North Newton, Kan. – In a matchup of the Friends University Falcons' NAIA-leading rushing offense and the Bethel College Threshers' top-five national run defense, it was the Falcons' unit overwhelmingly coming out on top in a 43-0 victory in a rain-soaked outing in North Newton, Kan. today (Oct. 28) that was delayed for two hours and finally halted late in the third quarter due to lightning.
The Falcons are now 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the Kessinger Division, one game behind front-runner Evangel University. The seven victories are also the most for Friends since winning eight games in 2014.
"Great win for our program," said Friends football head coach Terry Harrison. "It was a tough weather type of day, but our guys handled it really well and I'm very proud of them."
Following a scoreless opening quarter, it was the Falcon defense with the first statement of the game when Ethan Grimett corralled Kayden Christiansen for just one yard on fourth and three at the 18-yard line to set the offense up in solid field position.
It didn't take long for the offense to capitalize, as quarterback K'Vonte Baker, the NAIA's leader in rushing touchdowns, added another to his total with a 12-yard touchdown for the first score of the game with 6:09 left in the first half.
From that moment, it was all Falcons and the defense proceeded to force a turnover on the Threshers' first play of their next drive at the 17-yard line.
Baker then put in another touchdown from one yard out for a 13-0 lead at the 3:11 mark of the second quarter.
After the Falcon defense forced a punt, it was Jett Cheatham time as the junior speedster got free for a 59-yard touchdown run down the sidelines to stretch the lead up to 19-0 at the half.
The Falcon offense continued to be relentless in the third quarter and broke the game open on a 54-yard scoring burst from Laken Clowdus to make the score 27-0 following a two-point conversion run by Cheatham.
Baker added two more rushing scores for good measure, first another one-yard touchdown and then a 44-yard dart to the end zone that saw the Wichita product break completely free from the defense thanks to powerful blocking through the middle.
Clowdus (76 yard) and Cheatham (63 yards) paced the Falcon ground attack, with Baker rushing for 48 more yards along with four touchdowns.
Christiansen had 62 yards rushing for the Threshers.
Shamarius Davis paced the Falcon defensive unit with nine tackles, while Cooper Skrobecki had eight tackles and 4.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. Nolan Ewing added seven stops for Friends.
Kade Miller had a game-high 11 tackles for Bethel along with 2.5 tackles for loss.
A big story of the game was the Falcon rushing offense behind a stout offensive line getting the better of a matchup with the Threshers' run defense that ranked fourth in the nation coming into the game. The 292 total rushing yards put on by the Falcons are a whopping 159 more yards than the Threshers had allowed on the ground in any previous game this season.
The Falcons are now "Ready for Riverfront", as they'll host McPherson College next Saturday afternoon (Nov. 4) at Riverfront Stadium. Kickoff will be at 1 pm and GA tickets for that game are available at the link below. Premium seating in the Fidelity box is also available for $60 that includes a free buffet. Fans interested in seating in the Fidelity bleachers should contact Dr. Rob Ramseyer at rob_ramseyer@friends.edu or Dale Faber at faberd@friends.edu. Fans are also able to purchase an entire suite for $1500.
https://mlb.tickets.com/?agency=MILB_MPV&orgid=56869&pid=9308802#/event/9308802/seatmap/?selectBuyers=false&minPrice=15&maxPrice=15&quantity=2&sort=price_desc&ada=false&seatSelection=true&onlyCoupon=true&onlyVoucher=false
