The Lowdown: Kansas Wesleyan University at No. 21 Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium  

Kickoff: Sept. 21, 6:00 pm

Live Stream: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/

Live Stats: https://friendsathletics.com/sidearmstats/football/summary

Flying with the Falcons: The No. 21-ranked Friends University Falcons steamrolled the Avila University Eagles 56-10 to improve to 3-0 on the season Saturday (Sept. 14) in Kansas City, Mo. The Falcons have now outscored the opposition by a whopping 146-23 in the three victories.

K'Vonte Baker was the catalyst in the latest win, breaking free for a career-high 214 rushing yards and scoring twice. Elias Pino also crossed the 100-yard rushing mark for the third straight game and leads the Falcons this season while ranking second in the KCAC with 122.3 rushing yards per game and five rushing touchdowns. Baker is now over 100 yards per game on the ground (102.3) and has scored four times this season. Nick Cordova has also scored three touchdowns and is third on the team with 63 rushing yards per game.

Defensively, Andrew Arnold and Cooper Skrobecki lead a balanced unit with 3.7 tackles per game. Leshaon Davis has a team-high three sacks, with Andrew Arnold and Barrett Roads each producing 3.5 tackles for loss on the season.

Scouting the Coyotes: The Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes are 1-2 on the season, having lost to two teams currently in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' poll and defeating Bethany College 54-16.  To open the season, KWU was outscored 21-7 in the second half in a 35-24 setback to No. 16-ranked Evangel University. Last week, Southwestern College climbed to No. 24 after knocking off the Coyotes 44-14 in Salina, Kan.

Luke Armstrong leads the Coyotes on the ground this season with 99.3 yards per game and has scored four touchdowns. Byron McNair has thrown for 374 yards and a pair of touchdowns, with Earl Gray posting a team-leading 117 receiving yards.

Myles Elam is pacing KWU and ranks second in the KCAC with 10.7 tackles per game.

The Series: Friends hasn't beaten Kansas Wesleyan in a decade, with its last win coming at home in 2014. The Falcons are 6-14 vs. the Coyotes overall since 2004, with a 3-6 mark in Wichita during that span. The Coyotes slipped by with a 35-28 win in last season's meeting after the Falcons drove to the KWU 16 but fumbled in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Ticket Information: Tickets for the Falcons' matchup vs. Kansas Wesleyan can be purchased HERE!

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. Also, tune into the Scheels Halftime Report as the "Voice of the Falcons" Pat Strathman will be joined by Kevin Jenks of the Greater Wichita Sports Commission!

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 again this season. The Falcons are tops in the nation with 503.7 rushing yards per game this season, nearly 200 yards ahead of second-place Grand View (319.0). Elias Pino (367 yards), K'Vonte Baker (307 yards), Nick Cordova (189 yards), Laken Clowdus (123 yards) and Treylan Gross (120 yards) have given the Falcons a deep and well-rounded rushing unit this season. This rushing success is particularly associated 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).

So far, so good: The Falcons have won their first three games this season and with a win over Kansas Wesleyan, would begin the season 4-0 for the first time since starting 10-0 in 2008.

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 102.3 yards on the ground, bolstered by a career-high 214 rushing yards in last Saturday's win at Avila University.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 3-0

KCAC Kessinger Division: 0-0

Home: 1-0

Away: 2-0

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: 0-0

Scoring 28 points+: 3-0

Allowing 0-6 points: 1-0

Allowing 7-13 points: 2-0

Allowing 14-20 points: 0-0

Allowing 21-27 points: 0-0

Allowing 28 points+: 0-0

Scoring first: 2-0

Opponent scores first: 1-0

Leading at halftime: 3-0

Trailing at halftime: 0-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 2-0

Committing more turnovers: 0-0

Turnovers are even: 1-0

Leading in total offense: 3-0

Trailing in total offense: 0-0

Winning time of possession: 2-0

Losing time of possession: 1-0

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 going 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.

Matt Myers is in his third season as head coach of the Kansas Wesleyan University football program. Last year, the Coyotes finished 8-3 and tied for first in the Bissell division with Ottawa University at 4-1. Ottawa bested KWU head-to-head 27-24 to win the tiebreaker and advance to the NAIA Football Championship Series.

In his debut season in 2022, Myers also guided the Coyotes to an 8-3 overall mark and a 7-3 record in the KCAC while notching three shutouts along the way, the most in a single season since 2002.

Myers was an assistant coach for six seasons at KWU before taking over as head coach and was named the AFCA- NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021. He also played collegiately four seasons for the Coyotes and was a two-time All-KCAC selection.     

Up Next: The Falcons will play at Tabor College Saturday afternoon (Sept. 28) starting at 1 pm in Hillsboro, Kan.