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!”