Southeastern advanced to the postseason for the third straight season and the fourth time in five years.
“It’s a little easier to get there nowadays with the 16 teams, but it’s still nice to get there,” said Trojans coach Ed Hennigan.
In 2022, Southeastern beat the Lions 36-8 in a first-round game. This year, the Trojans will travel to Cincinnati to face College Prep, which advanced to the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
“The kids are excited about it,” Hennigan said. “The seniors are happy to be playing another week. We’re coming off of a pretty decent win against Greenon. They’re pretty excited.”
Cincinnati College Prep is seeking its first playoff win since 2021. They’re led by freshman quarterback Kemmarion McCray, who has 1,001 yards and 15 TDs. as well as sophomore running back Marlan Robertson (392 rushing yards, 3 TDs). They also like to spread the ball around to four different players on the outside, including seniors Jaelen Griffin (381 yards, 6 TDs) and Kendall Anthony (341 yards, 6 TDs).
“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Hennigan said. “Sometimes they’re going to break one. We have to be patient and play our game. If we can control the ball like we want to, it can be pretty interesting at the end.”
The key, Hennigan said, will be playing keep away from the Lions. Last week, the Trojans rushed for 246 yards as a team, including 180 from senior Hayden Davis.
“We’ve got to do our thing and take care of the football,” Hennigan said. “We want to keep the football, keep it away from them and eat clock.”
After a 1-4 start, Southeastern has won three of its last five games — and they’re getting healthy at the right time. The program dressed all 30 players for the first time all year in last week’s win against Greenon, Hennigan said.
“We’ve got everybody going and we’ve got no really big issues,” Hennigan said.
Another familiar matchup might be around the corner for the Trojans. The winner of Friday’s game will play either No. 6 Ridgemont (8-2) or No. 11 Fort Loramie (5-5) in a second-round game. The Trojans were eliminated by Fort Loramie each of the past two seasons.
“We’ll take them one game at a time,” Hennigan said.
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