By Maxwell Brucks
McPherson college football lined up against Kansas Wesleyan on October 5 looking to avoid a double-digit loss to the Coyotes. To everyone’s surprise, as the clock hit double zeros, the Bulldogs ended with a double-digit win instead.
The Bulldogs’ 42-13 win over the Coyotes was the first win over Kansas Wesleyan since September 27, 2014. After the game started, the Bulldogs fell early, and trailed at the end of the first quarter 10-7. The Bulldogs then rattled off 21 straight unanswered points to lead 28-10 with 13:55 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs then tacked on two more touchdowns to finish with 42 points–the highest against Kansas Wesleyan since October 16, 2010.
Senior quarterback Tristan Szabo passed for 95 yards and three touchdowns on 22 attempts. The game star, redshirt sophomore Jalil Brown, had 142 yards on the ground combined with 2 touchdowns. Brown also led the team in receptions. He had three, along with Dillion Coleman and Kameron Hamid. Freshman Jonavan Asuncion led the Bulldogs’ defense with nine total tackles and redshirt junior Cameron Fouts led the team in sacks with one.
With these performances, the Bulldogs tallied their fifth straight win, which ties them with the longest winning streak since 2019. Cameron Fouts has been with the McPherson football program for four years, and had a lot to say when asked how he felt ending the losing streak against Kansas Wesleyan.
“The feeling was amazing,” said Fouts. “Going into this game, our whole demeanor was different. We talked about it all week how it’s been nine years and how for us seniors it was emotional to see how far we’ve come from last year.”
Fouts was also asked how the team could carry the momentum of this win against Kansas Wesleyan into the coming game against Bethel College.
Fouts said, “We don’t want this to be the mountain top. We still got a job to do and the most important game is the next, so we are focused on Bethel watching film and coming out every day firing on all cylinders…We don’t worry about our opponents because we know when we play to the best of our ability nobody can stop us.”
Fouts also said the team wants to continue to be physical and compete to be the best of their ability each and every day. The Bulldogs hope to extend their winning streak during homecoming week as they take on the Bethel Threshers.
