Coyote Athletics enjoy a successful week

By Beau Grant / Co-Sports Editor

Kansas Wesleyan University had a full slate of home games this past week, which means catching up on how fall sports are doing. If you want to see the pre-season preview for each team, check out this: Fall sports preview: Coyotes ready to get rolling (kwustudentmedia.com)

The Coyote football team took on Friends University in front of a rather large crowd due to the family weekend events. Friends football has made headlines over the past year for all the wrong reasons. However, last year they hired Coach Terry Harrison, who was previously the head coach at Bethel College. Harrison brought his unique flex-bone offense to Wichita and is looking to turn the program around. In this game, the Coyotes got the best of Harrison and Friends winning by a score of 35-28. The Coyotes were headed by senior running back Nick Allsman who had 125 yards on the ground and ran for a touchdown. The Coyote defense was also stout, holding the Friends offense to its lowest number of total yards in a game this year with 390. For Friends, it is normal for them for their offense to be mostly from rushing yards, as they have 322 rushing yards to just 68 passing.

On the other side of the ball, Coyote Quarterback Richard Lara completed 9 passes for 108 yards and one touchdown. The biggest lead of the game was by the Coyotes in the 3^rd quarter when the score was 21-7. The offense continued into the 4^th quarter, and Friends cut the lead their previous deficit from 35-21 to 35-28 with 2:25 remaining in the game. The Coyotes were able to run out the clock and secure the win. Friends drop to 3-1 on the season and will take on Tabor for their next game. The Coyotes improve to 2-2 on the year and will go against Bethel on the 23^rd on the road in Newton.

Soccer

The Women’s Soccer two played in two contests during the week, the first being the KCAC opener at home against York. The Coyotes pulled off the win 3-1 after being tied at halftime. Three different goal scorers were Maleia Jackson, Leoni Enzlmuller and Graciela Lopez. Those goals came in the 4^th minute, 70^th minute, and 85^th minute of the contest. The second game was a nonconference matchup against Evangel. The Coyotes were on the losing side of things dropping this game 3-1. The lone goal scorer for the ‘Yotes was Yissel Navarro. The next two games for the Coyotes are KCAC play, first Wednesday at McPherson and September 27^th at home against Tabor.

Golf

The Men’s Golf team tied for seventh at the Northwest Iowa National Invitational. Trevor Watson shot a team-best 218 tying for 15^th place. Jackson Malone posted a 224 for 26^th place. Joey Wisocki tied for 41^st shooting 229 and Ethan Vikander placed 59^th with a score of 239. Texas Wesleyan was victorious in the event posting a team score of 859. The Coyote’s next match will be in Salina at the Salina Country Club next Monday and Tuesday.

Tennis

To wrap up the recap, the men’s tennis team had a successful weekend at the 2023 KCAC Individual Flighted Tennis Tournament on Saturday. Bryce Ware was the champion of his flight with three victories over three different opponents. Alex Sherer lost in the finals placing 2^nd. Raul Davalos-Gaino got fourth place, Adam Hanson placed top 10, Luke Craft lost in the semifinals, and so did Luke Craft. For doubles, the combo of Ware and Sherer placed second. The next meet for the Coyotes will be in Salina as they host the ITA NAIA Central Regional starting on Friday.