Kansas Wesleyan All-American wide receiver Steve Williams freely admits he's superstitious.
"Very," he said. "I'm very superstitious."
Saturday during the No. 6 Coyotes' Kansas Conference game against Ottawa, Williams had an uncharacteristically difficult first half and retired to the locker room at halftime without a reception.
Something had to be done and done quickly.
"It was just a feeling," Williams said. "First half I dropped two balls that I should have caught. I usually wear the same shoes but I thought today I would switch it up but had to go back to (the originals) and put them back on."
Williams jettisoned the purple cleats he wore the first half in favor of a pair of white shoes and promptly escaped the Twilight Zone. Back on the field he caught four passes for 78 yards and a touchdown in the second half as KWU rallied for a 35-21 victory at Graves Family Sports Complex.
Whether the changes were the difference is debatable on this Halloween weekend but the results were not. Limited to 150 total yards the first half and trailing 14-7 at the break the Coyotes piled up 322 yards and 28 points the second half and remain unbeaten at 9-0.
Quarterback Isaiah Randalle (JR/Sacramento, Calif.), who was 3 for 12 passing for 46 yards and an interception the first half, completed 10 of 14 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns the final 30 minutes.
"We came out strong the second half," Williams said. "We made some minor adjustments and came out and executed. We were thinking about the game too much, we were going to the game instead of letting the game come to us. In the locker room coach (Myers Hendrickson) brought in all the receivers and Isaiah. We talked about what was open and what we could do and to exploit it."
"At halftime the message was we're resilient, we're going to come together as a team, come out and win the second half," Hendrickson said.
Mission accomplished.
The Coyotes took second half kickoff and drove 58 yards for the game-tying touchdown – Randalle hitting Williams with a 9-yard pass for the score.
Ottawa went three-and-out on its possession, punted and KWU drove 58 yards again for another touchdown, the final 16 yards coming on a Nick Allsman (SO/Belleville, Kan.) run that made it 21-14 with 6:18 left in the quarter.
Ottawa was forced to punt once more and the Coyotes promptly went 93 yards for a touchdown, the score coming on a 3-yard pass from Randalle to tight end Jake McClure (JR/Wichita, Kan.) with 16 seconds left in the period.
Third quarter score: Wesleyan 21, Ottawa 0.
The Coyotes scored their last touchdown with 10:58 left in the game on a 7-yard pass from Randalle to Drevon Macon (JR/Los Angeles, Calif.) that made it 35-14.
The passing game was bolstered by a ground game that consumed 133 yards the second half – Allsman finishing with 92 yards on 17 carries, CJ Fluker (FR/Defiance, Ohio) 55 on 17 carries and Macon 54 on seven tries.
"You can't say enough about the run game," Williams said. "The run game's a big part of our offense – pound the rock, pound the rock, pound the rock. And once they start focusing on that you throw the ball over the top."
Hendrickson said it was a matter of his team doing what it always does but doing it better the second half.
"Maybe some things didn't go the way we wanted them to in the first half but we're going to keep going to what we do best – mixing the run and the pass and be balanced team and play physical up front," he said.
"The resiliency was there, we've been there before. We trailed Bethel twice in the same calendar year and came back and won. So, we know what it takes."
Defensively the Coyotes smothered Ottawa the second half. Quarterback Colton Davis was 22 of 44 for 245 yards and two touchdowns but the Coyotes also intercepted three of his throws. He was 6 of 15 for 83 yards and two interceptions the second half.
As a team Ottawa had 109 total yards and seven points the final 30 minutes after rolling up 207 yards the first half.
"We just kept working, we didn't quit playing," said defensive end Scott Sanchez (JR/Kelseyville, Calif.), who had a sack in the game. "Coaches did a good job of getting us going, just told us to wake up."
Sanchez and the defense received some motivational encouragement from the coaches at halftime.
"They got us right," he said, with a laugh.
The Coyotes play Arkansas Baptist in a non-conference game starting at 11 a.m. next Saturday at Graves Family Sports Complex. They conclude the regular season with a marquee KCAC contest against Southwestern at 1 p.m. Nov. 13.