KWU Athletics
Kansas Wesleyan flag football hosted a triangular event on Saturday at Graves Family Sports Complex, welcoming KCAC opponents Ottawa and Midland. KWU would split its two games, beating Midland 35-0, then falling to Ottawa 41-6.
KWU 35, Midland 0: KWU blanked Midland 35-0 in the first game of the day behind a spectacular offensive performance by Brianna Hernandez-Silva (JR/Las Vegas) who had 145 yards passing and 107 yards rushing and had a hand in all five KWU touchdowns.
Midland drove to the KWU 35 on its first drive but Kendra Velasquez-Munro (FR/Las Vegas) sacked quarterback Angel Ioane for a 4-yard loss and the Coyotes would take over on downs. A 27-yard run by Hernandez-Silva along with a Midland penalty gave the Coyotes 1st-and-Goal at the Midland 4, and three plays later, she would score from four yards out to get the Coyotes on the board.
Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) would pick off a pass on Midland's next drive giving the ball back to the Coyotes, who drove to the Midland 6, but came up short of the goal line on fourth down giving the ball back to Midland.
Ioane would drop the ball in the endzone for a safety, giving the Coyotes two points as time expired in the first quarter.
KWU got the ball back on another interception, this time by Alexandra Mansur (FR/Henderson, Nev.). KWU would march down the field thanks in part to a 32-yard pass to Cui Waialae (FR/Las Vegas) and a 21-yard run by Alexis Jimenez (FR/Riverview, Fla.). Hernandez-Silva then found Roman for an 11-yard touchdown pass making it 16-0 with 3:24 left in the half.
KWU led 16-0 at the half.
The Coyotes opened the second half with a touchdown, using a 7-play drive that took nearly 4-and-a-half minutes to go up 23-0 on Hernandez-Silva's 1-yard run.
Hernandez-Silva stepped up on defense, sacking Ioane on the next Midland drive to turn it over on downs and it only took one play for the Coyotes to score again on a 16-yard pass to Roman.
KWU got one more score as part of a 19-point third quarter, as Hermandez-Silva found Ja'Daa Wilson (FR/Crawfordville, Fla.) for a 14-yard scoring play that was set up by a 12-yard Jimenez run.
KWU outgained Midland 318 to 153 in the game. KWU had 151 yards rushing and 167 yards passing. Jimenez added 39 yards rushing for the Coyotes. Wilson had three catches for 44 yards and a score, while Roman had three catches for 40 yards and two sores.
Hernandez-Silva had seven flag pulls for the Coyotes and a sack, Velasquez-Munro had five stops, four for loss, including three sacks. Roman had two interceptions.
OTTAWA 41, KWU 6: A fast start by the Ottawa Braves would send them to a 41-6 win over the Coyotes in the final game of the evening. Ottawa outscored KWU 27-6 in the first half on the way to the win.
Ottawa scored on its first two drives of the game as Madysen Carrera scored from four yards out and Addison Orsborn scored on a 48-yard run to put the Braves up 14-0 with 2:32 left in the first.
The Coyotes answered back, when Hernandez-Silva hit Wilson for a 56-yard touchdown pass to get the Coyotes on the board with 27 seconds left in the quarter.
Ottawa scored twice more in the second to lead 27-6 at the half.
Both teams had long drives in the third quarter, Ottawa capitalizing on its first in the quarter to extend its lead.
The Coyotes made a big stop on Ottawa's drive that continued into the fourth quarter as Wilson stopped Carrera at the KWU 2.
After a failed KWU drive the Braves took advantage of a short field to score one last time.
KWU had 168 yards of total offense in the game. Hernandez-Silva had 66 yards rushing and 108 yards passing, on 9-of-23 passing with three interceptions. Roman had four grabs for 22 yards, while Wilson had two for 62 and a score.
Roman had 12 stops on defense for the Coyotes, while Hernandez-Silva had seven.
The Coyotes are back in action on Friday, hosting Saint Mary at 6 p.m. at the Graves Family Sports Complex in the final home game of the season for the Coyotes.