Friday’s game
What: Fairfield (1-0) at Northmont (0-1), 7 p.m.
Where: Matt Dudon Field at Good Samaritan Stadium, 4916 National Road, Clayton
Last meeting: Northmont won 31-24 in 2014
Hunter Krause knew history was on the horizon this season. He didn’t know it was staring him in the face.
Fairfield High School’s senior quarterback is poised to become the leading passer in school history Friday night when the Indians travel to Northmont for a nonconference football clash.
“I did not know I was this close,” said Krause, who has 2,745 career yards and trails Derek Ball (2,787 in 2004-05) and Justin McCray (2,775 in 2007-09). “Knowing that I have the chance to set that record is nice, but right now I’m just focused on Northmont because they got us last year.”
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Krause was 15-of-20 for 215 yards in last week’s 35-32 victory over Centerville. He threw one touchdown pass, pushing his school-record total in that category to 29.
Now the yardage record is on the verge of falling.
“I’m not going to make a huge deal about it. Fairfield’s not really been known as a big passing team,” Krause said. “Playing three years here, we’ve always thrown the ball pretty well.
“Right now, I’m not worried about it. This record’s nothing compared to a (Greater Miami Conference) championship or a state playoff berth or a state championship. In 10 or 15 years from now, it’s probably going to mean a little more.”
He entered the Fairfield system as an eighth-grader after Jason Krause chose to leave Middletown and take the head coaching position at FHS.
Before that, Hunter Krause was a Lakota West kid. He played at Lakota Plains in the seventh grade.
“My thought was that I would be at West,” Krause said. “I actually open-enrolled to West to play in that offense because I’m not a triple-option guy (and thus didn’t want to play at Lakota East). I wanted to play quarterback, and I knew West ran that spread offense.”
Then in January of 2011, after Aaron Fitzstephens surprised Fairfield by resigning after two seasons at the helm, the school announced that Jason Krause was coming to town after a 26-7, three-season run at Middletown.
Jason played at Edgewood while his dad, Doug, coached at Talawanda.
“Just through talking with dad and his experiences, I didn’t want to miss Hunter playing night in and night out,” Jason said. “If I stayed at Middletown and he stayed at West and played for Larry (Cox), I only would’ve seen him the night we played them. So I looked at my options.
“I talked to Larry about joining his staff, but then would I go back in the classroom and teach? Would I bring Hunter to Middletown? Or would I leave him at West and I stay at Middletown? I guess the fourth option was to find a place we could go together, and the Fairfield job opened that winter. I came in and met with the Fairfield guys, and it seemed like a great opportunity. They had a great vision for this program. So we sat down as a family and made the move.”
Hunter said he could’ve stayed at West if that was his choice.
“My dad came to me and said, ‘I can take the job at Fairfield and we can be together,’ ” he said. “I told him I would support that and be proud of that.”
The father-son dynamic is not always a smooth one on the football field. The quarterback rotation between Hunter and senior Ryan Nuss in 2013 was an uneasy situation, even though it worked well enough to send the Indians to the Division I playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Hunter has been the guy the last two seasons. He’s bigger, faster and stronger this year and has aspirations to play Division I college ball (his only offer at this point is from Davenport).
And playing for dad? That’s been OK too.
“We obviously have our ups and downs, but I still love it. I would never take it back,” Hunter said. “It’s probably one of the best moments of my high school career being able to play for him.”
Jason said he won’t do anything different against Northmont to make sure Hunter breaks the record.
“There will be no pressure on the play calling,” Jason said. “It’s something that’s going to happen eventually. If it happens now, great. If it happens two weeks from now, as long as we’re winning games and moving the ball, we’re happy.”
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