WICHITA, Kan. – The No. 12-ranked Friends University Falcons, the defending KCAC regular season champions, opened the highly-anticipated 2025 season with a record-setting 73-14 thumping of the Bethany College Swedes this evening (Aug. 30) at Adair-Austin Stadium.

Coming off a season that featured the most wins (11) in the modern era, the first-ever NAIA FCS Playoff victory in program history and the team's first conference championship since 2008, the Falcons showed that 2025 could feature much of the same and more in terms of history being made.

Below are the top takeaways of tonight's big Falcon victory:

Records are made to be broken: The 73 points and 695 total yards gained tonight are the most for the Falcons in the modern era. The 695 yards gained breaks the previous mark of 672, also achieved against Bethany in the 2023 regular season finale.

Back at it: K'Vonte Baker, the 2023 KCAC Offensive Player of the Year and 2024 KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year, rushed for a career-high tying four touchdowns and passed for another in leading the Falcons to the big win. The highlight of the night for the Wichita Heights product was showcasing his elite athleticism in breaking free for an 85-yard touchdown run on third and six early in the third quarter that staked the Falcons to a 45-0 lead.

Quick Strike: Operating out of the flexbone offensive system, the Falcons have the ability to strike from anywhere, and that was never more evident than tonight. The Falcons scored 10 touchdowns, with half of those scores coming from at least 31 yards out. In addition to Baker's 85 yard explosion, Nick Cordova ran for 70 of his 100 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and Jace Martin exploded for a 69-yard touchdown in his first career game at Friends. Baker also had a 31-yard scoring dash and Kaden Rigsby started the night with a 39 yard touchdown with 11:15 left in the opening quarter.

Getting defensive early: The Falcon defense made a statement to start the season by forcing turnovers on the Swedes' first two possessions. Andrew Arnold was involved in both game-changing sequences, first intercepting a pass and then producing a strip sack that was recovered by Taeylon Garland.

All Falcons, All the Time: The Falcons were never threatened tonight, leading 10-0 at the end of the first quarter before ballooning the lead up to 38-0 at the half and 59-8 heading to the fourth quarter.

Pristine early impressions: The Falcons have plenty of veterans back from last season's historic squad, but still got significant contributions from a few newcomers tonight, highlighted by Jace Martin, Evan Cantu, DJ Pearson and Truitt Bosher. Martin scored a pair of touchdowns and Cantu capped off the night's scoring barrage with his first career score. Pearson also found the end zone with a 28-yard scoring toss from Baker. Bosher drew raves in practice as the Falcons' placekicker and exceeded expectations tonight, hitting all 10 of his extra-point attempts and connecting on his lone field goal attempt from 39 yards.

Another hot start: Tonight's win over Bethany was the Falcons fourth straight season opening victory, the longest stretch on record since winning four straight season openers from 2005-09.   

Up Next: The Falcons will hit the road and play at Avila University next Saturday (Sept. 6) for a 1 pm kickoff in Kansas City, Mo.