The Lowdown: No. 7 Friends University at No. 12 McPherson College

Location: McPherson, Kan.              

Kickoff: Oct. 17 @ 1 PM

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Flying with the Falcons (6-0 0-0 KCAC Bissell): The No. 7-ranked Friends University Falcons stayed perfect with a hard-fought 66-42 victory over Ottawa University on Oct. 3 prior to last week's bye. With the Falcons on top 49-42, the Falcons put together a strong closing statement with the game's final 17 points, bolstered by a 50-yard pick-six by Zamarion Manuel. Read the full game recap of the Falcons' victory over Ottawa HERE!

Walker Overman (410 yards), Elon Conley (345 yards), Nick Cordova (345 yards), Joey Millspaugh (339 yards), E'derian Sykes (325 yards) and Michael Lopez (310 yards) have each surpassed the 300-yard rushing mark to lead an extremely balanced Falcon ground attack this season that now features seven rushers with at least 200 yards on the ground.

Walker Overman has now thrown eight touchdown passes on the season with 364 yards. DJ Dingle has also seen action and has passed for eight touchdowns and 237 yards. DJ Pearson leads the Falcon receiving corps with 161 yards and five receptions, with four of those catches going for touchdowns.  

Tyson Wallace (41 tackles) and Cooper Skrobecki (32 tackles) are the Falcons' leading tacklers on defense, with Skrobecki, Manuel and Mikah Rocco leading the team with two interceptions apiece. Cale Milleson has a team-high five sacks on the season and is now tied with Kevin Myers for the team lead in tackles for loss (seven).  

Through six games, the Falcons are tops in the NAIA in points per game (66.0) and rushing yards per game (440.3). Defensively, the Falcons are tied for first in the NAIA in fumble recoveries (nine) and defensive touchdowns (five) while ranking fourth in tackles for loss (59).

Scouting the Bulldogs (6-0, 0-0 KCAC Bissell): The No. 12-ranked McPherson College Bulldogs are also undefeated at 6-0 following an 87-0 rout of Bethany College last Saturday.

Quarterback Ryan Markarian and running back Jalil Brown have anchored the effective Bulldog offensive attack this season. Markarian has 16 passing touchdowns against just five interceptions with 1,533 yards. Brown is already nearing the 1,000-yard rushing mark with 950 yards along with 11 scores on the ground.

Jamal Rutherford leads McPherson with 304 receiving yards, as the Bulldogs feature four players with at least 16 catches on the season.

Nate Campbell has a team-high 47 tackles and Kenneth Ray leads the team with four sacks. Joshua Ferguson is pacing the Bulldogs with nine tackles for loss this season.

The Series: The Falcons outscored the Bulldogs 28-8 in the second half of last season's matchup and won 56-32 for their third straight win in the series. Friends is 12-10 vs. McPherson since 2004 with a 7-5 mark in Wichita during that stretch.  

Dondlinger Construction: We are proud to have Dondlinger Construction as a top sponsor of Friends University Athletics this season!  Click HERE to visit their official website and learn more on the services Dondlinger can offer!

Featured Game: For the second straight season, the Falcons and Bulldogs matchup will be the focus of KCAC Gameday. This season McPherson will be the host after Friends served as the host in the inaugural season of the program in 2025. The show begins at 10 am Saturday on the Urban Edge Network, click HERE to watch!

Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object : This highly anticipated matchup will pit the Falcons' top scoring offense vs. the Bulldog's No. 1-ranked defense. Friends is leading the NAIA in points per game (66.0 ppg), while McPherson has been the stingiest defense in the nation in points allowed (7.3 ppg).

Movin on Up: The Falcons climbed one spot to No. 7 to equal their season-best ranking in the latest Stadionic NAIA Football Coaches' Poll. Click HERE for the complete rankings!

Top Honors: Prior to last week's bye in the KCAC, quarterback Walker Overman was named the KCAC Offensive Player of the Week and Zamarion Manuel earned the league's Defensive Player of the Week honor. Overman was then named the NAIA Offensive Player of the Week following his career-best outing in the win over Ottawa. Read the full releases! KCAC Release NAIA Release

Highest Scoring Team in the Land: The Falcons are averaging an NAIA-leading 66.0 points per game this season. The 66 points per game is also second in all of College Football, only slightly trailing NCAA D-III's Lake Forest (67.0 ppg).

Student-athlete success: The NAIA released their 2025-26 Scholar Team awards on Sept. 15 as part of its annual NAIA National Awards Day. Every Falcon sport that was eligible earned the award, with the criteria being a minimum 3.0 team grade-point average. (Men's and Women's Powerlifting are not recognized as NAIA sports). Read the full release HERE!

Rushing to More History: The Falcons accumulated a NAIA single-season record 5,351 rushing yards in 2024 under head coach Terry Harrison's pristine flexbone offensive system only to break their own mark last season with 5,979 rushing yards.

Rush Hour: The Falcons have led the NAIA in rushing in all four years of head coach Terry's Harrison's tenure. This rushing success particularly correlates with Harrison, as he's now coached the last seven NAIA team leaders in rushing (his last three years at Bethel and all four seasons at Friends). The Falcons are at it again this season with a NAIA-leading 440.3 yards per game on the ground.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 6-0

KCAC Bissell Division: 0-0

Home: 3-0

Away: 3-0

The Falcons record when …

Scoring 0-9 points: 0-0

Scoring 10-19 points: 0-0

Scoring 20-29 points: 0-0

Scoring 30-39 points: 0-0

Scoring 40-49 points: 1-0

Scoring 50 + points: 5-0

Allowing 0-9 points: 0-0

Allowing 10-19 points: 3-0

Allowing 20-29 points: 2-0

Allowing 30-39 points: 0-0

Allowing 40-49 points: 1-0

Allowing 50+ points: 0-0

Scoring first: 4-0

Opponent scores first: 2-0

Leading at halftime: 6-0

Trailing at halftime: 0-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 5-0

Committing more turnovers: 0-0

Turnovers are even: 1-0

Leading in total offense: 6-0

Trailing in total offense: 0-0

Winning time of possession: 5-0

Losing time of possession: 1-0

The Coaches:

Terry Harrison enters his fifth season as the Friends University head football coach and has transformed the Falcons into a legitimate national contender and a consistent conference title threat.

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

He has earned consecutive KCAC Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Falcons to back-to-back conference titles and a program-record 12 wins in 2025.

This past season saw the Falcons lead all four-year college football in points per game (54.2 ppg) and advance to the NAIA FCS quarterfinal round for the first time in program history.

In his four seasons thus far, Harrison has overseen the NAIA's top rushing offense in total yards and yards per game. The Falcons also broke their own NAIA single-season rushing record with 5,979 rushing yards last season.

Individual players continued to thrive under Harrison's tutelage, with quarterback K'Vonte Baker winning his third KCAC Player of the Year award last year and Kyree Watkins being named the KCAC Offensive Lineman of the Year. 

In 2024, 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, Baker was named the KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year and offensive lineman 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.

The 2023 season saw Harrison guide the Falcons to their first winning record since 2014 (9-2) and coach 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.

Jeremiah Fiscus is in his eighth 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.

Last season, Fiscus led the Bulldogs to a 9-2 record and a final No. 22 ranking in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Postseason Poll.

Up Next: The Falcons will have another challenge next Saturday against (RV) Southwestern College. Kickoff will be at 1 pm at Adair-Austin Stadium.