Lincoln Southeast football is detail-oriented entering 2023 season
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – As the Lincoln Southeast Knights begin preseason camp, head coach Ryan Gottula says it’s all about the details.
“We’re going to be very detail-oriented early in in our preseason here,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re taking care of the football, playing really smart football because when you’re playing good teams and you’re playing close games, those details really come into play in the final result.”
The Knights finished the 2022 season 5-5 and lost four games by seven points or fewer.
They don’t plan on letting the same thing happen this season.
Senior Cooper Johnson, one of four returners on the Knights offensive line, said this team will not be outworked.
“We work harder than everyone else,” he said. “And if we do that, it’s easy for us. We want to be humble about it, but we also want to have the mindset that if we work hard enough, it’s ours.”
Southeast returns key starters on both sides of the ball, including veteran quarterback Owen Baxter.
“He knows our offense very well,” Gottula said. “You want to talk about mental toughness, that’s a kid that’s, you know, went through an injury here and got himself back to a position where, you know, he’s really ready to play.”
Baxter said the Knights’ motivation comes from the opportunity to make it as far as possible in the postseason.
“We just don’t want to be first-round exits,” he said. “We don’t just want to be a team that’s like, yeah, ‘We made it to the state playoffs.’ We want to be able to actually make a run, and I think with all the talent we have on the team, we have a great opportunity to do that.”
2023 schedule:
- 7 p.m. Thurs. 8/24 at Elkhorn South
- 8 p.m. Fri. 9/1 vs. Lincoln East
- 7 p.m. Thurs 9/7 vs. Papillion La-vista
- 7 p.m. Fri 9/15 at Lincoln North Star
- 7 p.m. Fri. 9/22 at Millard North
- 7 p.m. Fri. 9/29 vs. Lincoln Southwest
- 8 p.m. Fri 10/6 vs. Millard West
- 7 p.m. Fri 10/13 at Bryan
- 7 p.m. Fri 10/20 vs. South Sioux City
