RIVALRY WEEK: No. 24 Coyotes face the Swedes in long-time series

By KWU Athletics Release September 5, 2024

The 24th-ranked Coyotes go on the road for the first time this season when they play Kansas Conference rival Bethany. Kickoff is 11 a.m. Saturday at Ted Kessinger Family Stadium in Lindsborg.

LIVE COVERAGE

RECORDS

  • Kansas Wesleyan 0-1
  • Bethany 0-1

THE SERIES

  • This will be the 114th meeting. Wesleyan has won nine in a row and 11 of the last 12, including a 31-3 victory last season at JRI Stadium and the Graves Family Sports Complex. Bethany leads the overall series 57-50-6.

KANSAS WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE

  • The Coyotes lost to No. 14 Evangel 35-24 last Saturday in the opener at JRI Stadium. They led 17-14 at halftime but the Valor scored three touchdowns in the third quarter.
  • Byron McNair was 15 of 23 passing for 125 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. Zarek Fewell had 86 yards rushing on 16 carries and caught two passes for 32 yards while Darrias Pearsall had four catches for 25 yards. Luke Armstrong rushed for 63 yards on nine tries that included a 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. KWU totaled 180 yards rushing on 43 attempts (4.2 average).
  • Quarterback Daeden “Buck” Taylor ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns and passed for another score in KWU’s 31-3 victory over the Swedes last year at JRI Stadium. The Coyotes amassed 300 yards rushing on 49 carries (6.1 average) and limited Bethany to 177 total yards.
  • The game was close until the fourth quarter when Wesleyan scored three unanswered touchdowns. Taylor ran for the first two and threw a pass to Ricardo Arias for the third.
  • The Coyotes have outscored Bethany 104-9 in the last three games and have averaged 35.4 points against the Swedes since the 2001 season.

BETHANY AT A GLANCE

  • The Swedes lost to Avila 24-21 last Saturday in Kansas City. They trailed 21-7 early in the fourth quarter before Landry Shields threw touchdown passes to Jacob Madu and Michael Young that tied the game with 8:05 left. Avila kicked the game winning field goal with 3:24 remaining.
  • Shields, who was the starter last season in his freshman year, threw for 214 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions against Avila. Young caught six passes for 89 yards and Madu five for 46. Bethany had 81 yards rushing on 29 carries (2.8 average) and held Avila to 84 yards on 38 attempts (2.2 average). The Swedes had 13 penalties for 149 yards.
  • Shields was 9 of 25 for 103 yards in last year’s game in Salina. Madu had seven catches for 62 yards and Young four for 19.
  • Mike Grossner is in his second season as the Swedes’ coach. He previously spent 15 seasons at Baker where his teams had 12 consecutive winning seasons, won six Heart of America Conference titles and were the NAIA national runner-up in 2016.

KWU COACH MATT MYERS
“They’ve got a lot offensive lineman back from last year and they get good push up front. They stretched the field vertically (passing) multiple times (against Avila). We fully expect them to give us their best game, their best shot. We want to jump on them early.

“We need to take care of the football number one. Make sure we are running the ball and getting good movement up front and defensively make sure we take away the big plays. If we can force them to earn it and keep the yellow flags off the field, we’ll put ourselves in a good position to win the game.

“I think (the rivalry) still exists based on geography alone. It certainly does with the alumni and the guys that remember pre-social media rivalries in those eras. No one here at the school wants to take a loss to them in anything and for us in football specifically it is priority number one to make sure that we secure wins on Bethany week.”

NEXT WEEK
The Coyotes return home for a game against Southwestern starting at 6 p.m. at JRI Stadium.