The Lowdown: Friends University at Sterling College
Location: Adair-Austin Stadium, Wichita, Kan.
Kickoff: Sept. 30, 6:00 pm
Live Broadcast: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/
Live Stats: https://www.scwarriors.com/sports/fball/2023-24/boxscores/20230930_tuw0.xml
Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons capped off last Saturday's (Sept. 23) Homecoming festivities with a 36-13 romp of the Tabor College Bluejays.
The Falcons outgained the Bluejays 449-219 in total offense, with K'Vonte Baker accounting for four touchdowns and 104 yards on the ground along with a career-high 96 yards through the air.
Laken Clowdus enjoyed his best game of the 2023 campaign, rushing for a season-high 126 yards on 15 carries for a robust 8.4 yards per attempt. Zach Dressler finished with 71 rushing yards for the Falcons.
Ja'coby Smith led the Falcons (4-1) defense with eight tackles on the night.
Baker leads the charge, pacing the NAIA in rushing touchdowns (11) and ranking second in the KCAC in rushing yards (106.2). Clowdus is fifth in the league in rushing yards per (71.0) and Elias Pino is fourth in touchdowns (five). Jett Cheatham has also scored four times on ground and Dressler is averaging 65 rushing yards per game.
Defensively, the Falcons are led by Smith's 6.2 tackles per game, with Nolan Ewing averaging 4.6 tackles per game and Marco Torres has 4.0 tackles. Torres also leads the team with 2.5 sacks and five tackles for loss, with Bryan Wade registering 4.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Scouting the Warriors: The Sterling College Warriors are 1-4 on the season and are coming off a 48-10 loss at No. 8-ranked Southwestern College. Sterling's lone win on the season was 27-10 two weeks ago vs. Bethany College.
Rocklin Baptista has passed for 557 yards and completed 37.4 percent of his passes, with four touchdowns and six interceptions. ElyJay Curry (115 yards) and Kendrick Bell (112 yards) have led the Warriors on the ground, while Ryan Stucky has recorded a team-high 133 receiving yards on the season.
Alan Garcia leads the Sterling defense with 8.8 tackles per game and 6.5 tackles for loss, with Flin Cameron tallying a team-leading four sacks.
The Series: The Falcons are 13-6 overall and 6-5 on the road vs. the Sterling College Warriors since the 2004 season. Friends is 4-6 in the last 10 meetings with the Warriors, but won last season's matchup 42-7 in Wichita.
Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux: We are proud to have Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux as a sponsor of our Football Falcons this season! Walk-On's is also now the host of weekly football coach's show and is the place to be for all Falcon post-game gatherings this season! Click HERE for more info on Walk-On's, including their menu and rewards program.
Homecoming Heroics: A Wichita Heights HS product, K'vonte Baker gave the home crowd plenty to celebrate on Homecoming Saturday night last week. Baker impacted the game in every direction, rushing for three touchdowns and 104 yards while throwing for one score with a career-high 96 yards through the air in the Falcons' 36-13 Homecoming victory over Tabor College to earn his first career KCAC Offensive Player of the Week honor.
Historic Start: The Falcons won their first three games this season for the first time since 2008, with the current 4-1 start the program's best beginning the 2013 campaign 5-1.
Rush Hour: A true staple in head coach Terry Harrison's success as a head coach has been a vaunted rushing attack, and that is ringing as true as ever this year. After leading the NAIA in rushing in Harrison's first season at the helm in 2022, the Falcons are back it again and are tops in the nation in total rushing yards (2157), rushing yards per game (431.4) and rushing touchdowns (27). Their highest output this season was 528 yards, their most yards on the ground in a single game since 2016.
Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall: 4-1
KCAC: 0-0
Home: 3-0
Away: 1-1
The Falcons record when …
Scoring 0-6 points: 0-0
Scoring 7-13 points: 0-0
Scoring 14-20 points: 0-0
Scoring 21-27 points: 0-0
Scoring 28 points+: 4-1
Allowing 0-6 points: 0-0
Allowing 7-13 points: 1-0
Allowing 14-20 points: 3-0
Allowing 21-27 points: 0-0
Allowing 28 points+: 0-1
Scoring first: 4-0
Opponent scores first: 0-1
Leading at halftime: 4-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-0
Tied at halftime: 0-1
Committing fewer turnovers: 1-0
Committing more turnovers: 2-1
Turnovers are even: 1-0
Leading in total offense: 4-1
Trailing in total offense: 0-0
Winning time of possession: 3-1
Losing time of possession: 1-0
The Coaches:
Terry Harrison is entering his second season as the Friends University head football coach.
Harrison appeared to be the perfect choice to lead the Falcon program, and did nothing to change that perception in his debut season.
Last season, Harrison oversaw the top rushing offense in the NAIA in both total yards (3026) and yards per game (275.1).
Harrison arrived on campus after transforming fellow KCAC member Bethel College into a conference and national power.
After taking over a Bethel program in 2018 that was 1-9 and at the bottom of the league the previous season, Harrison's impact was felt immediately as he installed the flexbone offense and guided the team to finish third in the NAIA in rushing offense (274.4) per game.
The following season, Harrison would begin to affect the wins column by leading the Threshers to a second-place showing in the KCAC with an 8-3 overall record. Bethel continued to climb the leaderboard nationally, finishing tops in the NAIA in total rushing offense (4,084) and rushing offense per game (371.3) while ranking third in passing efficiency (180.3).
The best was yet to come as the next season, Harrison and the Threshers captured a Co-KCAC regular season championship and an NAIA national playoff berth to wind up No. 13 in the final NAIA FirstDown PlayBook Top 25 poll. The conference championship was the Threshers' first since 2007 and the national playoff appearance represented the first since the 2006 campaign and only the third in school history.
Once again, Harrison's squad set the standard nationally in rushing, leading the country in both total rushing offense (3828) and rushing offense per game (348.0) for the second consecutive season.
Harrison had the Threshers rolling again this year with a 9-2 overall record and a 9-1 league mark that netted the squad their second consecutive co-KCAC regular season title along with a final NAIA national ranking of 17th.
Harrison is embarking on his second go-round as a head coach of the Falcons in Wichita, as he spent five seasons as the head coach of the Wichita Heights High School Falcons. At Heights, Harrison guided the team to four Kansas 5A regional titles, a district championship and a Greater-Area Wichita-League title along with a 38-16 overall record. In 2016, Harrison was named the City-League Coach of the Year.
He has also received the opportunity to speak at multiple coaching clinics, with the most recent engagement being the Tulsa Glazier Mega Clinic in 2016.
Harrison was a three-year captain at Sterling College and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Physical Education and Health. He then earned his Masters of Science in School Leadership from Baker University in 2011.
Darren Jackson, a graduate of Liberty University, is in his second season as head coach of the Sterling College Warriors.
Jackson's prior coaching experience includes a stint at Trinity Bible College, where he guided the program to their best record in six years. He was on the staff at Liberty when the Flames upset Baylor University and also has coaching stops at Evangel University and Colorado Mesa University.
Up Next: The Falcons will have a bye before opening up KCAC Kessinger Divisional play at home on Oct. 14 for a 1 pm kickoff vs. No. 8-ranked Southwestern College.
