Kansas Wesleyan Flag Football was again dominant on the gridiron as the Coyotes beat the Hesston College Larks 41-6 on Tuesday on Gene Bissell Field at JRI Stadium at the Graves Family Sports Complex.
It was the final non-conference game of the season for the Coyotes, who have two home games left on Saturday against Cottey College, and Sunday against Saint Mary.
The Coyotes took the ball first after Hesston won the toss and deferred to the second half, and the first play from scrimmage was a sack, but that was the only negative play of the drive for the Coyotes. Brianna Hernandez-Silva (SR/Las Vegas, Nev.) erased the loss and then some with a 24-yard run on the next play and the Coyotes capped the first drive with a 16-yard pass from Hernandez-Silva to Angel Roman (SO/Jacksonville, Fla.) from 16 yards out to make it 7-0 with 7:09 left in the first.
Hesston’s first drive went for negative yardage, and the Coyotes took over again at the Hesston 30 after the punt, and needed only four plays to score again on another Hernandez-Silva pass, this time to Ashley Hawthorne (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) from 12 yards making it 14-0 with 3:20 left in the first.
Hesston’s next drive stalled and the Coyotes took over at the Larks 12. After a bad snap went for a loss, the Coyotes needed only one play as Hernandez-Silva found Ciaran DeCuir (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) for a 20-yard touchdown and it was 21-0 with 1:06 left in the first.
The Larks got their only points on the next drive as Kaley Phillips scored from three yards out making it 21-6 with 9:24 left in the second quarter.
The Coyotes scored again on the next drive as Hernandez-Silva ran it in from 13 yards out and the PAT made it 28-6 with 5:42 left in the half.
Hesston went for it on their next drive but could not convert a second fourth down on the drive turning it back over to the Coyotes. It only took 43 seconds for the Coyotes to score again as Hernandez-Silva scored from eight yards out making it 34-6 with 1:13 left before the half.
KWU scored on its next drive in the third, taking the ball at the 14 after a touchback on a punt, and used a 21-yard pass to Roman, a 15-yard run by Hernandez-Silva and a 17-yard lateral run play with Hernandez-Silva and Kendra Velasquez-Munro (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) to set up Hernandez-Silva’s 2-yard pass to Roman for the score and it was 41-6 with 5:10 left in the third.
The Coyotes stopped a Hesston drive at the KWU 11 when Nickayla Howard (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) picked off a pass, but the Coyotes couldn’t capitalize turning the ball over with an interception in the endzone on the ensuring drive.
Wesleyan tried one more time to score as Valeria Gonzalez (SO/Lakin, Kan.) blocked a Hesston punt giving the Coyotes the ball at the Hesston 23 with 2:37 left. The Coyotes got to the 12, but a bad snap pushed the ball back to the 22, and the Coyotes couldn’t get a play off before the 2-minute warning and end of the game.
KWU outgained Hesston 324 to 119 in the game. The Coyotes had 204 yards passing and 120 yards rushing, while Hesston had 95 yards rushing and just 24 passing yards in the game.
Hernandez-Silva was 14 of 20 for 174 yards and four touchdowns, and added 96 yards rushing on 11 tries with two touchdowns. Velasquez-Munro had 26 yards rushing on two tries. DeCuir had six catches for 64 yards and a score, Roman had five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Velasquez-Munro had two catches for 19 as eight different players caught passes for the Coyotes.
Lexi Marquez (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) led the Coyotes with eight flag pulls on defense. Jimenez had five stops including two sacks and another tackle for loss. Alexa Mansur (SO/Henderson, Nev.) added five stops as well.
The Coyotes close the regular season this weekend with two games. The Coyotes host Cottey College on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., and Saint Mary at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
