Sarah Hawbaker
Lindsborg News Record

It came down to the final seconds of the Bethany versus Kansas Wesleyan football game, the 100^th time these two teams have met, to determine the winner. The Coyotes captured the win, defeating the Swedes 33-31 at Anderson Field Saturday night.

Bethany Head Coach Jamie Cruce said he and his staff are proud of the way the team competed for the majority of the game.

"We did some good things, especially in demonstrating our ability to overcome adversity and take the lead with five minutes remaining," Cruce said. 

"It was a hard-fought game and one that we really would have liked to win for Bethany College and our fans, alumni, and supporters.  We are thankful for the support we receive and will continue to work toward putting a quality product on the field," Cruce said.

Bethany was on the board first with a 16-yard Kevin Retchless field goal. The Coyotes answered back with just under a minute to go in the first quarter, scoring seven on a Trey Dallas to Joe Vela TD pass. Terry Stecker had the PAT.

Up 7-3, Kansa Wesleyan scored again half-way through the second quarter. Dallas hit Zach McClain for a 46-yard TD pass.

The score was 14-3 at halftime.

The Swedes were able to tack on seven in the third on a 13-yard TD pass to Brandon Martino.

With a 14-10 lead Kansas Wesleyan added another seven. The Swedes answered back with a TD of their own but failed at the two-point conversion.

KWU would add six more in the third with a failed two-point conversion of the own.

Each team would go on to score twice in the fourth quarter with the Coyotes kicking two field goals and the Swedes adding two TD's a PAT and a two-point conversion.  Though the Swedes fought hard at the end, it wasn't enough to capture the win.

As a team the Swedes had 512 total offensive yards while KWU had 474. Bethany had 322 yards in the air while Kansas Wesleyan had 223.

Tevis Linnebur tallied 149 yards on 32 attempts on the ground with two TD's while Martino chalked up 136 receiving yards on 10 receptions and one TD.

D'Andre Thompson had 82 receiving yards with seven receptions.

Quarterback Darby House was 26 for 55 for 322 passing yards, one interception and two touchdowns.

Wesleyan's Brett Giesen tallied 183 yards rushing on 27 attempts with a long run of 57 yards and one TD. Zach McClain had 119 receiving yards on four receptions with one TD.

KWU quarterback Trey Dallas was 15 for 28 for 223 passing yards and two touchdowns.

On defense Steven Williams had 10 total tackles with one tackle for loss of yards while Oscar Segura chalked up seven total tackles.

The Swedes, now 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the KCAC, currently are in seventh place in the conference race. Kansas Wesleyan is undefeated in the KCAC at 3-0. The Coyotes are 3-1 overall. Both Friends University and Tabor College are 2-0 and McPherson College and Southwestern College share 2-1 records.  Bethel College, Sterling College and University of Saint Mary remain winless overall and in conference play.

Next Bethany will host Avila College Sept. 29  at 2 p.m. in a non-conference match-up.