From 1-9 to first NAIA playoff win: New coach leads Friends football to record season
When Terry Harrison took the job as the head coach of the Friends University football team, he envisioned a day like this past Saturday.
Just three years removed from a 1-9 season, the Falcons won their first NAIA playoff game in program history and also secured the program’s first 11-win season in the modern era this past Saturday with a 47-35 victory over Ottawa (Ariz.) at Adair-Austin Stadium.
But this doesn’t feel like a Cinderella run to Harrison or his players. This is what the Falcons (11-1) expected from this season, as they now have a chance to stun the NAIA football world with a second-round matchup in the NAIA Championship Series at No. 2-ranked Grand View (Iowa) at noon Saturday.
“I think the right way to put it is an overwhelming sense of gratitude,” Harrison told The Eagle. “We’re grateful for Friends University, grateful for our program, grateful for the sacrifices everyone has made to make this happen. There’s just a huge sense of gratitude.”
Star offensive linemen Dalton and Dyllon Phillips were freshmen on that 1-9 team at Friends the year before Harrison arrived. They’ve witnessed the program transform from an afterthought in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference to conference champions.
“It was really hard at the end of the 1-9 season, we had to look at ourselves and this program like something has got to change,” Dyllon Phillips told Friends Athletics after the game. “Coach Harrison has been awesome instilling grit and toughness and I’m just super grateful.”
“It’s a bright future for us,” Dalton Phillips added. “We’re one of those top teams that you don’t want to see.”
Ottawa and Friends entered the first-round playoff game as two of the most potent offenses in the country, but it was the Falcons’ ground game that won the battle. Friends racked up 526 rushing yards, just five yards shy of a NAIA postseason record, and controlled more than 35 minutes of the clock.
It was actually a pass play that helped Friends take control of the momentum for good, as Jett Cheatham connected on a halfback pass with Caden Lee for a 32-yard score just before halftime for a 26-21 lead. Nick Cordova helped Friends extend its lead with a rushing score, then Shamarius Davis returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown and 40-21 lead.
When Ottawa briefly rallied to within 12 points, Friends quarterback K’Vonte Baker, the two-time reigning KCAC Offensive Player of the Year, secured the victory with a 32-yard scamper. Baker finished with a game-high 179 rushing yards. Andrew Arnold, Demarieo Simms and Barrett Roads all had key sacks, while Kasey Lehman recorded three pass breakups in the secondary.
“It all started when coach Harrison came in and he immediately changed the culture,” Cheatham told Friends Athletics. “He made us invest in our teammates and every single year we invested more in each other and cared more about each other and developed talent and we’ve gotten better and better. It’s led to this.”
“It’s probably one of the best moments of my life,” Friends running back Laken Clowdus added.
Now the challenge shifts from winning the first game to not being satisfied with the history the team has already achieved.
It’s a good problem to have, just the one Harrison wanted to when he started the job in 2022.
“We came to Friends for multiple reasons, but definitely one of them was the opportunity to win in the postseason consistently,” Harrison said. “It gets harder every week, but we have a great group that is going to have an opportunity to win every Saturday.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2024 at 5:04 AM.
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