WICHITA, Kan. (Catch it Kansas) - Kapaun Mt. Carmel football comes off of a very successful 2022 season finishing with a 10-2 record and getting knocked out of the 5A state tournament in the semifinal game. by one point.

“Hungry, we’re hungry. We had that game, we ran two plays to their one, 74 plays, they ran 35 and we lost the game the last play of the game pretty much,” said Kapaun football coach Weston Schartz. “That was a tough time for us. Offseason has motivated us and we’re ready to come back and play.”

Junior running back Omari Elias said, “We’ll be doing a lot of the same honestly, it worked for us last year obviously. There are a couple things we want to do differently. We made some changes to our defense and it feeds our offense as well, just somethings to be more efficient.

This offseason, the Crusaders have put a large focus on finishing. Finishing every aspect of practice and strength training. However, KMC has replaced it’s entire offensive line this year after graduating all five starters last season.

“Everybody knows what they’re doing. The offense doesn’t change, the defense doesn’t change, everybody knows what’s expected,” said Schartz. “We’ve got a weight program, they’re hungry, they’re winning and winning at a high level and I’m excited about that.”

“We were right there last season, just lost it at the last minute there. We’re really working on finishing everything, finish every rep in the weight room, finish every play out here, finish every down,” said senior tight end Will Anciaux. “Just working on finishing everything so we can ultimately work up to finishing our season the way we want to this year.”

The Crusaders open the season at South High School on September 2nd.

Countdown to Kickoff: Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders