Kansas Wesleyan Flag Football dropped a 30-28 decision to the Baker Wildcats on Wednesday night at JRI Hospitality Stadium at the Graves Family Sports Complex.
Wesleyan led 28-18 with 5:52 left in the game, but Baker came back and scored on each of its final two drives to take the lead with 19 seconds left in the game.
The Coyotes had just taken a 28-18 lead when Baker moved down the field starting with a 21 yard pass to Faith Phillips from Sanija Waller. The Wildcats drove to the KWU-11 and were aided by a holding penalty that moved the ball to the 6 and the next play, Waller found Kayla Harrison for a touchdown with 2:43 left.
The Coyotes went nowhere on their next drive. KWU opened with a pass to
Ciaran DeCuir to the 19, and needed just one yard for a first down, but threw two incomplete passes and elected to punt, giving the ball back to Baker at the KWU-31 after the kick.
Baker marched downfield, covering the 31 yards in five plays taking the lead with 19 seconds left.
KWU had one last chance, but could not convert a pass giving the ball back to Baker with two seconds left and Waller ran backwards 28 yards before taking a knee ensuring the clock ran out for the win.
Things started promising for the Coyotes as Wesleyan's defense forced a Baker punt on the opening drive and KWU immediately responded covering 43 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead with 6:30 left in the first.
Chihiro Iwata found
Ciaran DeCuir for the 5-yard scoring play and the PAT to
Jazmine Whitfield made it 7-0.
Baker scored on its drive that carried into the second quarter as Waller found Phillips from 1 yard out, but the PAT failed making it 7-6 with 9:36 left in the first half. Baker's drive was twice aided by personal foul penalties on the Coyotes.
A 3-and-out by the Coyotes set up Baker's next scoring drive as the Wildcats used nine plays to cover 48 yards, Waller finishing it with a 7-yard run, but the PAT failed making it 12-6 Wildcats with 1:56 left before the half.
Wesleyan revved up the offense on the next drive covering 66 yards on five plays, needing just 41 seconds as Iwata capped the drive with a 14-yard pass to Whitfield with 1:15 to go.
The Coyotes forced a Baker punt and took over with 33 seconds left before the half and used an 11-yard play to DeCuir, a 24-yard play to Whitfield and the scoring play of 23 yards to Whitfield to take a 21-12 lead with 16 seconds left in the half.
Then came the storm. Storms brewing nearby forced a weather delay of nearly 45 minutes, and after one Baker play, the game immediately transitioned to the third quarter.
Wesleyan's defense had to step up with a goal-line stand after the Coyotes turned it over on the first play of the second half.
KWU appeared to have turned Baker over on downs on a fourth-down pass incompletion, but a pass interference call gave Baker 1st-and-Goal at the 3. The Coyotes would force three incompletions and after a delay of game penalty, Baker could not five the endzone, giving the ball back to the Coyotes with 6 minutes left in the half.
Neither team scored in the third.
Baker would score first in the fourth, taking a drive that started in the third and capping it with a Waller pass to Jaylin Harris for 16 yards with 10:31 left to make it 21-18 Coyotes.
Wesleyan again responded with a scoring drive as Iwata rushed nine yards to start the drive and then capped it with a pass to
Jayla Howes from 5 yards out with 5:52 left.
Wesleyan had 270 yards of total offense in the game. Iwata was 24 of 40 passing with four touchdowns and an interception. Whitfield had seven catches for 102 yards and two scores while DeCuir had six grabs for 48 yards and a score. Roman had five for 51 and Howes 4 for 48.
Na'Kiya Lloyd had nine flag pulls to lead the Coyotes.
Alexa Mansur had seven, including a sack.
The Coyotes are back in action on Wednesday, heading to Bethel before facing Ottawa next Sunday at 1 p.m. at JRI Stadium in a rematch of last season's KCAC Championship that was held at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
