Friends gets past Coyotes 20-10
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

WICHITA – Kansas Wesleyan entered Saturday’s game with No.17 ranked Friends University desperately needing a win to keep in the race for the KCAC Championship. Friends used ball control to post a 20-10 win over the Coyotes at Adair-Austin Stadium.

Wesleyan opened the game with the ball and used a flea-flicker on the first play from scrimmage, completing a 51-yard pass from Drew Dallas to Jason Dolan. A 12-yard Preston McCorkle run would get the Coyotes into the red zone, and it appeared that Steven Valliere had gone 12 yards two plays later for a score, but the officials ruled that he had fumbled the ball before he crossed the goal line and the ball was recovered by Friends for a touchback.

The Falcons would capitalize on the turnover, using a 21-yard run by Anthony Bess, aided by a 15-yard late hit penalty to get into Wesleyan territory, as the Falcons marched 80 yards in 12 plays, and Joe Paletta’s PAT was good.

Valliere would nearly break the kickoff after fielding the ball five yards deep in the endzone, taking it out to the KWU-46, where the Coyotes would begin their drive. It would only take Wesleyan five plays to go 54-yards as Dallas would hit Marcus Lowe on a pass to the FRND-1, and Valliere would punch it in on the next play and Troy Van Blarcom’s kick would tie things at 7-all with 3:43 to go in the first quarter.

The Friends drive would carry over into the second quarter, when Kevin Coleman would cap the 12-play, 57-yard march with a 41-yard field goal putting the Falcons up 10-7.

After three stalled drives, two by Wesleyan, Friends would take the ball at its own 16, but could get no further than the 46, but the Coyotes would be generous to the Falcons, when Jason Dolan would fumble the punt return at the KWU-23, giving Friends the ball there. Friends could get no further than the KWU-9, where Joe Paletta’s 26-yard field goal would be wide.

Wesleyan would take over at the 20, but ended the half at the 14, thanks to a holding penalty. Friends would lead 10-7 at the break.

The Coyotes would get the ball to open the third quarter, and used a hook-and-ladder play with Jason Dolan and Valliere, for 24 yards. The Coyotes would march down the field, but the drive would stall at the KWU-9, and Van Blarcom’s 27-yard field goal would tie it at 10-all with 9:46 to go in the third.

Two stalled drives by both teams would give Friends the ball with 3:39 led, and the Falcons only needed six-plays to go 57 yards, capping the drive with a 12-yard run by Chris Bolander for the score. Paletta would convert the PAT putting the Falcons up 17-10.

After a couple of Wesleyan drives that went no where sandwiched around a stalled Falcon drive, Friends had the ball back and began a decisive drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter.

Friends (5-1, 4-1) took over at its own five after a fourth and goal pass from Dallas to Lowe was incomplete for the Coyotes. A nine-yard Bess run initiated the drive that ate up 10 minutes and 52 seconds of the fourth quarter, and going 23 plays and 85 yards before stalling at the KWU-10, where Paletta would hit a 27-yard field goal.

The final Wesleyan (3-3, 2-3) drive would go nowhere, and Friends would get the 20-10 win.

The big story was the lopsided time of possession in favor of the Falcons. Friends held the ball for just over 38 minutes in the game, compared to nearly 22 minutes for Wesleyan, a majority of it coming on the Falcons’ final drive in the fourth quarter.

Preston McCorkle led the Coyotes with 18 carries for 71 yards, while Valliere had seven carries for 26 yards and one touchdown. Drew Dallas had arguably his best passing game as a Coyote, despite only completing 11 of his 26 passes. Dallas threw for 204 yards, but had no touchdowns, nor any interceptions. Jason Dolan was the target of choice, catching five balls for 121 yards, while Lowe had three catches for 53 yards.

Friends was led on the ground by Bess with 23 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown, while the KCAC’s leading rusher Trey Hightower carried 18 times for 54 yards. Chris Bolander would add 10 carries for 44 yards and a score. Chris Randolph and Alex Melugin split time at the quarterback position for the Falcons as Randolph was 7-for-12 for 67 yards, and Melugin was 6-for-8 for 45 yards. Tim Payne led the Friends receivers with four catches for 34 yards, while Luke Flanagan had three grabs for 50 yards.

The Coyotes return home for the first time since September 29, when they host Saint Mary next Saturday at Salina Stadium. The kickoff time has been moved back to 3:00 from its originally scheduled 1:30 p.m. start.

-- KWU SI --