This is only the second time in school history that the football team has made the playoffs 3 times in 4 years.

Koam Highlights

Southeast seniors shine
in victory over Fredonia
By Jim Henry
Sports Editor

CHEROKEE, Kan. —
Appropriately on Senior
Night, many Southeast
seniors turned in strong
performances as the Lancers downed Fredonia 28-12
Friday night on the Southeast Field.
“Every game matters to
me,” senior running back
Cash Windsor said. “But
this just is a special game
just because we were all
here. Possibly our last
home game, this whole
game mattered.”
The Lancers (5-3) won
their second straight game
and secured the No. 3 seed
from Class 2A District 1.
They play at Osage City
(7-1) next Thursday night to
open the postseason.
Windsor rushed for
121 yards on 15 carries,
caught a 16-yard pass and
logged the Lancers’ third
interception in the final 90
seconds.
Cooper Hamblin and
Cullen Mutz, two more
senior running backs,
combined for 144 yards as
Hamblin netted 88 yards
on seven carries and Mutz
had 56 yards on a dozen
carries.
Quarterback Nate Jacobs hit 2-of-6 passes for 74
yards, including a 56-yard
strike to Hamblin for the
game’s first score. Jacobs
also intercepted a pass.
The Lancers’ defensive
line, led by seniors Brandon Favuzzi and Ryan
Wilkins, put a lot of pressure on Fredonia quarterback Joel Dutton.
“They played hard.
They played well,” Lancers coach Nick Cheney
said. “They stepped up
and played a good ball
game. Fredonia is a good
ball club.”
The Lancers punctuated their victory with
a 12-play, 99-yard drive
that consumed 8 minutes, 10 seconds off the
fourth-quarter clock.
Trailing 22-6, Fredonia
moved into Lancer territory, but sophomore Deric Mitchell’s interception
at the 1-yard line extinguished the threat.
The Lancers proceeded to move down the field
on a dozen rushing plays,
including a 42-yarder by
Hamblin, 12-yarder by
Windsor and 13-yarder by
Mutz. Jacobs reached the
end zone on a one-yard
sneak with exactly three
minutes left.
“It took a lot of time off
the clock,” Cheney said.
“That’s a good thing. Our
kids took care of the ball
when we really needed
a drive. The linemen did
great, and the backs ran
hard, too.”
“Oh my, ever since we
started practice we’ve
been working on great
drives,” Windsor said.
“Once we get those wideopen runs, just run as
hard as possible. We keep
driving the ball down.
Even if it’s a two-yard
gain, it doesn’t matter.”
The Lancers began their
second possession at their
42-yard-line after Mutz’s
12-yard punt return.
On the first play, Jacobs
found Hamblin wide open
behind the Yellowjackets
secondary and hit him
in stride with a 58-yard
touchdown strike. Jacobs
then connected with Cade
Burdette for the 2-point
conversion pass and an 8-0
lead with 3:02 left in the
first quarter.
Mutz’s 28-yard punt return gave the Lancers possession at the Fredonia 42,
and Mutz scored six plays
later on a four-yard run
off the right side for a 14-0
lead just over a minute
into the second period.
Fredonia scored on Colten Dinkel’s two-yard run
with 2:34 left in the half
to make it 14-6. Dutton,
who had five incompletions and one interception
in his first six attempts,
hit Keegan Bryant for 43
yards and Aidan Chard
for 30 yards on consecutive plays to highlight the
82-yard, eight-yard drive.
The Yellowjackets appeared to score again
when defensive end Mason
Harvey literally took the
ball from the Lancer ball
carrier and ran 54 yards
down the sideline. But the
Yellowjackets were called
for holding after the takeaway to nullify the TD.
Dutton hit Dinkel for a
64-yard touchdown with
2:13 left. Dinkel finished
with 12 carries for 58
yards and four catches for
103 yards, and Dinkel completed 10-of-25 passes for
220 yards.