The Lowdown: No. 20 Friends University at (RV) McPherson College

Location: McPherson, Kan.     

Kickoff: Nov. 9, 1:00 pm

Live Stream: https://kcacnetwork.com/

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/fball/2024-25/boxscores/20241109_yk5p.xml

Flying with the Falcons: The No. 20-ranked Friends University Falcons grinded out a 28-0 victory over the Bethel College Threshers on a rainy day in Wichita last Saturday (Nov. 2). The Falcons are now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in the KCAC Kessinger Division. Nick Cordova's 112 rushing yards and two touchdowns sparked the Falcons' offensive attack, with Treylan Gross finishing with 106 yards on the ground and one score. K'Vonte Baker wound up with 95 rushing yards for the Falcons. Barrett Roads was a force defensively, recording seven tackles, two sacks and four tackles for loss.

Elias Pino still leads a powerful rushing unit with 89.1 rushing yards per game along with nine scores. K'Vonte Baker is second on the team with 77.8 yards on the ground and leads the Falcons with 10 rushing touchdowns on the season.

Defensively, Barrett Roads leads the Falcons with 5.5 sacks, with Leshaon Davis (four) and Marco Torres (three) ranking right behind. Nolan Ewing (43), Cooper Skrobecki (30), Brock Zerger (29), Marquis Willoughby (29) and Torres (24) are the leading tacklers overall this season for Friends.

The winner of three KCAC Special Teams Player of the Week awards this season, Cole Thompson has hit 7-of-9 field goals and 42-of-44 extra-point attempts for the Falcons.

Scouting the Bulldogs: Since dropping their season opener at Tabor College, the (RV) McPherson College Bulldogs have been on quite a roll, winners of eight straight that includes a 34-27 win over then-No. 16-ranked Evangel University last Saturday on the road.

The Bulldog offense is fueled by the duo of quarterback Tristan Szabo and running back Jalil Brown. Szabo is second in the KCAC in both passing yards (189.8) and touchdowns (19), while Brown is third in the league in rushing yards (103.3) and first in touchdowns (12).

Jacob Goad leads McPherson in sacks (four) and Brandon Jones has recorded a team-leading 47 tackles.

The Series: The Falcons blasted the Bulldogs 66-17 last season at Riverfront Stadium to snap a five-game losing streak in the series. Friends is now 10-10 in the matchups since 2004, with a 4-5 mark on the road during that stretch.

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.

Movin on Up: The Falcons climbed three spots to No. 20 in this week's NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 Rating following Saturday's 28-0 victory over Bethel College.

So Offensive: The Falcons have accumulated more total offense than the opposition in seven of nine games so far this season, with a perfect 7-0 record in those outings.

Good Beginnings: The Falcons have entered the locker room with a halftime lead in all nine games so far this season.

Rush Hour: The Friends University Falcons have led the NAIA in rushing in both years of head coach Terry Harrison's tenure and appear poised to do it for a third straight season. The Falcons are first in the nation with 410.8 rushing yards per game this season, over 100 yards ahead of second-place Taylor (303.8).  Elias Pino (713 yards), K'Vonte Baker (700 yards), Nick Cordova (558 yards), Treylan Gross (431 yards), Jett Cheatham (259 yards, Kaden Rigsby (255 yards), Jud Cheatham (192 yards), Laken Clowdus (131 yards) and Michael Lopez (116 yards) have given the Falcons an unbelievably deep and well-rounded rushing unit this season. This rushing success particularly correlates to 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 is averaging 77.8 yards on the ground, bolstered by a career-high 214 rushing yards in a 56-10 victory at Avila University (Sept. 14).

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 8-1

KCAC Kessinger Division: 2-1

Home: 4-1

Away: 4-0

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+: 7-0

Allowing 0-6 points: 3-0

Allowing 7-13 points: 2-0

Allowing 14-20 points: 1-0

Allowing 21-27 points: 1-1

Allowing 28 points+: 1-0

Scoring first: 6-1

Opponent scores first: 2-0

Leading at halftime: 8-1

Trailing at halftime: 0-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 4-0

Committing more turnovers: 3-1

Turnovers are even: 1-0

Leading in total offense: 7-0

Trailing in total offense: 1-1

Winning time of possession: 5-1

Losing time of possession: 3-0

The Coaches:

Terry Harrison is in his third season as the Friends University head football coach.

Harrison appeared to be the perfect choice to lead the Falcon program and has done nothing to change that perception now into 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.

Jeremiah Fiscus is in his sixth season as head coach of the McPherson College Bulldogs.  Fiscus also played for the Bulldogs from 2006-07 and his previous coaching stops include Northwestern State University, Texas Christian University, Henderson State University and Bluestem High School.     

Up Next: The Falcons will wrap up the regular season next Saturday (Nov. 16) at Bethany College with a 1 pm kickoff in Lindsborg, Kan.