Kansas Wesleyan comes back to top Friends 45-42

When Friends tied things up with less than a minute to go in Saturday’s KCAC football matchup, Michael Pursley was getting ready.

When Kansas Wesleyan was called for a penalty that backed it up to the Friends 40-yard line, KWU’s junior kicker wasn’t feeling quite as confident in his chances at the go-ahead field goal.

The Coyotes picked up 18 more yards, though, and Pursley, who missed his first extra-point try of the afternoon, calmly drilled a 39-yarder that earned his team a 45-42 victory at Adair-Austin Stadium.

“It’s incredible,” said Pursley, who made his next four extra-point attempts after the miss before making the game-winner. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened for me. I was prepared for it all game, especially the last drive we were having. We got that penalty that backed us up to where it’d be like a 55-yarder, but then we got a little back and we just stepped up and knocked it through.”

The field goal was the culmination of a comeback for No. 14 Kansas Wesleyan, which looked outmatched for portions of the middle of the game, when Friends outscored the Coyotes 35-7 to seemingly take control.

Instead, it was KWU quarterback Wesley Geisler who took over. The sophomore, who was sacked three times and hit and harassed many more than that by a punishing defensive line for Friends, threw six touchdown passes for the normally run-heavy Coyote offense.

“Their D line was probably one of the best we’ll play against all year,” said Geisler, who completed 23 of 39 passes for 359 yards. “Across the board they were physical, aggressive and just got after us. But the O-line blocked really well, and when I had to run out of the pocket, the receivers extended plays and I was able to deliver the ball under pressure.”

Geisler, the offensive line and those receivers were able to orchestrate three touchdown drives in just more than 10 minutes of game time spanning the third and fourth quarters to charge back in front.

That came after Friends senior Jesse Rogers scored three touchdowns in less than three minutes in the third quarter to go from a touchdown behind to up by 15 points. Rogers, who finished the game with 180 yards on the ground, had scoring runs of 41 and 74 yards to put the Falcons in front.

Late in the third quarter, Geisler found Trent Poe-Evans, who made an acrobatic catch for a 12-yard score. Early in the fourth quarter, he hit Mitch Kufahl on an out route to pull within two. A flip to Kufahl for the conversion tied it up at 35, and Jacob Tatge hauled in a 25-yard strike to push KWU ahead with 7:06 to play.

Friends had another strike left, though, as a leaping grab by Glen Whisby and a 26-yard jaunt from Rogers set the Falcons up at the KWU 13. Three plays later, Brennan Whitaker rolled around the right side and into the end zone to make things 42-all.

“They were able to stop the run, which slowed us down a little bit,” Geisler said. “But we made adjustments on the sideline and at halftime, and we just took what they gave us. Our defense kept getting us the ball in great positions, and we were able to answer.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Kansas Wesleyan comes back to top Friends 45-42."