KCAC

[Football] Football Falcons Fall to No. 23 Southwestern in Regular Season Finale

WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons gave the No. 23-ranked Southwestern College Moundbuilders all they wanted much of the way, but the Builders eventually created enough separation to come away with a 20-3 win today (Mar. 27) in the regular season finale at Adair-Austin Stadium.The Builders took the opening kickoff and drove to the Falcon 22 yard line, but stalled there and a 39-yard field goal attempt by Gabriel Medrano missed wide left.Friends' defense then held firm, forcing the Builders to punt on their next three possessions.The Falcons had a chance to strike first when a short punt set them up at the Builder 32.After a pass interference penalty and a seven yard run by Juan Salazar (SR/Vernon, Texas) helped the Falcons get a first and goal at the three-yard line, the Builders made a goal-line stand and forced an incompletion on fourth and two.The Builders later capitalized on a Falcon fumble and got a 24 yard pass from Emilio Monsivais to Andre Jones and then a 10 yard touchdown run by Jaquils Coleman for the first score of the game with 5:46 left in the first half.The Falcons responded with a 14 play, 67 yard drive highlighted by a 16 yard run by Salazar and a 14 yard pass from Dan Dawdy (SR/Haysville, Kan.) to Kevin Green (FR/Waxahachie, Texas) that resulted in a 20 yard field goal by Bobby Schmidt (JR/Sapulpa, Okla. ) to cut the Builder lead to 7-3 at the half.Following a series of punts to begin the third quarter, the Builders extended their lead on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Monsivais to Keyshawn Jones that capped a 5 play, 48 yard drive.  The extra point was missed to keep the Southwestern lead at 13-3.Southwestern then effectively put the game away on Coleman's second touchdown run of the day that finished a 12 play drive and took 5:19 off the clock in the fourth quarter.Salazar had a team-high 75 rushing yards on the day for the Falcons (2-6, 2-6 KCAC), with Dawdy completing 16-30 passes for 167 yards and one interception. Cade Nagy (SO/Broken Arrow, Okla. ) had a team-high 49 receiving yards.Coleman had two touchdown runs for the Builders (6-2, 4-2 KCAC), while Keyshawn Wyatt had a game-high 109 yards on the ground. Monsivais threw for 157 yards on 10-16 passing.Defensively, the Falcons had multiple players step up with career efforts in tackles, including Nolan Ewing (FR/Spring Hill, Kan. ) (15) and Tucker Trevett (FR/Wichita, Kan.) (seven, first career game).  Jagger Blubaugh (SO/Wichita, Kan. ) also had 14 tackles and Jason Weah (JR/Madison, Wis. ) made nine stops.Grant Torgerson led the Builders with 13 tackles and Drew Smith recorded 10 stops.The Falcons will now embark on an atypical short offseason ahead of the 2021 Fall campaign.