WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons ran away from the Bethany College Swedes on Senior Day 68-6 for their ninth win of the season, the program's most since the 2008 campaign.
That wasn't the only milestone achieved in the regular season finale at Adair-Austin Stadium, as the Falcons generated a modern-era record 672 yards of total offense while finishing the season with 509 points overall, the most scored in team history. The 612 net rushing yards today is also the most on record for the Falcons.
"So proud of our program," said Friends football head coach Terry Harrison. "Specifically the seniors who helped to build something special here at Friends University."
Today's outcome was never in doubt, with Jett Cheatham capping a 14-play, 87-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown on the Falcons' opening possession of the game.
The Falcons then blitzed the Swedes with explosive scores on three straight possessions early in the second quarter, getting an 86-yard touchdown run by K'Vonte Baker, a 41-yard scoring run from Elias Pino and a 58-yard burst by Kaden Rigsby to balloon the lead up to 26-0 before Nolan Ewing capped the dominating half with an interception.
To celebrate Veteran's Day, a special halftime ceremony was held to honor and recognize all the veterans in attendance.
The Falcons kept their foot on the gas and scored on their first drive of the second half behind a 35-yard run by Laken Clowdus and then a 26-yard rushing score from Treylan Gross for a 33-0 lead.
After the Swedes got on the board on a two-yard scoring pass from Zamarion Spence to Jacob Madu, the Falcons immediately answered back when Baker ran for 42 yards and then scored again from eight yards out to make it 40-6.
It was then Zach Dressler's turn to find the end zone with a four-yard score with 11:22 left in the game.
From that point, senior quarterback and last season's starting signal caller Jack Mullen finished out the game in grand fashion with a 12-yard pass to Rigsby and then a pair of rushing touchdowns (11 yards, three yards).
The record-setting Falcon offensive attack was fueled by a career-high 176 yards from Baker and a season-high 149 yards on the ground by Clowdus. Baker also had 44 yards passing, with 33 coming on a connection to Kerrion Hadnot. A Wichita product, Baker now has 1,438 yards rushing, the most for a Falcon since 2016 (Jesse Rogers).
Landry Shields threw for 132 yards for Bethany and Michael Young had 62 receiving yards.
Led by double-digit tackle efforts from Ewing (11) and Ja'coby Smith (10), the Falcon defense limited the Swedes to just 29 rushing yards and 203 yards of total offense overall. Marco Torres also had a strip sack in the victory for the Falcons (9-2, 4-1 KCAC Kessinger Division) and Shamarius Davis had two stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Gavin Silva led the Swedes (1-10, 0-5 KCAC Kessinger Division) with eight tackles, while David Sweetman had a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.
With the regular season now over, the Falcons will await to see if they will qualify for the NAIA postseason for the first time since the 2008 campaign.
