Kansas Wesleyan’s defense apparently loves coming home as much as it enjoys Homecoming.
The Coyotes harassed, hounded, and hogtied Avila’s offense from start to finish in a 38-3 Kansas Conference and 2024 Homecoming victory Saturday afternoon at Gene Bissell Field at JRI Stadium and the Graves Family Sports Complex.
They were coming off a bye week and a 42-13 road loss to McPherson on October 5.
KWU held Avila to a paltry 180 total yards on 70 plays – just 2.6 yards per play – and forced four turnovers (three of them interceptions) and notched a school-record tying eight sacks. The Eagles had 176 yards passing but just four yards rushing on 31 attempts.
“We had a good gameplan defensively very similar to when we played Bethel three weeks ago with a quarterback that kind of makes their offense go and can extend plays,” co-interim head coach Chris Snyder said on the postgame radio show.
“It helps that it was a beautiful day weather-wise, big crowd for Homecoming, lot of people here. You couldn’t ask for a better way to come off of the week we had, to open at home with a lot of support and parents being here. That means a lot.”
The Coyotes improved to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in their first game in the Gene Bissell Division. Avila fell to 1-6 and 0-1.
Wesleyan dominated the first half rolling to a 35-0 halftime lead and cruising behind the defense the rest of the way. The Coyotes intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble and sacked Avila quarterback Eli Williams five times during the first 30 minutes of the game.
The defense also tallied points when Josh King-Bradley strip-sacked Williams for a 15-yard loss. Jordan Diggins scooped up the loose ball and raced 46 yards for a touchdown that gave KWU a 35-0 lead with 36 seconds left in the opening half.
Richard Lara and Byron McNair shared the quarterback duties, McNair returning after missing the two previous games with an injury. Lara started and was 7 of 11 passing for 66 yards and two touchdowns; McNair was 4 of 8 for 30 yards. Neither quarterback threw an interception.
“We had a good gameplan,” Snyder said. “Coach (James) Bauer (offensive coordinator) and I talked about having a plan for playing both. Playing that position it’s hard to come back after missing weeks of not having the bodies sliding around.
“I pitched to the quarterbacks ever since I’ve been here ‘use your feet, take the four-yard scramble so we have second-and-6’ and I really felt they did a good job of keeping us in positive plays.”
Luke Armstrong led the rushing attack with 93 yards rushing on 11 carries that included a 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that extended the Coyotes’ lead to 21-0.
Earl Gray was the top receiver with four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown – a 16-yarder from Lara with 9:06 left in the first quarter that accounted for KWU’s first points.
After Gray’s touchdown the Coyotes were back in the end zone 54 seconds later when Zarek Fewell scored from the 1 making it 14-0. The touchdown came four plays after Jordan Trice intercepted a Williams pass.
Wesleyan went 71 yards on just four plays on its next possession, McNair throwing a 30-yard pass to Woody Banks and Armstrong scoring two plays later that upped the advantage to 21-0.
The lead became 28-0 on Lara’s seven-yard touchdown pass to Kajuan Casey with 2:00 left in the half. KWU’s 13-play drive covered 86 yards.
Diggins’ touchdown was the final points of the half.
Avila scored its points on Juan Delgado-Medina’s 46-yard field goal with 8:48 left in the third quarter. Talon Cope booted a 46-yard field goal of his own with 10:49 left for the game’s final points.
Keyon Baccus had two sacks and King-Bradley 1.5 while Daren Hawkins and King-Bradley each had 2.5 tackles for loss for KWU’s swarming defense.
While pleased with the team’s performance overall Snyder was dismayed by 15 penalties for 168 yards.
“Personal fouls are not a culture we want to be part of,” Snyder said. “It’s something that we will be addressing first thing Tuesday. We’ll definitely get it cleaned up.
“But the effort and how we played was great. I couldn’t ask for anything more from the kids and the coaches.”
The Coyotes play Saint Mary at 1 p.m. next Saturday in Leavenworth. The Spires (1-5) lost to Ottawa 33-30 Saturday in Ottawa.
