Kansas Wesleyan Flag Football appears to be hitting its stride. The Coyotes outscored Pratt Community College and Cottey College by a combined score of 99-6 on Saturday at JRI Hospitality Stadium at Graves Family Sports Complex.
Since flag football is still an emerging sport at the NAIA level, varsity competitions against junior college opponents are considered countable.
KWU beat Pratt 64-6 and followed with a 35-0 KCAC win over Cottey College. It was the fourth straight win for the Coyotes who improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the KCAC.
The Coyotes rocketed out to a 36-0 lead in the first quarter against Pratt and never looked back.
KWU took the ball first and used a 60-yard pass from Chihiro Iwata to Ciaran DeCuir to put the Coyotes on the board with 9:31 left in the first. The Coyotes intercepted Pratt on its first drive and two plays later the Coyotes were in the endzone again as Iwata hit Ava Duerr from 14 yards out and the 2-point PAT made it 14-0 with 8:06 left in the first.
The Coyotes were just getting started. After a failed Pratt drive, Iwata hit Angel Roman for a 27-yard touchdown pass and the Coyotes extended the lead to 22-0 with 4:36 left in the first.
Another stalled Pratt drive led to more points for the Coyotes as Iwata took it 14 yards on the ground for the score making it 29-0 with 57 seconds left in the quarter.
Roman scored again in the quarter, picking off a Pratt pass and taking it back 15 yards for a Pick 6 with 49 seconds left in the half.
Pratt scored with 7:06 left in the second as Soriah Tafua's attempted halfback pass was picked off as the Pratt defender jumped up and volleyball-style blocked the ball down, grabbing and going 60 yards for the score.
The Coyotes answered right back as Iwata hit Jenise Washington for a 60-yard scoring play and it was 43-6 with 6:23 left in the second.
KWU would lead 43-6 at the break.
The Coyotes would score on their first drive of the second half as Iwata ran it in again, this time from three yards out to make it 50-6 with 5:24 in the third.
Wesleyan added another score as Iwata hit Roman for a 7-yard score with 11:12 left in the fourth, and Emilee Buhl hit Addison Cadwell for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 5:36 left to make it 64-6.
The Coyotes outgained Pratt 388-125 in the game. Iwata was 18 of 24 passing for 302 yards and five touchdowns. She added four carries for 37 yards and two more scores. Buhl was 2 of 6 for 25 yards and a touchdown and Angelina Briano was 2 of 3 for 11 yards.
Ten different receivers caught a pass. Roman had four catches for 59 yards and two scores. Aliyah Wood had six catches for 73 yards.
Defensively the Coyotes were very balanced as five different players had three flag pulls each. Khylie Douglas had two sacks, Leila Casillan had one. Roman, Washington and Wood had interceptions.
KWU then matched up with Cottey College in a Kansas Conference game. The Coyotes would toss the shutout, winning 35-0.
It took a bit for the Coyotes to get going.
KWU didn't score until the 1:02 mark in the first quarter as an interception by Wood set up a short field for the Coyotes and Iwata found Roman for another touchdown, this from 11 yards putting KWU up 7-0.
The Coyotes picked off Cottey again on the next drive and needed only one play for Iwata to find Roman again for a 21-yard score to make it 14-0 with 11:00 to go in the second.
Cottey drove to the KWU-24 but the drive stalled then and back went the Coyotes capping a four-play drive with Iwata's 8-yard pass to Wood to make it 20-0 with 1:58 left in the half.
Pinned deep in their own territory, a 15-yard punt by Cottey gave the Coyotes great field position at the Comets' 23-yard line and it was one play and in as KWU used a little trickery. Iwata handed off to Roman who rolled out and tossed a perfect strike to Ciaran DeCuir for the score with 13 seconds left before the half.
Wesleyan scored the last points of the day with 8:14 left in the third as the Coyotes went 66 yards in six plays with Iwata finding DeCuir from two yards out to make it 35-0.
The Coyotes again controlled the numbers, outgaining Cottey 292 to 131 in the game despite running 11 less plays. KWU averaged 12.2 yards per play.
Iwata was again stellar for the Coyotes going 12 of 17 for 176 yards and four scores. Buhl was 3 of 4 for 25 yards, and Briano was 4 of 5 for 29 yards.
Roman had six catches for 80 yards and two scores. DeCuir had four catches for 49 yards and two scores and Wood had two grabs for 32 yards.
Roman also led the defense with five flag pulls and Alexa Mansur had four.