WICHITA – Kansas Wesleyan’s upset attempt came five seconds and three points short.
Cole Thompson’s 40-yard field goal as time expired sent No. 21-ranked Friends to a 28-26 Kansas Conference victory over the Coyotes on a rainy Saturday night at Adair-Austin Stadium.
The loss ended Wesleyan’s nine-game winning streak against the Falcons.
Thompson’s kick capped a last-ditch drive that started at the Friends’ 1-yard line and ended at the KWU 23 in the final 1:49. The march was aided by a difficult defensive pass interference call that came three plays before Thompson’s field goal.
Luke Armstrong’s 37-yard touchdown run with 5:27 left in the game gave the Coyotes a 26-25 lead. Friends then drove to the KWU 13-yard line but Thompson’s 30-yard field goal attempt with 2:25 remaining was blocked and the ball recovered by Sloan Simpson at the KWU 28.
The Coyotes were forced to punt after Armstrong gained six yards on three runs, but Griffin Wiltse uncorked a 65-yard punt that was downed at the Friends’ 1. The Falcons’ drive that consisted of six running plays and one pass completion.
“We’re 1-3 and it feels terrible to lose games like that,” KWU coach Matt Myers said on his postgame radio show, “but that’s something you can build off of. You’re disappointed in the loss but not disappointed in the guys and the staff and the effort that everyone put into it for four full quarters.”
The Wesleyan defense epitomized bend-but-don’t-break most of the night. The Falcons fumbled eight times and lost four, three in the first half. They entered the game averaging 48 points and an NAIA-best 504 yards rushing but finished nearly a hundred yards shy of their rushing average – 407 on 59 attempts.
Quarterback K’Vonte Baker scored Friends’ first touchdown on a 1-yard with 2:55 left in the first half that gave Friends a 10-6 lead. The Coyotes had scored on Cope field goals of 29 yards in the first quarter and 32 yards midway through the second quarter.
KWU end the half in record-setting fashion when Cole Segraves kicked a program-best 54-yard field goal as time expired that cut the deficit to 10-9 at intermission.
Friend scored on the first possession of the third quarter on Baker’s 34-yard pass to Austin Pratt but the Coyotes answered 13 seconds later when Armstrong took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown making it 17-16 with 12:05 left in the quarter.
Cope’s third field goal of the game, a 29-yarder with 5:48 left in the third quarter, gave KWU a 19-17 lead but Friends regained the lead, 25-19, on Elias Pino’s 10-yard run with 1:25 left in the quarter.
“We were a first down away from winning the game,” Myers said. “Making plays on special teams is awesome and getting turnovers is awesome but now we need turn those turnovers into seven (points) instead of three.”
Friends finished with 559 total yards and KWU 243 – 158 rushing, 85 passing. Byron McNair was 5 of 12 passing with one interception while Armstrong led the ground attack with 79 yards on 20 carries. Pino had 134 yards rushing on 13 carries and Baker 110 yards on 20 carries for Friends.
“We’ve got seven games to show the conference and our fans who we are and what we’re capable of,” Myers said. “We’re a really good team, there’s no doubt about it. We went toe-to-toe with one of if not the best team in the conference and there will be some positives that we’ll learn from this.”
KWU plays Bethel at 6 p.m. next Saturday at JRI Stadium and the Graves Family Sports Complex. The Threshers (4-0) defeated Avila 20-17 Saturday in North Newton.
