OTTAWA – The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes earned a second-place finish in the KCAC Flag Football Invitational on Saturday at Ottawa's AdventHealth Field.
The Coyotes defeated Saint Mary 24-21 in the semifinal but fell to Ottawa 34-7 in the final.
KWU 24, SAINT MARY 21 – This time the Coyotes didn't have to rally from a big deficit to beat the Saint Mary Spires. The Coyotes jumped out to an 18-7 lead but Saint Mary took a 21-18 lead before the Coyotes got a big defensive play late to come back for the win.
Saint Mary took a 21-18 lead with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard pass from Shian Galbreath to Ashlyn Tuss, capping a 30 yard drive to the Spires
Wesleyan drove to the Saint Mary 26 on its next drive but the Coyotes could not convert a 4th-and-6 and Saint Mary took over with 6:16 left.
The Spires threatened to score, getting to the KWU 11, but Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) stepped in front of a Galbreath pass at the KWU 2, picking it off and was off to the races the other direction for a 78-yard Pick-6 to give KWU a 24-21 lead with 2:43 left.
Roman stepped up again on the ensuing drive, picking off another pass from Galbreath giving the ball back to the Coyotes with 1:49 left.
Wesleyan's drive stalled at the Saint Mary 37 and the Spires took over after a punt and got to the KWU 32, but Kendra Velasquez-Munro (FR/Las Vegas, Nev.) sacked Galbreath on the final play of the game to secure the win.
KWU scored on its first three drives of the game, the first a 13-yard pass from Brianna Hernandez-Silva (JR/Las Vegas, Nev.) to Ashley Hawthorne (FR/Henderson, Nev.) with 7:09 to go in the first, and the second a 9-yard toss from Hernandez-Silva to Roman to make it 12-0 with 9:49 to go in the second.
Hernandez-Silva picked off a Galbreath pass on the ensuing Saint Mary drive setting up KWU's third score a 5-yard pass from Hernandez-Silva again to Roman making it 18-0 with 7:35 left in the second.
Saint Mary scored on its next drive and the Coyotes would take an 18-7 lead into the half.
Hernandez-Silva had 100 yards passing on 11-of-22 attempts with three touchdowns. Roman had four grabs for 51 yards and two scores. Velasquez-Munro had four catches for 21 yards. Hernandez-Silva had 44 yards rushing and Velasquez-Munro added 29 on the ground.
Hernandez-Silva also led the Coyote defense with eight flag pulls, while Ja'Daa Wilson (FR/Crawfordville, Fla.) had six. Roman had five stops and two interceptions.
OTTAWA 34, KWU 7 – KWU fell to the Ottawa Braves 34-7 in the final of the invitational.
Ottawa scored three times in the first half to lead 20-0 at the half. The Coyotes did get a couple good defensive stops along the way, stopping drives by the Braves at the KWU-13 and the kWU-18.
Ottawa extended its lead to 34-0 scoring with 11:09 to go in the game.
Wesleyan scored on its next drive, capping a 10 play, 66-yard drive with a 1-yard pass from Hernandez-Silva to Roman with 5:30 left in the game. After two Ottawa penalties, KWU converted the extra point.
KWU got the ball back with 3:00 to go and drove to the Ottawa 5, but could not get it in the endzone before the game ended.
Hernandez-Silva had 18 yards rushing, and was 22-of-34 passing for 153 yards and a touchdown. Angel Roman had a new school record 11 receptions in the game for 72 yards. Lexi Marquez (FR/Henderson, Nev.) had six flag pulls to lead the KWU defense.
KWU now prepares for the NAIA Flag Football Final event on May 12-14 in Atlanta, Ga.