KWU Athletics
Kansas Wesleyan Flag Football opened its 2022 season in a big way, defeating the Cottey College Comets 63-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Graves Family Sports Complex.
Wesleyan scored on every one of its drives in the first half taking a 44-0 lead at halftime.
The Coyotes opened with the ball and promptly marched 66 yards for a touchdown on 10 plays, the final eight yards coming on Brianna Hernandez-Silva (JR/Las Vegas, Nev.)'s run to convert a fourth down.
Hernandez-Silva then stepped up on defense picking off Cottey's first pass on its first play of the game and the Coyote offense only needed one play to go 30 yards as Kendra Velasquez-Munro (FR/Las Vegas, Nev.) would snake through the Cottey defense for the score with 7:40 left in the first putting KWU up 12-0.
After a Cottey punt on its next drive the Coyotes were back on the march, as the Coyotes scored with 22 seconds left in the first on Hernandez-Silva's 12 yard touchdown pass to Ashley Hawthorne (FR/Henderson, Nev.).
KWU led 18-0 after a quarter.
A bad snap on a punt play by Cottey gave Wesleyan the ball at the Cottey-1 to start the next drive. Hernandez-Silva would find Cui Waialae (FR/Las Vegas, Nev.) for the score and Hernandez-Silva converted the PAT run to put KWU up 25-0.
After a Cottey punt, the Coyotes again only needed one play as Hernandez-Silva found Ja'Daa Wilson (FR/Crawfordville, Fla.) wide open behind the defense for a 42-yard touchdown pass and the PAT was good putting KWU up 32-0 with 6:35 left in the half.
Cottey turned it over on downs at its own 16 and the Coyotes capitalized two plays later on Hernandez-Silva's touchdown pass to Waialae with 3:55 left in the half.
Another stalled Cottey drive gave the Coyotes the ball at the Cottey-36 with 1:02 to go before intermission. The Coyotes would have a fourth-and-goal at Cottey's 20, when a roughing the passer call would keep the drive going and Hernandez-Silva found Waialae again from 10 yards out with nine seconds to go before the half making it 44-0.
The running clock was in effect in the second half, but the Coyotes didn't slow down the offensive output.
Hernandez-Silva tossed her sixth touchdown pass of the day to Marisa Rubino (SO/West Palm Beach, Fla.) from a yard out after back-to-back penalties on Cottey making it 50-0 Coyotes with 1:42 to go in the third.
Wesleyan's defense then came through as Wilson picked off a pass at the 40 and raced untouched into the endzone for a Pick-6 to put the Coyotes up 57-0 with 7:39 left in the fourth.
One last stalled Cottey drive would set up KWU's last score as Emilee Buhl (FR/Conroe, Texas) would find Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) for an 18-yard touchdown to put KWU up 63-0 as the game ended on the mercy rule with two minutes left.
Hernandez-Silva was phenomenal for the Coyotes going 13 of 24 passing for 143 yards and six touchdowns, and added 76 yards rushing on seven attempts and another score. Rubino had five catches for 44 yards and a score. Waialae had four grabs for 28 yards and three touchdowns.
Wesleyan's offense had 303 yards on the day, averaging 8.0 yards per play.
The Coyote defense was outstanding as well, holding Cottey to 76 yards of total offense on the day and keeping the Comets from crossing midfield.
KWU heads to Nevada, Mo., for another matchup with the Comets on Friday evening at 6 p.m.