The Lowdown: No. 15 OUAZ at No. 19 Friends University

* NAIA Football Championship Series First Round

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium     

Kickoff: Nov. 23, 12:00 pm

Live Stream: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/ ($9.99)

Live Stats: https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/central.php?tid=1087&t=1#google_vignette

What's at Stake: With a victory over OUAZ, the Falcons would advance to the second round of the NAIA Football Championship Series next Saturday (Nov. 30), with opponent and game time to be determined.  

Flying with the Falcons: The now No. 19-ranked Friends University Falcons clinched the KCAC Kessinger Division championship with a resounding 65-15 victory over the Bethany College Swedes last Saturday (Nov. 16) for the their first conference title since 2008. It was a methodical win for the Falcons, with the starters playing roughly a half and Friends outgaining Bethany 529-245 in total offense.

K'Vonte Baker (895 yards) and Elias Pino (761 yards) lead the top rushing unit in the NAIA this season, with Baker rushing for a team-leading 13 touchdowns.

Defensively, Barrett Roads leads the Falcons with 6.5 sacks, with Marco Torres (5.5) and Leshaon Davis (5) ranking right behind. Nolan Ewing (57), Brock Zerger (43), Marquis Willoughby (42), Cooper Skrobecki (37) and Torres (31) are the leading tacklers overall this season for Friends.

The winner of four KCAC Special Teams Player of the Week awards this season, Cole Thompson has hit 9-of-11 field goals and 53-of-57 extra-point attempts for the 10-1 Falcons.

Scouting the Spirit: The No. 15-ranked OUAZ Spirit finished second in the Sooner Athletic Conference and are 8-1 overall, with their only setback a 35-33 loss at No. 7-ranked and SAC regular season champion Texas Wesleyan University in the first game of the season. OUAZ (54.3 ppg) is second in the NAIA in points per game, behind only Texas Wesleyan's 59.9 ppg.

Luke Giron has thrown for 2112 yards with a solid efficiency of 32 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Jh'dhan Lester (875 yards, eight touchdowns) and Jaylen Magee (778 yards, nine touchdowns) give the Spirit a 1-2 anchor in the ground game, while Da'Vicious Wilson leads OUAZ with 689 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

Isiah Cotton leads OUAZ with 68 tackles, with 12.5 coming behind the line of scrimmage. Corey Floyd, Jr. has a team-highs in sacks (7.5) and tackles for loss (14.5).

The Series: This will be the first meeting on record between Friends and OUAZ.

Tickets and Live Stream: Tickets are on sale now at www.friendsathletics.com and are $20 for adults.  $10 tickets are also available for students and faculty/staff and must be purchased at the gate. Anyone not able to attend the game can view a high-production live stream produced by KCMC on www.kcacnetwork.com/friends for $9.99.

Championship Apparel: Interested in owning a piece of championship memorabilia? Click HERE to purchase Friends University Football and Women's Soccer KCAC championship shirts and let everyone know the Falcons are on top!

SCHEELS: We are proud to have Scheels as a sponsor of Friends University Athletics this season!  Click HERE for more info on the Scheels store in Wichita and if you're watching at home, tune into the Scheels Halftime Report when Friends University VP of Athletics and Strategic Expansion Dr. Rob Ramseyer joins the "Voice of the Falcons' Pat Strathman!

Ground Game: The NAIA FCS first round clash between Friends and OUAZ will feature two of the three best rushing attacks in the nation.  The Falcons are tops in the NAIA in rushing offense (413.8), with the Spirit ranking third (286.3).

Perfect 10: Not only is this the first NAIA FCS appearance for the Falcons since 2008, but also their first 10-win season in that span.

Top of the League: Friends University quarterback K'Vonte Baker was named the KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year, while Terry Harrison earned Coach of the Year honors and Eric Kelly was selected as the Assistant Coach of the Year. Read the full release with all of the Falcon All-KCAC Kessinger Division honorees HERE!

So Offensive: The Falcons have accumulated more total offense than the opposition in nine of 11 games so far this season, with a perfect 9-0 record in those outings.

Good Beginnings: The Falcons have entered the locker room with a halftime lead in 10 of 11 games so far this season, with the lone exception being a win at McPherson (Nov. 9) that Friends trailed 28-23 at the break.

Rush Hour: The Falcons have led the NAIA in rushing in both years of head coach Terry Harrison's tenure and are poised to do it again for a third straight season. The Falcons are first in the nation with 413.8 rushing yards per game this season, over 100 yards ahead of second-place Taylor (311.7).  K'Vonte Baker (895 yards), Elias Pino (761 yards), Nick Cordova (662 yards), Treylan Gross (538 yards), Kaden Rigsby (350 yards), Jett Cheatham (319 yards, Jud Cheatham (245 yards), Michael Lopez (170 yards) and Laken Clowdus (157 yards) have given the Falcons an unbelievably deep and well-rounded rushing unit this season. This rushing success particularly correlates with Harrison, as he's now coached the last five NAIA team leaders in rushing (his last three years at Bethel and both seasons at Friends).

Hometown Hero: A Wichita Heights HS product, K'Vonte Baker was named KCAC Player of the Year last season after leading the NAIA in rushing scores (25) and ranking third in rushing yards per game (115.3). His 1268 total rushing yards were the most by a Falcon since 2016 (Jesse Rogers). This season, Baker has accumulated a team-leading 895 yards on the ground, bolstered by a career-high 214 rushing yards in a 56-10 victory at Avila University (Sept. 14). Baker followed that up by recently winning KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the 2024 campaign.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 10-1

KCAC Kessinger Division: 4-1

Home: 4-1

Away: 6-0

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: 1-1

Scoring 28 points+: 9-0

Allowing 0-6 points: 3-0

Allowing 7-13 points: 2-0

Allowing 14-20 points: 2-0

Allowing 21-27 points: 1-1

Allowing 28 points+: 2-0

Scoring first: 8-1

Opponent scores first: 2-0

Leading at halftime: 9-1

Trailing at halftime: 1-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 4-0

Committing more turnovers: 4-1

Turnovers are even: 2-0

Leading in total offense: 9-0

Trailing in total offense: 1-1

Winning time of possession: 6-1

Losing time of possession: 4-0

The Coaches:

Terry Harrison is in his third season as the Friends University head football coach and has masterfully rebuilt the Falcons into an NAIA national contender.

Harrison appeared to be the perfect choice to lead the Falcon program and has done nothing to change that perception now in his third season at the helm.

In his two seasons thus far, Harrison has overseen the NAIA's top rushing offense in total yards and yards per game.

Last season, Harrison guided the Falcons to their first winning record since 2014 (9-2) and coached 20 All-KCAC players, including KCAC Player of the Year K'Vonte Baker along with NAIA All-American and Rimington Award winner Keegan Martin.

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.

Mike Nesbitt is in his eighth season as head coach of the OUAZ football program.

The first coach in program history, Nesbitt has led the Spirit to a pair of postseason appearances and two Sooner Athletic Conference championships during the 2019 and 2022 seasons.

In 2019, Nesbitt was named both the SAC Coach of the Year and the NAIA West Region Coach of the Year.

Prior to OUAZ, Nesbitt was the head coach at West Texas A&M University, an NCAA D-II school in Canyon, Texas. At West Texas A&M, Nesbitt produced a 25-17 record and helped the program advance to the 2013 NCAA National Championship quarterfinal round.

Nesbitt also has assistant coaching stops at the University of Houston, Stephen F. Austin, West Texas A&M, Blinn College and Howard Payne.

Collegiately, Nesbitt played for the University of New Mexico and ranked second in school history in career punting average (42.89) and was a second-team All-WAC selection in 1993. He also played in the NFL as a punter for the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings.

Up Next: Should the Falcons win over OUAZ, they would advance to the NAIA FCS second round next Saturday (Nov. 30), with opponent and game time to be determined.