KWU tops Tabor 63-34

Written by AO Saturday, 15 November 2008 12:15

The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes took some of the excitement out of the air at Tabor's groundbreaking party Saturday, defeating the Bluejays 63-34 on six passing touchdowns by Drew Dallas. Tabor scored five rushing touchdowns—Marc Amos had three—but the defense had few answers for the Coyotes offensive scheme. KW totaled 230 rushing yards and 235 passing, but behind the curtain of Wesleyan's big-play passes and nearly balanced yardage totals was a lopsidedness in favor of the run, which the Bluejays were unable to contain.

But the whole tone almost certainly would have been different if not for a bad break on the first series. Tabor forced a 3-and-out with a sack by Terence George on third-and-10, but the punt wobbled in the wind and fell on an unaware Bluejay at the Tabor 37. Vicente Arellano recovered for the Coyotes, who opened the scoring on a 34-yard hook-and-lateral to Jason Dolan two plays later.

Trailing 7-0, Tabor punted from midfield on its first possession, but the Bluejay defense bounced back. Teal Stutzman walloped Preston McCorkle to force a fumble at the Coyote 24. Joe Wuest jumped on the loose ball for Tabor, and the Bluejays scored on a six-inch quarterback sneak by Amos with 4:53 left in the first.

The teams traded 3-and-outs, with Tabor nearly returning the special teams turnover favor when Zack Anaya hit Amado Coronado following a 44-yard punt by Kevin Carroll. But unfortunately for the Bluejays, Coyote blocker Ken Mitchell recovered the loose ball on one bounce and added 21 yards to Coronado's botched return.

Kansas Wesleyan put together a 13-play scoring drive capped by a throw from Dallas to Eric Thrush 3:44 into the second quarter.

Trailing 14-7, Tabor had a 39-yard kickoff return by Demetrius Cox wiped off the books by the first of an unending parade of penalties—the teams were flagged a combined 23 times for 215 yards—and went 3-and-out, with Carroll punting into the wind five yards outside his own end zone.

The Coyotes took over at the Tabor 31 and scored on a 4-play series that ended in a Dallas-to-Marcus Lowe touchdown pass with 8:04 to go in the second quarter.

Tabor's next drive began with another illegal block penalty, but ended with a Derek Washington leaning into the end zone at the end of a 2-yard touchdown plunge. Cox made two key plays on the drive: a 14-yard run on  second-and-8, and a 17-yard reception on third-and-5.

Kansas Wesleyan answered with a score—a 34-yard connection from Dallas to Lowe—and a turnover on Tabor's ensuing possession. Washington broke a 17-yard run, but fumbled at the Tabor 45. Arellano recovered.

The Tabor defense rallied again, with Aaron Munsch forcing and recovering McCorkle's second fumble of the game, but the offense was unable to capitalize. An 11-yard punt after a 3-and-out gave the Coyotes one more chance to score before halftime.

Dallas scrambled for 13 yards, and rushed his team to the line to stop the clock. But on the final play of the half, Dallas was intercepted by Nick Brown, who deftly tracked a pass intended for Dolan that was deflected by Stutzman. Amos took the game to halftime on a kneel down.

But it was all KW from there, as the Coyotes ran off five straight scores to turn their 28-14 halftime lead into a 56-14 rout.  Demetrius Cox scored on an 89-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, and Amos followed up with a 14-yard touchdown to Adrian Clay. Both teams scored in the final minute of the game: Wesleyan on a 22-yard toss from backup quarterback Johnny Park to Justin Sutton, and Tabor on a 10-yard option run by Amos.

Stutzman finished with 11 tackles. Cox finished with 117 rushing yards.