Nov 13, 2024

KWU Football closes regular season on Saturday at Sterling

Posted Nov 13, 2024 3:44 PM

The Coyotes play Kansas Conference and Gene Bissell Division opponent Sterling in their regular-season finale. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Saturday at Smisor Stadium in Sterling.LIVE COVERAGE

  1. The video stream of the game will be available online through the KCAC Network at www.kcacnetwork.com/kansaswesleyan. Sterling will be handling production of the stream.
  2. Live Stats will be available at https://kwucoyotes.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
  3. Radio coverage will be on KINA starting at Noon with Tyler Henry and Brooks Garretson. The online radio stream is available at https://radio.securenetsystems.net/ce/kina2.

RECORDS

  1. Kansas Wesleyan 6-4, 4-0 Bissell
  2. Sterling 2-8, 2-2 Bissell

THE SERIESThe Coyotes have won the last six including a 24-13 victory a year ago in the season finale at JRI Stadium. They have held Sterling to 14 points or less in all six games. KWU has a 12-11 lead in the series since 2001 and leads the all-time series 49-34-3.KANSAS WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE

  1. The Coyotes clinched the Bissell Division title and secured a berth in the NAIA playoffs with a 23-20 victory over Ottawa last Saturday at JRI Stadium. They led 20-3 after three quarters and held off Ottawa's fourth quarter comeback attempt in notching their fourth consecutive victory.
  2. Junior tailback Luke Armstrong led the way with 181 yards rushing on 23 carries (7.9 average) and a touchdown. He leads the KCAC and ranks third in the NAIA with 1,123 rushing yards and is third in the NAIA in yards per carry at 8.0. Junior tailback Zarek Fewell has 499 yards on 110 carries (4.5 average).
  3. Senior linebacker Ricardo Garcia was named the KCAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after his effort against Ottawa. Garcia had seven tackles, half a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, blocked a punt and recovered a fumble.
  4. Freshman linebacker Myles Elam led the defense with 10 tackles. He's tied for 10th in the NAIA with 9.5 tackles per game and has five tackles for loss on the season. This week KWU coaches recognized the linebacking corps that's anchored Daniel Cabrera, Daren Hawkins, Elam and Garcia.
  5. Placekickers Cole Segraves and Talon Cope saved the day Saturday. Segraves made a 50-yard field goal in the second quarter and Talon Cope was good from 28 yards and 36 yards - the second in the fourth quarter that provided the margin of victory.
  6. The Coyotes scored 21 points in the first quarter of year's game against Sterling - two on touchdown passes from Byron McNair to Jacob Backus - and led 21-13 at halftime. Tailback Nick Allsman led the offense with 109 yards rushing. The defense registered five sacks, intercepted three passes, and held Sterling to 48 yards rushing on 47 attempts.

STERLING AT A GLANCE

  1. The Warriors lost to Avila 20-7 last Saturday in Sterling. They had won their two previous games defeating Ottawa (27-21) and Saint Mary (26-25) after starting the season 0-7.
  2. Sterling averages 16 points and their opponents 32. The Warriors also average 266 yards - 124 rushing, 142 passing. Opponents average 338 total yards, 181 rushing.
  3. Sterling has employed three quarterbacks this season. Rocklin Baptista, a junior, has thrown for 930 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Freshman Sebastian Moyer started last week and has 187 yards and five interceptions on the year. Kendrick Bell has a team-best 502 yards rushing and five touchdowns; Ryan Stucky is the top receiver with 36 catches for 489 yards.
  4. Baptista was 10 of 24 for 169 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions in last year's game against KWU.
  5. Sterling is led by first-year head coach Reggie Langford. He is also the team's offensive coordinator. Langford played quarterback for the Warriors and graduated in 2015.

CO-HEAD COACH CHRIS SNYDER

"Our kids have done a good job the last couple of weeks dealing with adversity. (Last Saturday) we were down for the first time in the last few weeks and they battled back through that and (Ottawa's) trick plays. That's usually pretty demoralizing for a lot of teams but our kids responded."Our defense played really well, they only gave up that one long (80-yard) run and offensively we scored enough points to win the game. I'm very proud of our players."We have to be ready for adversity. The theme this week is deal with the grass (Sterling's turf) and don't complain about it. It's going to be their Senior Day, but the positive is it's going to be good weather. I've told the kids you won't hear me talk about playoffs because we have to take care of business. There's nothing we can do about the playoffs anyway."

SENIOR LB RICARDO GARCIA

"(The defense) is playing so well because we're all comfortable with each other. I tell them all the time have a short-term memory. If we mess up on a play don't dwell on it, forget about it and we're just going to move on and do better on the next play."I do enjoy rushing (the quarterback), that's what I did in juco. I was a rush outside linebacker. I also drop into (pass) coverage, I can get out into the flats and cover a guy. I'm long, I'm tall, I'm physical. I've been playing a super long time, and I'm used to getting on the D-line and getting them dirty."We need to rally to the ball, wrap up tackles. Ottawa got that lucky run on us right up the middle gap and we missed a couple of tackles. Our scheme is good, we just tighten up on our tackling."

NEXT WEEKThe Coyotes play a first-round game in the NAIA Championship Series on Saturday.

Matchups, starting times and sites will be announced Sunday.

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