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Former Tonganoxie High football players to help Benedictine in national title pursuit Saturday

By Shawn Linenberger - | Dec 12, 2018

Benedictine football players Jared Sommers (29) and Carl Hecht (83) are seniors this year on the BC team. Both are Tonganoxie High graduates who will be playing in the NAIA national championship game Saturday. It’s Benedictine’s first appearance in the football national championship. Fellow THS graduate Cole Holloway, who also played at BC, serves as a student assistant coach for the Ravens.

Tonganoxie High alums will be playing — and coaching — in a national championship football game Saturday in Florida.

Benedictine College seniors Carl Hecht and Jared Sommers will be playing in the NAIA college football national championship at 5 p.m. CST Saturday in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Fellow THS graduate Cole Holloway is a student assistant coach for the Ravens.

No. 7 Benedictine (13-1) will take on No. 1 Morningside (14-0) at Daytona Stadium.

Morningside, which is in Sioux City, Iowa, defeated No. 8 Saint Francis (10-3) in a thriller, 34-28, in overtime.

The Fort Wayne, Ind., university was seeking its third straight NAIA national title when Morningside knocked them out on a snowy afternoon this past weekend in Sioux City.

Benedictine, meanwhile, was one of three Kansas schools in the quarterfinals.

Baker lost to Morningside, 33-23, in the quarterfinals, while Kansas Wesleyan lost to Benedictine, 43-21, in the semifinals.

This is the first year in school history that Benedictine will be playing in the national championship.

Hecht plays tight end and Somers special teams for the Atchison college. Somers also is listed as a defensive back for Benedictine.

The Ravens opened the playoffs with a 48-41 home victory against No. 11 University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg, Ky.) and then defeated No. 13 Concordia University out of Ann Arbor, Mich., 54-38, before defeating Kansas Wesleyan, 43-21, on the Coyotes’ home field this past Saturday.

Benedictine’s lone loss this season came in Week 3 in a 28-21 road defeat to Evangel University in Springfield, Mo.

Hecht has been part of an explosive offense for the Ravens this year. BC has scored 40 or more points nine times this season.

The Ravens also tallied 75 against Bethany in the season opener (75-7) and 84 against Graceland in mid-October (84-12) for two big Raven victories.