KWU Sports Information
LEAVENWORTH – Kansas Wesleyan's dominant flag football defense was again on full display as the Coyotes held Saint Mary to 56 yards of total offense, topping the Spires 51-0 on Saturday at Charles Berkel Stadium.
The victory pushed the Coyotes to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the KCAC with two games left in conference play next weekend against Cottey and a rematch with Saint Mary.
Wesleyan scored on its opening drive taking the ball 66 yards in just four plays, capping the drive with an 18-yard pass from Brianna Hernandez-Silva (SR/Las Vegas, Nev.) to Ciaran DeCuir (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) and the PAT pass to Angel Roman (SO/Jacksonville, Fla.) was good making it 7-0 with 10:02 left in the first.
After a stalled Saint Mary drive, the Coyotes only needed one play for Hernandez-Silva to go eight yards for the score with 6:03 left in the first making it 13-0.
The Coyotes scored again on their next drive, covering 23 yards in five plays, the last 11 on Hernandez-Silva's pass to Vanessa Towne (SO/Missouri City, Texas) to make it 19-0 with 1:01 left in the first.
It took until late in the second for the Coyotes to score again, but it was a quick strike as Hernandez-Silva found Tori Wlodarczyk (FR/Las Vegas, Nev.) for a 50-yard play on the first play of the drive making it 25-0 Coyotes with 1:38 left in the second.
An interception by Lexi Marquez (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) set up KWU's next touchdown, this time a 17-yard pass from Hernandez-Silva to Angel Roman and the PAT conversion made it 32-0 Coyotes as time expired in the first half.
After stopping USM to open the third, the Coyotes went 67 yards to paydirt on their next drive capped by a 1-yard run by Kendra Velasquez-Munro (SO/Las Vegas, Nev.) before lateralling to Hernandez-Silva to go the remaining 13 yards for the score and the PAT conversion was good making it 39-0 with 4:34 left in the third.
Hernandez-Silva again found Roman for a score on KWU's next drive, this time from 22 yards out with 1:55 left in the third to make it 45-0 Coyotes.
The Coyotes got one more score in the fourth, as Shanya Murape (FR/Toronto, Ontario) found Roman again this time from 14 yards out to make it 51-0 with 4:16 left in the game.
Jazmine Whitfield (FR/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) picked off a Saint Mary pass with 3:25 left and the Coyotes would run out the clock ending the game on the mercy rule at the 2-minute warning.
Wesleyan racked up 337 yards of total offense, while holding USM to 56 for the game. Hernandez-Silva was 14 of 24 passing for 207 yards and five touchdowns. She added 94 yards rushing on nine attempts and two more scores.
Roman had four catches for 60 yards and three touchdowns, while Wlodarczyk and DeCuir had two catches each, and Emilee Buhl (SO/Willis, Texas) had three catches for 21 yards. Seven different players caught passes for the Coyotes.
Alexis Jimenez (SO/Miami, Fla.) led KWU's defense with five flags, including a sack. Alexa Mansur (SO/Henderson, Nev.) had four and a half sack. Ansdiane Rabano (FR/Jersey City, N.J.) had three flags and 2.5 sacks. Leila Casillan (FR/Las Vegas, Nev.) had three sacks.
The Coyotes are back in action on Tuesday, hosting Hesston in a non-conference game at 6 p.m. at Gene Bissell Field at JRI Stadium at the Graves Family Sports Complex. KWU plays Cottey next Saturday, and Saint Mary next Sunday to wrap up the regular season.