HUTCHINSON — A nightmarish start did not get much better for Southeast of Saline on Saturday in its quest for a second straight Class 2A state football championship.

Nemaha Central returned the opening kickoff and then added a punt return score with less than two minutes gone before its offense had touched the ball and rolled past the Trojans, 35-6, at Gowans Stadium.

Nemaha Central’s victory avenged a loss to Southeast in last year’s championship game. Both teams came in unbeaten at 12-0.

In addition to the quick strikes to start the game, Nemaha Central scored three touchdowns off Southeast turnovers. Two came on Trojan fumbles in Nemaha territory and the other following an onside kick.

Nemaha Central quarterback Carter Hajek rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries to lead the Thunder as he moved into second place on the state’s all-time career rushing list.

Nemaha Central led 20-6 at halftime after a 68-yard touchdown run by Hajek with 54 seconds left on the first play following a Southeast fumble. The other two Thunder touchdowns came on a kickoff return of 84 yards and a 64-yard punt return by Caleb Strathman.

Southeast’s lone touchdown was a 5-yard completion on fourth down from Tiernan Ptacek to Malachi Hopkins that cut the Nemaha lead to 14-6 on the first play of the second quarter.

Nemaha Central only outgained Southeast 274 total yards to 257 but came up with the big plays when it counted.

For Southeast, Grady Gebhardt rushed for 116 yards on 25 carries to go over 2,000 yards for the season. Ptacek completed 12 of 22 passes for 110 yards, including four to Amarion Holub for 47 yards and three to Hopkins for 20.