Opponent Profile: Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes

The excitement is building this week as the Christ Prep Patriots make final preparations for the team's 2010 opener Saturday night at Shawnee Mission North field. CPA's opponent for the 7:00 p.m. contest will be the Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes from Wichita, Kans.

The Buffaloes bring a 0-1 record into the matchup with Christ Prep after falling 34-20 in their opener last week against Community Christian of Norman, Oklahoma. Although Christ Prep has not played the Buffaloes in the recent past, they have a history in the Kansas Christian Athletic Association's (KCAA) 8-Man football league. Sunrise is making its first appearance this year in 11-Man competition after almost ten years of play in 8-Man football. CPA made that same transition in 2006.

"We look forward to the challenge this Saturday night in facing a tough Christ Prep team," said Sunrise Head Coach Trey Hall. Hall, in his fourth year at the helm of the Sunrise program, believes his team has a very strong work ethic but wonders whether it has the depth to compete at the 11-man level.

“We have a young team—we graduated nine seniors from last year’s team,” said Hall. “We return our quarterback (Andrew Westerfield) as well as one running back, a starting safety, a defensive end, and a linebacker,” he said.

The move from 8-Man to 11-Man football has been one toward which Sunrise had been looking for some time. “We always knew that this would be the year we started the transition to 11-Man football with the goal to become strictly 11-Man,” said Hall.

The move to 11-Man has seemed to be a natural progression for the Buffaloes under Hall’s leadership, as the team’s record has improved steadily over the past three years. After 3-6 and 7-3 seasons in 2007 and 2008, respectively, the Buffaloes broke out during the 2009 campaign, going undefeated in 11 tries. The team also claimed the KCAA Championship for the first time in school history.

While important, football is not foremost in the minds of Hall as he mentors his team. “We try to teach our young men to strive for the final words to be ‘well done thy good and faithful servant,’ ” said Hall. As Hall looks toward Saturday’s game, he concluded, “We will bring our whole hearts!”

Game Week!

We're approximately 5 1/2 days away from the opening kickoff of the Christ Prep Patriots' 2010 season. Saturday's opener is against Sunrise Christian Academy of Wichita. Sunrise will be competing for the first time in 11-man football after several successful years playing an 8-man format.

The action begins at 7:00 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 4) at Shawnee Mission North field, located at 7401 Johnson Drive (near the SW Corner of Johnson Drive and Metcalf) in Overland Park, Kansas. Stay tuned this week as we preview this matchup.

2010 Varsity Schedule Posted to Blog

The 2010 CPA Varsity Schedule has been revised and posted to the blog at left. It will remain at that location on the blog throughout the season. If you've had a previous version of the schedule, please note there have been a couple of minor revsions. We'll update this schedule if necessary, and will be posting a JV & JH soon.

Friday Night Lights

The Christ Prep Patriots got their first test of the 2010 season Friday night at the South Harrison Jamboree in Bethany, Mo.  CPA's coaching staff was fairly pleased with the effort as the team clicked in most phases of the game.

The Jamboree featured a round-robin format with four teams competing in alternating 24 play scrimmages. Christ Prep competed against the South Harrison Bulldogs (the host school), the Trenton Bulldogs, and the Maysville Wolverines.

By all accounts Christ Prep came out on top for the evening. CPA scored one touchdown against South Harrison and scored two against each of the other two schools. The Patriots gave up one touchdown in each of the three scrimmages. Officially Christ Prep's record for the evening was 2-0-1 although the "tie" against South Harrison was broken in the Patriot's favor as CPA outgained the Bulldogs in total yards.

The five Patriot touchdowns were divided fairly well between running and passing plays. Senior QB Darren Wallace connected with WR Jack Layman for a couple of 35 yard scoring strikes--one against South Harrison; the other against  Maysville. Senior RB Jared Nield rushed for two long (35 yard) touchdowns--one each against Trenton and Maysville--while junior RB Jesse Mann ran for another 30 yard touchdown against Trenton. Wallace connected on several other passes during the Jamboree. The recipients of those tosses were Zach Hersberger, Jared Nield, Jack Layman and Timothy Finley (2).

Defensively the Patriots showed well. Outstanding plays were delivered by the CPA linebacker corps of Jacob Bronars, Michael Force, Jared Nield, and Ezra Boyd. Will Willis, Jack Layman, Zach Hershberger, and Grant Layman, among others, were also observed making strong tackles. 

Overall the coaching staff felt like the Patriots performed much better than in last year's Jamboree which was held at Graceland University in Lamoni, Ia. And although the evening was definitely not perfect (a couple of turnovers), the night gave the team a boost as it prepares for its September 4th opener against Sunrise Christian Academy.

Some other Jamboree notes....

• The Patriots were by far the smallest team numerically at the Jamboree. CPA dressed just over 25 guys while the other teams suited out between 34 and 58.
• The Jamboree format did not allow for any special teams (kicking game) plays nor did it penalize the teams for turnovers (fumbles lost and interceptions did not switch the defense to offense)
• The three other Jamboree schools are members of the Missouri State High School Activities Assn. (MSHSAA). South Harrison and Maysville compete in Class 1 while Trenton competes in Class 2.

Enjoy some more photos (below) from Friday's action in Bethany.

Patriots Make Final Preparations for Jamboree

The CPA Patriots spent Thursday evening making final preparations for tomorrow night's appearance in the South Harrison Jamboree in Bethany, Missouri.  The team went through its typical pre-game drills and ran plays in "shells," which consists of full gear except the players wear shorts instead of their regular football pants with pads.

Jamborees are held annually in August at various high schools and afford an opportunity for the teams to "tune-up" before regular season play. They provide the high school equivalent to the NFL's preseason games.

Tomorrow's Jamboree will operate in the typical format. Four teams will take turns playing each other in a round robin format. Each team will get 12 plays on offense and 12 on defense. No special teams (kickoffs, punts, field goals, extra points) play will be held--just offensive and defensive scrimmaging.  Tomorrow's play for CPA will unfold as follows:

1st scrimmage period: CPA vs. South Harrison (Bethany)



3rd scrimmage period: CPA vs. Trenton


5th scrimmage period: CPA vs. Maysville

The opposing teams look to be strong and should prove to be good tests for the Patriots as Coach David Wallace and staff try to assess their strengths and weaknesses in advance of the team's September 4 opener against Sunrise Christian Academy of Wichita.

Look for some photos and commentary from tomorrow night's Jamboree by Saturday morning.

Patriots Endure Heat

The story of the week for the Christ Prep Patriots football team has been the oppressive heat in which the team has had to practice. Each afternoon this week the thermometer has been right around 100 degrees when the Patriots have taken the field at 5:45 p.m. Fortunately the tall trees on the west end of the Red Bridge Baptist Church practice field begins to offer the players some significant shade by about 7:00 p.m. when the guys get into their scrimmage mode.
Some major relief came yesterday when a significant storm blew through the area at about 6:30 p.m. Temperatures dropped by about 25 degrees in a period of 15 minutes as the storm came by. The guys welcomed the rain and were only forced to shelter when thunder and lightning made itself known. Once the storm blew through the thermometer inched back into the 80's which still offered a welcome change for the young men.

Temperatures are expected to remain hot until Saturday morning which promises to begin a transition toward more moderate conditions.

Please pray for the Patriots as they continue to prepare for the upcoming season. Please pray for the young men that are sick or injured. Please also pray for protection and safety and bonding for the guys as they jell into a cohesive unit. Please pray that they would build endurance in the midst of the heat and humidity. Last but not least pray that they would glorify God through this sport of football!

More Patriot Day Photos

Following are some more photos from yesterday's Patriot Day festivities. Enjoy!

Patriot Day a Success

The annual Christ Prep “Patriot Day” was held today at Red Bridge Baptist Church and by all indications the day was a great success. The CPA football team got to show off in front of a large crowd of parents and supporters during a morning scrimmage and contact drills during the event, which each year marks the culmination of two-a-day workouts.

Besides scrimmaging in front of the crowd, the players got to participate in the somewhat dreaded “Oklahoma Drill,” a running/blocking/tackling drill designed to improve players’ contact skills. The drill was performed “up close and personal” in front of the crowd.

The day’s practice concluded with introductions of each of the squad members and the 2010 Captains (more on this later). The practice was followed by a cookout at the Red Bridge Pavillion. The cookout afforded the CPA football families an opportunity to get to know one another better and certainly generated some excitement for the upcoming season. 

Check out some photos of today’s action below.