The Kansas City Chiefs have announced the coaches of the week. St. James Academy coach Tom Radke and Mid Buchanan coach Aaron Fritz are this week’s winners.
St. James Academy entered the Kansas 4A East bracket as the No. 9 seed. Two weeks ago it knocked off eighth seeded Louisburg 41-19 and then this past Friday took out top seed and No. 1 ranked Paola 45-35 to advance to the 4A quarterfinals against Basehor-Linwood.
Radke said this achievement was a group effort.
“This is a great honor for our football team and for St. James Academy,” Radke said. “I have an ALL IN coaching staff led by our OC Matt Joshi and our DC Jason Denton. Collectively we put together a great game plan and the boys executed it. We came out aggressively at the start and that really helped us hold off a very good Paola team to get the win. We have had great senior leadership this year by Harry Spencer, Dakota Burritt, Brendon Lee, Sam Schmidt, and Jack Gossman. This is a great award in a normal year, and this year it feels even a little more special. It’s been a challenging year, but we are grateful to be playing football in November”
Mid Buchanan moved to a perfect 10-0 on the season with a 55-6 win over Polo. The No. 1 ranked Dragons now play rival East Buchanan in the district finals. Fritz said this is an award for the entire program.
“Our program really appreciates this honor and we are very humbled,” Fritz said. “This is 100 percent a team honor and has nothing to do with just one person. We have great kids who put in a large amount of time in trying to help us be the best team that we can be. Our coaches all spend countless hours away from their families trying their best to make sure we are prepared and have the kids as prepared as they can be. I love all the kids and coaches and cannot thank them enough for all of the time and effort that they give.”
In its 24th season, the 2020 High School Coach of the Week is a joint initiative of the Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football League. This program is designed to recognize and reward Kansas City area high school coaches for superior performance on a weekly basis while honoring individuals who are shaping today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders.
