Credit Jeremy Kaczor. Photo above: Benedictine QB Shaefer Schuetz from Park Hill So. HS leads the Ravens offense against Clarke University (Dubuque, Iowa).

Voice of Benedictine QB Shaefer Schuetz

By Greg Echlin

Two times in the last three years, Kansas schools from the Heart of America Conference reached the NAIA football national championship game.  But in each game fell short.  Benedictine College (Atchison, KS), last year’s finalist and ranked No. 2 in the weekly NAIA poll, hopes to win it all this year.

The Ravens are off to a 4-0 start and have beaten their opponents by an average of 47 points.  Twice, the Ravens have topped the 60-point scoring plateau, most recently against Clarke University (Dubuque, Iowa).  The CU Pride, in its first year fielding a football team, is still looking for its first program win after four games.  There was little doubt about the outcome when the Ravens rolled out to a 20-0 first quarter lead.

“(It’s) nice to start the season 4-0,” said quarterback Shaefer Schuetz.  “We feel like we’re getting to hit a gauntlet of tough opponents, so this was a nice little launch pad heading into that direction.”

Schuetz didn’t throw a touchdown pass through the first three games of the season, but didn’t have to.  The Ravens went into the game against the Pride averaging 355 yards rushing and easily surpassed that average with 461 yards on Family Weekend at Larry Wilcox Stadium.  Schuetz also connected for two touchdown passes.

“We definitely think we can improve in the passing game,” said Schuetz, a senior from Park Hill South HS.  “We’ve been lucky these past few weeks not to need it, but it also helps that we’ve got the best run-game in the country.”

On Oct. 5, the Ravens play Grand View University (Des Moines), a team that has tasted a national championship on the NAIA level six years ago, and ranked No. 7 in this week’s poll.

Though several key components from last year’s national runner-up team have returned, Schuetz said it’s best for the team to distance itself from last year’s success.

“In the first two weeks of the year, we still heard people talking about it all the time like, ‘We want to go back and we want to do this,’ but you’ve really got to flush it,” said Schuetz.

Benedictine isn’t the only Kansas team ranked in the top-5.  Kansas Wesleyan University (Salina) from the KCAC is ranked No. 4.  A post-season clash between those two teams may end up being the Sunflower State game of the year.

Jeremy Kaczor’s reporting contributed to this story.