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The Lindenwood football team won its fifth straight Homecoming contest on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium with a 61-16 win over Kansas Wesleyan. The Lions started out slow but an 84-yard kickoff return touchdown from Denodus O'Bryant sparked 30 unanswered points for Lindenwood.

The Lions finished the game with 508 yards of total offense, compared to 245 for Kansas Wesleyan.  Lindenwood's defense allowed just 10 points, and both of those scoring drives were started by turnovers in its own territory. Offensively, Lindenwood rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns, and it passed for 282 yards and four touchdowns. It also had a big advantage in field position, as its average starting position was the Kansas Wesleyan 48-yard line, 26 yards better than the Coyotes' starting position.

Lindenwood opened the game with two straight interceptions, the second which was returned for a Kansas Wesleyan touchdown. That lead lasted just 11 seconds though as O'Bryant, who was playing his first game back from an injury, with his seventh career kickoff return touchdown. Later in the quarter, a Kansas Wesleyan interception set up a 42-yard field goal from James Neal.

In the second quarter, Lindenwood's offense began to click as it scored touchdowns on five of six possessions. Andrew Helmick led the assault with three touchdown receptions, and Marvin Byrd and Gary Wilson each had a rushing touchdown. The Coyotes managed just a field goal in the period and Lindenwood led 44-9 at halftime.

David Ortega led the Lindenwood offense to 17 points in the third quarter. He rushed for one touchdown, threw another to Terance Jackson, and set up Neal's second field goal of the day. Kansas Wesleyan had one short touchdown drive in the third, and neither team scored in the final 15 minutes.

Helmick finished the day with four catches for 108 yards, and seven other Lions had at least one reception. Uribe threw for 153 yards and one touchdown, and Ortega threw for 120 yards and one score. Gary Wilson led the rushing attack with 94 yards, including 66 on his rushing touchdown.

Nick Grubbs led the defense with seven tackles. Joe Day, Nick Tepea, and Chris Howard each had six. Day had a tackle for loss, Tepea intercepted a pass, and Howard had a pass breakup. Cody Reider had two sacks, James Wofford had the other interception, Alex Meraz had a forced fumble, and Dreyer recovered that fumble.  Reider and Christian Golder both blocked a kick on special teams.

Game Notes: Lindenwood improves to 5-2 on the season, including a 2-0 mark against NAIA schools … Kansas Wesleyan falls to 2-5 … the Lions have won 10 out of their last 11 Homecoming games and are 18-4 all-time on Homecoming … Lindenwood is averaging 62.5 points the last two times that it has faced a member of the KCAC … Andrew Helmick has six touchdown receptions on just nine catches over the last two games, and he has 201 receiving yards in that span … the Lions defense had double-figure tackles for loss for the third time this season … James Neal improved to eight-of-nine on field goals this season, including three-of-three from longer than 40 yards … Lindenwood has five special teams return touchdowns this season, with four on punt returns and one on kickoff returns.