WICHITA, Kan.—
After a disappointing loss to its biggest rival Bishop Carroll last week, the Kapaun Mt. Carmel football team beat Wichita West 39-28 Friday. This win was crucial to boost the team morale and restore its confidence going into the final part of the season. This was also the team’s first game of district play, giving them a new record of 1-0.“We’ve been struggling a little bit this season,” junior Steven Young said. “This win was crucial because it can boost us and keep us going for next week.”
Although it was a disappointing finish to city league play, the team didn’t let the loss to Carroll negatively affect them.
“We knew coming into [the Carroll game] that it was going to be a tough-fought battle,” senior Austin Dougherty said. “We just had to pick our heads up and look forward to the next game.”
The team worked hard in practice to prepare for the game against West, focusing on mistakes and becoming better.
“We worked on a lot of our intensity level and just fixing all the little things,” senior Nick Heiland said. “It all came down to the little things that cost us our games so we were just focusing on getting everything straightened up and working hard.”
Coach Dan Adelhardt thought his team played well and had some key plays, including taking an early 3-0 lead after a turnover on the first play of the game.
“Defense was solid,” Adelhardt said. “We felt like wherever we were on the football field defense got a stop. Offensively we wore their defensive line down a bit and controlled the chains.”
Now that the city league schedule is over, the team is turning their attention toward continuing to do well in district play and improving their record.
“We have Ark City next week, and if we beat them we’re in a great position to win our district for the seventh year in a row,” Adelhardt said. “We just have to take it one game at a time. We need to eliminate penalties, doing their assignments defensively and not just 99 out of 100 times. We can’t let down for one single play. We just have to keep on executing.”
