The Coyotes are back home Saturday for a game against Kansas Conference and Bissell Division foe Saint Mary on Homecoming and Family Weekend. Kickoff is 5 p.m. on Bissell Field at JRI Stadium and the Graves Family Sports Complex.
LIVE COVERAGE
The video stream of the game will be available online through the Coyote Sports Network at www.kcacnetwork.com/kansaswesleyan.
Live Stats will be available at https://kwucoyotes.com/sidearmstats/football/summary. Radio coverage can be heard locally on KINA 910 AM/107.5 FM, and online at Eagle Communication's Post Sites (salinapost.com in Salina). The online stream is also available at https://radio.securenetsystems.net/ce/kina2. Tyler Henry will have the call with pregame starting at 4 p.m.
RECORDS
Kansas Wesleyan 5-2, 1-0 Bissell Division. Saint Mary 2-5, 0-1 Bissell Division
THE SERIES
The Coyotes have won the last five games against the Spires including a 39-13 victory last season in Leavenworth. KWU has outscored USM 277-30 in the five contests. The Coyotes have a 17-4 edge – 11-1 at home – since the 2001 season.
KANSAS WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
The Coyotes ran their winning streak to four with a 34-16 victory over Avila last Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri. They led 20-10 at halftime and outscored the Eagles 14-6 in the second half.
Freshman Byron McNair made his first collegiate start and played well completing 11 of 18 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. The Coyotes totaled 250 yards rushing and were led by Tyler Boston with 119 yards and Nick Allsman with 80. Both scored a touchdown as did running back Mark Benjamin.
Avila finished with 245 total yards but had a minus-one yard rushing on 22 attempts. KWU's allowing an averaging of 115.6 yards rushing per game.
Coach Matt Myers said he would decide who will start at quarterback later in the week – McNair or Richard Lara. McNair came in for Lara in the second half of KWU's game against McPherson and has taken all the snaps since then.. KWU is the lone team in the Bissell Division with an overall winning record. Ottawa, Saint Mary and Tabor are next at 2-5.
SAINT MARY AT A GLANCE
The Spires lost to Ottawa 28-17 last Saturday in Leavenworth. It was their second consecutive loss and third in the last four games.. Saint Mary's games are typically entertaining with shootouts not uncommon. They defeated McPherson 36-32 and lost to Evangel 59-42. The Spires average 30.6 points but allow 40.3 points and 458 total yards that includes 265 rushing.
Sophomore quarterback Erick Covington has thrown for 1,383 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 49 percent of his passes. Redshirt freshman Michael Gazzana is the top receiver with 36 receptions for 577 yards and six touchdowns. Davien Norman is next with 21 catches for 225 yards and three scores; Jartavious Martin has a team-best 396 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Defensive back Jaxon Curtis has a team-high 55 tackles and shares the lead in interceptions with three along with Landon Beecham.
KWU COACH MATT MYERS
"(McNair's) athletic ability has shown through and also his decision making. When a play breaks down, he can make plays which has been super important. I think the guys have bought in an believe in his skill set. We believe in all of our quarterbacks but he's the one that's performing the best at the moment."I expect (Saint Mary) to challenge us on defense and come and play super hard. We can't just come out and do the coin flip and go home. We need to make sure we start hot. Their RPO game is something that we haven't really seen thus far. It's multi-faceted, their quarterback is making really good decisions and feeding off of their run game."Everyone's ready to go and excited to be back home for Homecoming."
NEXT WEEK
The Coyotes travel to Hillsboro on Saturday for a KCAC and Bissell Division game against Tabor. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Joel H. Wiens Stadium.