The Lowdown: No. 9 Friends University at Bethel College
Location: North Newton, Kan.
Kickoff: Sept. 12 @ 6:00 PM
Live Stream: https://www.kcacnetwork.com/bethel/
Live Stats: https://bethelthreshers.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
Tickets: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ks/north-newton/organization/7515/bethel-college/tickets
Flying with the Falcons: The No. 9-ranked Friends University Falcons overwhelmed the Avila University Eagles 61-10 to move to 2-0 on the season last Saturday (Sept. 5) in the home opener at Adair-Austin Stadium. The Falcons rushed for 505 yards as a team, led by Nick Cordova's 97 yards on the ground. E'derian Sykes scored two rushing touchdowns and added 73 yards on 10 carries while Walker Overman had 81 yards on the ground with a touchdown. Michael Lopez returned two punts for 65 yards, including a touchdown, and added 36 rushing yards. Elon Conley had 67 yards on five carries and also scored a touchdown. Mikah Rocco recovered a fumble and returned it 49 yards for a defensive score. Read the full game recap of the Falcons' victory over Avila HERE!
Conley (174 yards), Cordova (153 yards), Sykes (123 yards) and Overman (112 yards) lead an extremely balanced Falcon rushing attack this season.
Tyson Wallace has a team-high 16 tackles for the Falcons and Kevin Myers and Jake Lucky each have 3.5 tackles for loss. Cale Milleson leads the Falcons with 2.5 sacks on the season.
Through two games, the Falcons are tops in the NAIA in rushing (480.0 yards per game) and third in points per game (73.0). Defensively, the Falcons are tied for ninth in points allowed per game (10.0).
Scouting the Threshers: The Bethel College Threshers are 0-2 following setbacks of 48-14 to No. 22-ranked Southwestern College and 73-0 at No. 21-ranked McPherson College.
Brady Norman has passed for 330 yards this season and Josiah Buller leads the team with 11 receptions and 92 receiving yards. Darick Dubose has a team-high 36 rushing yards in two outings.
Will Smiley leads the Threshers with 16 tackles on the season.
The Series: After losing four straight and six of seven in the series, the Falcons have shutout the Threshers the last three meetings by a combined score of 133-0. Friends is now 15-6 vs. Bethel overall since 2005, with a 7-3 mark on the road 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 Falcon: Click HERE for a brand new feature story on Falcon defensive back and Derby native Brock Zerger!
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 off and running again this season with an NAIA-leading 480 yards per game on the ground.
Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall: 2-0
KCAC Bissell Division: 0-0
Home: 1-0
Away: 1-0
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: 0-0
Scoring 50 + points: 2-0
Allowing 0-9 points: 0-0
Allowing 10-19 points: 2-0
Allowing 20-29 points: 0-0
Allowing 30-39 points: 0-0
Allowing 40-49 points: 0-0
Allowing 50+ points: 0-0
Scoring first: 1-0
Opponent scores first: 1-0
Leading at halftime: 2-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-0
Tied at halftime: 0-0
Committing fewer turnovers: 2-0
Committing more turnovers: 0-0
Turnovers are even: 0-0
Leading in total offense: 2-0
Trailing in total offense: 0-0
Winning time of possession: 1-0
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 now 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.
Josh Lawson is in his second season as head coach of the Bethel College football program.
Lawson has 20 years of coaching experience and most recently was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Calvin University, an NCAA Division III program in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Lawson has also served defensive coordinator roles at Arkansas Tech University (NCAA D-II), Stephen F. Austin (FCS D-I) and Southern Arkansas University (NCAA D-II).
He started his coaching career as a Recruiting Student Assistant (2001-02) and then a Quality Control Graduate Assistant (2003-04) at the University of Alabama.
Up Next: The Falcons will return home next Saturday evening (Sept. 19) for a 6 pm kickoff vs. Tabor College at Adair-Austin Stadium.
