, but also the Bulldogs took significant graduation losses in 2020. Beloit’s only film going into last Friday was the jamboree.
“Tried to keep the energy up, but it was really hard,” Eilert said. “Just because you are so disappointed, and the future is just so uncertain. And our coaches were very secretive, because they didn’t want to tell us much, because we knew we would take it and run with it, no matter what rumor got started.”
“So when we finally figured out that we were playing Marysville, we were just honestly relieved, because we were so antsy to get a game in, and just get that weight off of our shoulders of that first game,” he added.
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