By Brock Sisney
bsisney@morningsun.net

CHEROKEE, Kan. — The
Southeast Lancers, especially behind some outstanding
defensive plays, finished their
2023 season in style with a 26-
12 win Thursday over winless
Northern Heights in a Class
1A consolation game at Lancer
Field.
The Lancers wrapped up
their season 1-8. They fell behind 12-6 late in the first half
and scored 20 unanswered on
the Wildcats, including all 12
second-half points.
Southeast senior Dalton
Davis opened the scoring with
a 100-yard interception return
and sophomore Cayne Windsor closed it out with a 10-yard
fumble return with 3 minutes,
10 seconds remaining.
“We got an Oskie for a score
and Cayne scooped one down
here for a score,” Southeast
coach Nick Cheney said. “Defense scored a couple, so that’s
good. The last three weeks,
our defense has been getting
better. We still lost the games,
but they played better. That’s a
plus. Tonight, we finished it off
and didn’t quit after two quarters. They played 48 minutes,
so that’s good.”
Davis filled in at quarterback
in his final high school game,
as sophomore Colton Lawrence suffered a concussion
last Friday against Northeast.
Davis and freshman Tyler
Warner connected on two scoring passes, 16 yards late in the
first half to give the Lancers
the lead for good and 35 in the
third quarter.
Davis also had a kickoff
return deep into Northern
Heights territory to set up the
first scoring pass.
“Dalton, it was a convoy pass
on the one (Warner) scored
on,” Cheney said. “Dalton did
a great job at quarterback for
being thrown in there at the
last 2-3 days of practice. He
played his freshman year and
this year, but he played quarterback years ago like in junior
high.”
The Lancers struggled early,
losing two fumbles in the first
quarter, and it looked as if the
Wildcats could get the first
points on the board.
They were given a short field
on the Lancers’ second fumble, taking over at the Lancer 25. On the first play, Clayton
Collier had a 13-yard run and
later junior quarterback Tripp
Stormont’s 8-yard run set up a
fourth down-and-3 at the Lancer 55.
Stormont threw for the end
zone and Davis came up with
the interception. He took it all
the way back down the Lancer
sideline for the first points of
the game with only 20 ticks
remaining in the first quarter.
Northern Heights went
ahead 12-6 in the second after a

Collier 3-yard TD run and
his 13-yard pass reception
from freshman quarterback Cooper Woodrow.
The Lancers held
Northern Heights in
check the rest of the way
and Windsor’s fumble
return and Kyler Brewer’s interception near
midfield capped off a second-half shutout.
Southeast’s student
section and senior players celebrated their first
and only win of the season with mixed emotions,
because it was their final
game.
“They’re excited,”
Cheney said. “Most of
those kids are going to be
back. We only have three
seniors. The rest are all
coming back and we’re
going to start (lifting)
weights in a couple weeks
if they’re not in basketball. They’ll come and get
stronger and all that kind
of good stuff. We’ll be alright down the road.”

N. Heights 0 12 0 0 — 12
Southeast 6 8 6 6 — 26

First Quarter
SE — Dalton Davis 100 interception return (pass failed), 0:20 Second Quarter
NH — Clayton Collier 3 run (pass failed), 6:26

Second Quarter
NH — Collier 13 pass from Cooper Woodrow (pass failed), 2:06
SE — Tyler Warner 16 pass from Davis (Davis pass), 1:04

Third Quarter

SE — Warner 35 pass from Davis (pass failed), 4:37

Fourth Quarter

SE — Cayne Windsor 10 fumble return (pass failed), 3:10