By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Chiefs named their High School Coaches of the week for the final week of the regular season in both Missouri and Kansas, with Benton Head Coach Mark Cole earning the honor in Missouri.
As part of their recognition, both coaches will receive a $1,000 grant from the Hunt Family Foundation, a Chiefs bucket hat, a certificate of recognition and a custom game ball. Both coaches also qualify for the Eric Driskell Coach of the Year Award, which is selected at the end of the high school regular season by a panel from the Missouri and Kansas Boards of the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association.
The Benton Cardinals have not seen a winning season or reached the five-win threshold since 2010, but in just his second year as head coach, Mark Cole guided the program to its best record in 16 years. Following Benton's 31-20 victory over the Chillicothe Hornets last Friday, the Cardinals improved to 5-4 on the season. The Cardinals came out of the gate with energy in their regular season finale at home, starting the game on the opening play from scrimmage with an 84-yard touchdown to take an early lead.
Benton closed the regular season out on a roll, with a 35-0 shutout over Excelsior Springs, a 49-28 win against Cameron, and the win over the win over Chillicothe, Benton has outscored their opponents by an average of 26.0 points.
“It means a great deal to me personally,” Cole says in a news release from the Chiefs. “Being recognized by a great organization that covers a variety of coaches is humbling to me. Our program has put a tremendous amount of work to improve and for that to be seen, it makes the journey easier.”
Cole has coached for over 27 years, 20 of them as a head coach, with stops across the state of Missouri in Gallatin, Savannah, Maysville, and Milan. Throughout his career, Cole has six district championship wins, six conference titles, made 10 playoff appearances, and three semifinal appearances.
Sixteen years ago, Benton finished 6-4. Now, in 2026, the Cardinals have a chance to match that win total. Riding that three-game winning streak, the Cardinals prepare to face the Van Horn Falcons at home in district play Thursday, October 29th.
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