Kapaun football advances to first Kansas high school state championship game since 1987
Since Weston Schartz arrived at Kapaun Mt. Carmel in 2020, it seemed like only a matter of time before the Crusaders returned to their glory days among the best in the Kansas high school football ranks.
The ascension is one step closer to completion, as Kapaun continued its roll through the Class 5A playoffs with a 42-39 win over Goddard Eisenhower on Friday to advance to next weekend’s state championship game in Pittsburg.
It will be the first state-title game appearance for Kapaun since its 1987 championship, the last in a string of nine state titles won by legendary coach Ed Kriwiel.
In some ways it is fitting that Schartz, who only trails Kriwiel as the City League’s winningest all-time coach, has been the coach to restore the program to its championship roots.
Schartz has a storied coaching career spanning four decades with stops at West and Northwest and one previous championship appearance, a 27-26 heartbreaking loss to Olathe North in the 1997 Class 6A championship game when he was at West.
This has already been something of a history-setting season for the Crusaders, which snapped a 26-game losing streak in the Holy War and beat their cross-town rival, Bishop Carroll, for the first time since 1999 in a 49-20 victory earlier this season.
Kapaun improved to 11-1 this season with the win over Eisenhower and has been the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A by Varsity Kansas throughout the postseason.
The Crusaders will play either Mill Valley, the 4-time defending state champions, or Blue Valley Southwest in the 5A championship game to be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25 at Carnie Smith Stadium on Pittsburg State’s campus.
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