Friends’ Chris Allen scores five touchdowns in win over Kansas Wesleyan

Chris Allen will not be keeping the game ball awarded to him after Friends’ 53-14 thrashing of Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday at Adair-Austin Stadium.

Allen won’t retain personal keepsake to commemorate his historic performance Saturday, as the senior receiver racked up 272 yards on eight catches and tied the KCAC record with five touchdown receptions.

The ball will go to Dylan Boswell, Allen’s 20-year-old cousin in Knoxville, Tenn., who has been battling a cancer diagnosis for the past three years. Just this week, Allen said doctors told Boswell the cancer had returned.

“He’s not doing very well,” Allen said. “I can’t be there with him, but I’m there with him in spirit. I’m going to get everybody to sign the ball and send it up to him. I don’t even want it.”

It didn’t take long for Allen to make an impact, as he caught two balls on the opening drive. Five of his next six catches would be for touchdowns.

“It was so much motivation for me,” Allen said. “It helped me keep striving, and do what I do.”

What makes Allen’s performance even more spectacular is Friends coach Monty Lewis’ affinity for running the ball.

And he dialed up tailback Jesse Rogers 20 times on Saturday, but even Lewis recognized the advantage Friends had on the outside with the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Allen.

“We enjoy the stigma that people feel like they have to put 10 in the box to stop our run,” Lewis said. “We invite that because of a guy like Chris.

“I’ve been coaching football for 30 years and Chris is as good a wide receiver as I’ve ever laid eyes on … at any level, at any place.”

Wesleyan briefly challenged by scoring a touchdown to open the third quarter, trimming the Falcons’ lead to 20-14.

That’s when Allen went to work.

On his first target after KWU touchdown, Allen produced one of his own with a 49-yard touchdown reception with 11:45 remaining in the third quarter.

And when Friends was backed up on its own 4-yard line, it was Allen to the rescue. He beat his defender off the line of scrimmage and the throw from quarterback Aaron Hansen was on target for a 96-yard touchdown and 33-14 lead.

“Anytime I throw it his way, it could go for six,” said Hansen, who finished with a career-high 368 passing yards and five touchdowns. “If we can get him in 1-on-1 situations after running the ball, we know it’s going to result in something big.”

Friends is running the ball nearly 65 percent of the time this season. But through five games, Allen is averaging 28.2 yards per reception and has totaled 817 yards and 13 touchdowns.

That pace will threaten the KCAC single-season records for most touchdowns (21) and receiving yards (1,699), both held by Ottawa’s Clarence Anderson.

“When the ball is up there in the air, it’s his,” Lewis said. “In his mind, that’s his ball and he’s going after it like his life depends on it.”

As the news of No. 3 Tabor’s downfall, virtue of a 27-6 loss to Southwestern, trickled in, Friends realized the race for the KCAC title is wide open once again. Four teams are tied atop the standings at 2-1, including Friends.

“Everything is all square now,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be a wild ride the whole way.”

This story was originally published October 4, 2014 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Friends’ Chris Allen scores five touchdowns in win over Kansas Wesleyan."