The Lowdown: (RV) Kansas Wesleyan University at No. 4 Friends University

(Urban Edge Network Featured Game)

Location: Equity Bank Park – Wichita, Kan.         

Kickoff: Nov. 1 @ 1:00 PM

Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2844

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

Flying with the Falcons: The fourth-ranked Falcons jumped out to a 21-0 lead and then made the necessary plays to hang on for their second straight NAIA Top 20 victory, 42-28 at then No. 15-ranked Southwestern College last Saturday (Oct. 25). Friends is now 8-0 for the first time since the 2008 season. Read the top takeaways on the Falcons' win at Southwestern HERE!

K'Vonte Baker is tops in the KCAC Bissell Division and second in the NAIA with 18 rushing touchdowns while ranking second on the Falcons in total rushing yards (651). E'derian Sykes is first on the team with 675 rushing yards and Nick Cordova has 631 yards on the ground. Cordova and Michael Lopez have each rushed for seven touchdowns on the season.

Taeylon Garland leads the KCAC Bissell Division with 5.5 sacks and Jairo Castillo has four sacks with a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss. Tyson Wallace is first on the Falcon defensive unit with 33 tackles and Joshua Flash has a team-leading four interceptions.   

Truitt Bosher has made five of his six field goal attempts this season and has drilled 58 of 59 extra-point attempts.

Scouting the Coyotes: Since losing 7-6 at No. 24-ranked Evangel University, the (RV) Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes have won their last two games and are now 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the KCAC Bissell Division.

Henry Austad has passed for 1451 yards with eight touchdowns and just one interception this season for Kansas Wesleyan. D'Heaven Domena is the leading rusher in the KCAC with 868 yards on the ground and has 10 rushing touchdowns. Will Wilcox (35 receptions, 480 yards, two touchdowns) and Rhadarious Lomax-Spivey (39 receptions, 458 yards, three touchdowns) are the leading receivers for the Coyotes.

Jamison Price leads KWU with 60 tackles and has five sacks, while Derrean Morgan also has five sacks along with a team-leading 7.5 tackles for loss. Taylor Collins has recorded a team-high four interceptions on the season.

The Series: The Falcons snapped a nine-game losing skid in the series with a walk-off 28-26 victory last year in Wichita on a game-winning 40-yard field goal by Cole Thompson as time expired. Friends is 7-14 overall vs. KWU since 2004, with a 4-6 home mark during that stretch.  Read all about what was an instant classic HERE!

Tickets: For Saturday's game vs. KWU at Equity Bank Park, purchase tickets HERE!  

Farha Roofing: We are proud to have Farha Roofing as a sponsor of Friends University Athletics this season!  Click HERE for more info on the services Farha can offer!

Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object: The Falcons are the NAIA's leading scoring team with an average of 54.4 ppg, while the Coyotes rank fourth in the nation in points allowed (10.8 ppg). The Falcon defense isn't far behind, allowing just 12.9 ppg to rank sixth in points allowed.

Top Four! The Falcons now have sole possession of the fourth spot in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll to continue representing the Falcons' highest placement for as long as the NAIA rankings archives go back (2011). Click HERE for the full rankings!

Equity Bank Park History: The Falcons will hope for a similar result on Saturday that they attained the last time they played at Equity Bank Park (formerly Riverfront Stadium) when they won 66-17 over McPherson College during the 2023 season. Equity Bank Park, the home of the Minnesota Twins' Double-A affiliate Wichita Wind Surge, has a decorated history of hosting college and high school football games, with the 2021 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference championship tilt between Garden City and Hutchinson serving as the venue's first-ever football event.

Half as good: The Falcons are 8-0 on the season and have led going into halftime in all eight games this season.

Two-way dominance: The Falcons continue to pace the entire NAIA in points per game (54.4 ppg) and are sixth in points allowed (12.9 ppg), further solidifying their status as the premier complimentary team in the country. Friends is also pacing the nation in both rushing yards per game (465.0) and rushing yards allowed (41.0) while ranking second in both overall yards allowed (222.1) and sacks (30).  

Rushing to History: The Falcons accumulated a NAIA single-season record 5,351 rushing yards last season under head coach Terry Harrison's pristine flexbone offensive system. Friends is well ahead of the pack again this season with 3,720 rushing yards, over 1,300 yards ahead of second place Taylor (Ind.).

Rush Hour: The Falcons have led the NAIA in rushing in all three years of head coach Terry's Harrison's tenure. This rushing success particularly correlates with Harrison, as he's now coached the last six NAIA team leaders in rushing (his last three years at Bethel and all three seasons at Friends.

Hometown Hero: A Wichita Heights HS product, K'Vonte Baker was named KCAC Player of the Year during his first season with the Falcons in 2023 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). Last year, Baker ran for a team-leading 1225 yards on the ground, bolstered by a career-high 214 rushing yards in a 56-10 victory at Avila University (Sept. 14). Baker was named the KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the 2024 campaign and was named the Offensive Player of the Game after leading the Falcons with 179 yards on the ground and one rushing touchdown in a 47-35 victory over OUAZ for Friends' first-ever NAIA playoff win. He has picked right back up this season and is second in the NAIA with 18 rushing touchdowns along with 651 yards on the ground. 

Click HERE to read Baker describe the thrilling experience of playing in his hometown of Wichita!

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 8-0

KCAC Bissell Division: 2-0

Home: 4-0

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: 0-0

Scoring 28-34 points: 1-0

Scoring 35+ points: 7-0

Allowing 0-6 points: 2-0

Allowing 7-13 points: 2-0

Allowing 14-20 points: 2-0

Allowing 21-27 points: 0-0

Allowing 28-34 points: 2-0

Allowing 35+ points: 0-0

Scoring first: 5-0

Opponent scores first: 3-0

Leading at halftime: 8-0

Trailing at halftime: 0-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 4-0

Committing more turnovers: 3-0

Turnovers are even: 1-0

Leading in total offense: 7-0

Trailing in total offense: 1-0

Winning time of possession: 5-0

Losing time of possession: 3-0

The Coaches:

Terry Harrison enters his fourth season as the Friends University head football coach and has transformed the Falcons into a legitimate national contender.

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

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

Last season, the Falcons' progression reached its apex with the program's first conference title since 2008 and first NAIA FCS Playoff victory in school history. Harrison earned KCAC Kessinger Division and Victory Sports Network (VSN) NAIA Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Falcons to an 11-2 record for the team's most wins in the modern era. 

Under Harrison, K'Vonte Baker was named the KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year and offensive lineman Kyree Watkins was selected as a first-team AFCA NAIA Coaches' All-American. Overall, the Falcons averaged 411.6 rushing yards per game, nearly 100 yards ahead of the next closest team (Taylor, 311.7) while also rushing for a nation-leading 58 touchdowns last season.

In 2023, 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.

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.

Matt Middleton is in his first season as head coach of the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes. Before arriving at KWU, Middleton served two seasons at NCAA D-II Harding University as the team's quarterbacks and fullbacks coach. Harding enjoyed immense success with Middleton on the staff, going 15-0 and winning the NCAA D-II National Championship in 2023.

Middleton also has coaching stops at NCAA FBS Louisiana Tech University, a pair of NCAA D-II in the University of Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas University, and NCAA FCS University of Central Arkansas.

Up Next: The Falcons will play their final regular season home game next Saturday (Nov. 8) at 1 pm vs. Sterling College.