KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas Wesleyan’s Caleb Deal threw for 489 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday, marking just the 10th 400-yard passing game in Coyote history, earning PrestoSports NAIA Football Offensive Player of the Week honors to start the month of November.

Deal’s biggest three minutes of the game nearly reeled in a Coyote upset, ending an 11-play, 72-yard touchdown drive on a 23-yard pass to Kyler Brown with 21 seconds to play. KWU went for two, and Deal’s last pass of the day was tipped away. Deal had connected earlier in the game with Kevo Taylor on a 2-point conversion that made it 42-42.

On the day, the Frisco, Texas native completed 34 passes on 55 attempts, 61.8 percent, as the Coyotes scored 48 points, the most by any Friends opponent in 2026.

He threw his first TD pass of the afternoon with 3:53 in the first quarter, connecting with Daylan Moore. He threw two more in the second quarter, including finding Taylor for nine yards to cap a four-play, 44-yard drive to run out the clock on the first half.

Taylor and Deal connected again with 1:52 in the third, getting the Coyotes within one, 35-34.

Kansas Wesleyan is on the road to close out the season, beginning Saturday at McPherson (Kan.), with kickoff slated for 1 p.m. CT.
 

About the NAIA

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small college athletics programs dedicated to character-driven, education-based athletics. Since 1937, the NAIA has balanced high-level competition with holistic student-athlete development through its commitment to The Right Way to Play®. Each year more than 87,000 NAIA student-athletes compete in college athletics, earn over $1.3 billion in financial aid, and pursue opportunities to participate in 30 national championships. naia.org | @NAIA | #TheRightWayToPlay