Kansas Wesleyan football pulls away late, bashes rival Bethany, 31-3
Daeden Taylor certainly knows how to make a favorable first impression.
Taylor didn’t play in No. 20 Kansas Wesleyan’s season-opening loss at Evangel but made his debut at quarterback Saturday after a solid week of practice. And what a debut it was.
Taylor ran for 171 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, and the defense was splendid once again as the Coyotes trounced Bethany, 31-3, in a Kansas Conference game at JRI Stadium and the Graves Family Sports Complex.
It was their ninth consecutive victory and 11th in the last 12 games against the arch-rival Swedes.
Taylor, a transfer from Feather River College (California) where he was the backup quarterback last fall, ran for three touchdowns and completed 4 of 9 passes for 31 yards and another score.
“I ran the ball well, not too bad. Really all the credit’s to the O-line up front,” Taylor said. “Missed a few throws I wish I had back. I started throwing more comfortable in the second half.”
It took three quarters for the offense to find its stride but was impressive once it did. Clinging to a precarious 10-3 lead after three quarters KWU (1-1) pulled away with 21 points in the final 12:32 of the game.
“Coach (James) Bauer (offensive coordinator) wanted us to start playing K-Dub football and get back to our roots and start running the ball,” Taylor said.
“Daeden played well and the offensive line was awesome,” KWU coach Matt Myers said. “He doesn’t say much, he just plays hard. It couldn’t have happened to a more team-oriented guy.
“We’re a new team, a young team and I’m not certain who we are. We had little adversity in the first and second quarters but showed up late when it mattered and feel good about it.”
The Coyotes flipped the proverbial switch late in the third quarter. Starting at their 20-yard line Taylor ran 21 yards on first down. Running back Tyler Boston (11 carries 62 yards) gained four yards on the final play of the quarter then gained 33 and 10 yards on the first two plays of the final period.
A pair of eight-yard runs by Nick Allsman preceded Taylor’s seven-yard touchdown run with 12:32 left making it 17-3.
After De’Von Lovelady’s 65-yard kickoff return to the KWU 28 the defense dug in once again and stopped the Swedes on fourth down at the 34-yard line. Taylor promptly answered by sprinting 66 yards for a touchdown on the first play upping the lead to 24-3 with 9:19 left.
Bethany (0-2) stalled on downs again at the KWU 34 on its next possession. The Coyotes responded with a 66-yard, 12-play drive – the final five yards a touchdown pass from Taylor to tight end Ricardo Arias with 1:46 left.
Wesleyan finished with 300 yards rushing – 204 in the second half.
“What we needed to do was run the ball with confidence and believe that we can do it,” Myers said. “I know we had multiple offensive linemen play for us today which was fantastic. Obviously, we’re lacking a downfield passing game but 300 yards rushing – we’ll take it.”
Taylor admitted he was nervous at the start but you wouldn’t have known it. After being stopped for no gain on the first play of the game he found an opening, burst into the open and outran the defense en route to a 76-yard touchdown – two plays and 53 seconds into his Wesleyan career.
“I was a little nervous but ran the ball the first couple of plays and that helped get the jitters out,” he said.
The defense was magnificent from the get-go. One week after holding Evangel to 17 points – three in the second half – the Coyotes smothered Bethany’s offense. The Swedes finished with 177 total yards on 72 plays, an average of 2.5 yards per play. They had just 35 yards rushing on 33 attempts and quarterbacks Peyton Mainofli and Landry Shields were a combined 16 of 39 passing for 142 yards.
Ricco Moore led the charge with nine tackles while Quatama Massaquoi and Muhamad Abusharkh each had six. Massaquoi also had four pass breakups.
“My expectation is the defense is going to get a shutout every week,” Myers said.
Taylor was pleased with the bounce-back victory.
“We kind of turned things around today and hopefully can build off that in future weeks,” he said.
The Coyotes play Kessinger Division favorite Southwestern at 6 p.m. next Saturday in Winfield. The Moundbuilders defeated Avila 49-41 Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri, fending off the Eagles’ late rally.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Kansas Wesleyan football: Coyotes bash rival Bethany, 31-3
