KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2018 All-KCAC Football selections on Monday afternoon, and a program record 19 Eagles were recognized on the list.
A total of six Eagles picked up first team honors, with three more garnering second team selections. Ten more Eagles found themselves on the Honorable Mention list, with kicker/punter Landen Nealyearning the Dr. Ted Kessinger Champion of Character award. Malik Dungee earned a pair of honors, garnering selection as a First Team punt returner and an Honorable Mention wide receiver, giving Avila a total of 20 awards.
The program record twenty selections comes on the heels of a record-setting season for Avila, one that saw the team finish 7-3 and close the season receiving votes in the NAIA Football Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Eagles cracked the Top 25 for the first time in program history back on Oct. 15 when they entered the poll at No. 25, and climbed as high as No. 21 back on Oct. 29.
Behind a high-flying offense and a defense that specialized in turning over the opponent, Avila broke numerous school records on both sides of the ball in 2018, including most yards from scrimmage (4,668), most yards per game (466.8), most touchdowns (49) while allowing the fewest yards as a defense since the 2011 campaign.
SALINA, Kan. – The No. 21 Eagles gave No. 7 Kansas Wesleyan all they could handle on Saturday in Salina, Kan., but they came up just short in the end, falling 34-31 to the Coyotes.
No. 21 Avila (7-2, 7-2) passed every challenge that the heavily favored No. 7 Coyotes (10-0, 8-0) threw at them in the early going, holding the high-powered Coyotes offense to just one touchdown over their first four drives of the game while the offense scored on three of their first four to build a 17-7 lead.
Kansas Wesleyan and quarterback Johnny Feauto then opened up the playbook and ripped off back-to-back touchdown drives late in the second quarter to take a 20-17 lead over the Eagles into the half, and then the Coyotes dominated the third quarter to build up a 34-17 lead over Avila heading into the fourth quarter.
Behind senior quarterback Jakob Jordan, the Eagles proved why their offense is ranked in the top ten in the country as they ripped off big play after big play against a tough Kansas Wesleyan defense to climb back into the game. Jordan found Theo Berry for a 75-yard touchdown to end Avila’s long scoring drought and cut the deficit to 34-24 with 9:22 to play, and then after the Avila defense got a pair of stops to give the offense another chance, Jordan led a five play, 71-yard touchdown drive that was capped by another Berry touchdown to make it a 34-31 score with eight seconds remaining.
Kicker Landen Nealy executed a beautiful onside kick attempt that was initially bobbled by the Kansas Wesleyan hands team, but the Coyotes came out of the pile with the football and were able to kneel down on the final play of the game to claim the victory, and their first KCAC regular season championship in sixteen seasons.
In the loss, Jordan finished 21-for-38 for 320 yards and three touchdowns in the air and added 46 yards and a touchdown on the ground as the Eagles outgained Kansas Wesleyan, 432 to 359.
Theo Berry led all receivers with nine receptions, 149 yards and two scores. On his first catch of the day, which went for fifteen yards, Berry became the first Eagle to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. Berry now has 56 receptions for 1,138 yards on the season to go with ten touchdowns, which is also a single season Avila record.
Avila’s defense gave everything they had on Saturday, playing without multiple key starters and still limiting Kansas Wesleyan to season-lows in points and yards while forcing a season-high five punts from Hartvig Bondo, the Coyote punter. Reggie David led the way with seven tackles in the loss, and Avila was able to sack Feauto four times.
Despite the loss, Avila can still close out the season with a victory next weekend when they host Tabor College on Senior Day at The Z, and finish the year with an 8-2 mark, which would be good for second place in the KCAC. Avila’s seven victories thus far are already the most in program history, and the Eagles have long-secured their first ever winning season, but finishing 8-2 and inside the Top 25 would put a special bow on what has been an incredible first season as members of the KCAC after the team was picked to finish tenth in the league by both the coaches and media back in August at media day.
The Eagles will get their chance to close things out on Saturday when they host Tabor at 1:30 p.m. at The Z. A Senior Day Ceremony is set to take place ahead of the game.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avila (Mo.) | 3 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 31 |
| Kansas Wesleyan | 7 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 34 |
Carlos Washington 