Kansas Wesleyan coach Matt Middleton was not happy with the way his team played for most of the first three quarters of their game against Tabor on Saturday night. A post mortem was premature though.
Trailing 28-6 late in the third quarter the Coyotes mounted a spirited comeback that came up short in a 28-19 loss on Family Weekend at Gene Bissell Field and JRI Hospitality Stadium at the Graves Family Sports Complex.
The loss dropped them to 4-1 while Tabor improved to 2-3.
KWU recovered two onsides kicks, ran 36 plays and held Tabor to 10 the final 15 minutes but a fumble, missed extra point, and missed field goal helped thwart the rally.
D'Heaven Domena's three-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 28-13. The Coyotes recovered the first onsides kick but the possession ended with a fumble at the Tabor 44-yard line.
The Bluejays went three and out on their next possession and KWU followed with a 94-yard, 14-play drive that ended with Henry Austad's two-yard touchdown run with 2:00 left. The extra point kick failed leaving it 28-19.
The Coyotes recovered another onsides kick but that drive stalled at the Tabor 17 and Talon Cope's 33-yard field goal attempt went wide left with 41 seconds remaining.
Middleton was pleased with his team's resilience.
"I'm proud of the kids didn't quit," he said on his postgame radio show. "There were some times we were trying to fight through some implosions. That's the one thing I talked about in fall camp, how do you handle adversity, how do you handle a loss? Anybody can be a frontrunner but how do you handle things when adversity hits?
"I saw some things tonight that didn't make me feel real good but then the way they fought back and got through it, stayed positive, showed me that there's still a lot of drive and fight."
The Coyotes led 6-0 in the first quarter after Cope converted field goals of 30 and 28 yards.
Tabor took a 7-6 lead with 47 seconds left in the quarter on Ahmad Bailey's two-yard touchdown pass to A.J. King. Neither team scored in the second quarter.
Tabor took control in the third quarter with three touchdowns passes from Bailey to King covering six, 28 and 65 yards - the third with 1:25 left in the quarter that made it 28-6.
Bailey was 22 of 34 passing for 223 yards and the four touchdowns to King who had 12 receptions for 155 yards.
KWU outgained Tabor in total yards 380-330 - the Bluejays finishing with 107 yards rushing on 33 attempts for a 3.2 average. Myles Elam led the Coyote defense with 14 tackles while Taylor Collins had 11 and Jamison Price nine.
"Kudos to our defense, how they played," Middleton said. "They were just on the field too much and that was our fault on offense. Not getting the things done that we needed to get done."
Austad was 26 of 37 for 200 yards and was the leading rusher with 82 yards on 11 carries and the one touchdown; Domena added 71 yards on 13 carries and one TD. Will Wilcox caught a team-best seven passes for 82 yards - all in the second half. Aiden Jones had five receptions for 37 yards.
"When I go watch the film I'll be depressed because I'll see so many things there but that's the thing, you've got to move on," Middleton said. "It is what it is. It's still a long season and we've got a lot to play for."
Next up is the lengthy road trip to southwest Missouri for a game against Ted Kessinger Division favorite Evangel on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Nixa. The Valor (3-2) lost to No. 7 Friends 53-0 Saturday night in Wichita.