Lancers Host Preseason Jamboree

By Kalon Fullerton
kfullerton@morningsun.net

The Southeast Lancers
hosted a preseason jamboree last Friday as they hope
to get back to winning ways
after consecutive one-win
seasons.
“I think the kids learned
a lot,” head coach Nick
Cheney said. “We haven’t
really had a lot of contact,
and last week we were in the
gym for practice every day
(because of the heat). You
just do fundamental stuff in
the gym, which isn’t always
good. You need to be able to
hit somebody.”
The Lancers began the
jamboree against a Cherryvale team that finished
last season with a 4-5 record
in 2A and finished against
Baxter Springs, who also
went 4-5 in 3A.
“The first scrimmage was
kind of a shock,” Cheney
said. “We had some freshmen out there and some
sophomores. Cherryvale is
going to win some games.
They’re good up front. They
got better during the Baxter
game, that was the first time
we really hit a lot, which
was kind of fun.
“We scored a couple times against Baxter. The first
was a pass play, on a vertical route. And then we
scored by just running
the ball six plays in a
row. We ran the ball well
and the kids read the
blocks and cut well.”
The Lancers return
several starters from
last year’s team that
went 1-8.
“There are still some
things up in the air,”
Cheney said. “We’ll see
(this week) who’s going
to start in some places.
We’re going to rotate
some kids on the line,
some are going to start
on defense and others
will start on offense.
We’ll use four linebackers that will rotate, and
then we’ll have the older
kids at defensive back.”
Southeast will open
the season with a trip to
Fredonia on Friday.
“I’m kind of anxious
to get a game in to see
where we’re really at,”
Cheney said. “I know
this sounds crazy, but
you have to be prepared
to play a game mentally
and your heart has to be
in it, and then the wins
just take care of themselves. These kids are
trying to get better. They
really work and they listen to the coaching staff.
These kids really want
to play. We made some
corrections after the
first scrimmage and in
the second scrimmage
they came out and they
did it right. That makes
us feel better as coaches.”
This sports reporting
is made possible, in part,
by the Support Local
Journalism Project
Fund. Learn more at:
southeastkansas.org/
fund/support-local-journalism-project-fund/

Improved Lancers look for more wins

By Kalon Fullerton
kfullerton@morningsun.net

The Southeast Lancers ended the season on
a high note in 2023 and
they’ll hope to use that
experience for more
wins in 2024.
Southeast lost the
first eight games of the
season but scored 20
points in a week 6 defeat
against Erie and played
well enough to win in
their final two regular
season games, a 14-12
loss against Uniontown
and a 12-0 loss to Northeast. In the district
crossover game, Southeast ended the year with
a win, defeating Northern Heights 26-12.
“The last game of the
year we had 13 kids that
suited up and they won
a game,” Southeast head
coach Nick Cheney said.
“I think they know they
can win if they put the
time and effort in. A lot
of them put effort in over
the summer. Our kids
are bigger and stronger.
Last year we started
eight underclassmen,
we’ll probably start a
couple freshmen but
we’ll have five juniors
that will be starting.
That’s going to help.”
Southeast returns several starters from last
season.
“Jayden Keller is going to be back as a junior
lineman. He started
last year,” Cheney said.
“Cayne Windsor will
be back as a starting
O-lineman. Jude Sullivan started last year at
offensive guard. Braxton
Hudson will probably
be our fullback. Tyler
Warner was an all-conference defensive back
and honorable mention receiver, he’ll be a
sophomore. He’s getting
stronger and better and
he knows the game.
“The kids have a good
attitude. They believe
in each other. They’re
working together. They
go riding around together. They’re doing all that
good stuff and that’s
part of being a team,
believing in each other.”
This year features
three new opponents for
the Lancers. Southeast
will no longer play rivals
Northeast, who dropped
to 8-man. The Lancers
open the season at Fredonia on Sept. 6. Southeast welcomes Missouri
Class 2 school Diamond
in the first home game
on Sept. 13, and the
Lancers face South Haven to Cherokee on Sept.
20 before returning to
league play.
“We know a little
bit about Fredonia,”
Cheney said. “They
know a little bit about
us. They do a lot of the
stuff we do. And we added Haven, which
is up by Wichita.
They were two 8-man
schools that merged.
They both went deep
in the playoffs, even
if it’s 8-man they’re
pretty good.”
Cheney, in his fifth
year at the helm at
Southeast and his 46th
year in coaching, will
hope to give the Lancers their first winning
season since 2021
when they went 5-4.
“We’re going to
have to run the ball
and take time off the
clock,” Cheney said.
“We’re working on a
lot of run plays, base
stuff, nothing fancy,
just fundamental
football. The kids just
want to get better.
They’re a tight group
of kids.”
This sports reporting is made possible,
in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund.
Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/fund/
support-local-journalism-project-fund/