Baker junior wide receiver Cornell Brown gets bottled up by St. Francis' Spencer Cowherd (30) and Eric Dunten (39) in the first half of the Wildcats' 38-17 loss in the NAIA football championship game Saturday at Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Daytona Beach, Fla. ? In the opening minutes of Baker’s 38-17 loss to St. Francis (Ind.) on Saturday in the NAIA football national championship game at Municipal Stadium, the Wildcats’ high-octane offense was firing on all cylinders.

Junior quarterback Logan Brettell moved the Wildcats into the red zone in two and a half minutes, but the Wildcats (14-1) went on to settle for a 26-yard field goal from Clarence Clark. However, the three points went on to be their only ones of the half for the Wildcats, who came in averaging 50 per game.

“We drove the ball down field and should have got seven, and we come away with three,” Baker coach Mike Grossner said.

St. Francis (13-1) scored a touchdown on its opening drive when quarterback Nick Ferrer found his top wideout — senior Seth Coate — for a 5-yard connection, and that was just the beginning of the big night for the Cougar receiver.

Baker had no answer for Coate, as he went on to haul nine receptions for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Coate — who earned offensive player of the game honors — finished the season with 25 touchdown receptions.

“No. 11 (Coate) is a great football player, and we didn’t do a good job of getting over the top on him,” Grossner said.

A big part of the Wildcats’ success throughout the season was due to winning the turnover battle. The Wildcats led the NAIA with a plus-25 turnover margin, but coughed the ball up twice in the title game while the Cougars had a clean slate.

With the Wildcats trailing 10-3 late in the second quarter, Brettell fumbled for the first turnover of the game. St. Francis running back Justin Green capitalized on it one play later with a 39-yard touchdown run. Green went on to rush for 140 yards on 24 carries, and the Cougars took the 17-3 advantage going into the break.

The Wildcats struck back in the early going of the third quarter when Brettell found a diving Damon Nolan for a 13-yard touchdown pass. The dart over the middle to Nolan was the lone touchdown pass for Brettell, though, who was named the NAIA National Player of the Year on Friday. Brettell completed 34 of 50 passes for 263 yards.

Momentum appeared to being swinging the Wildcats’ way after the Nolan touchdown catch, and they nearly got the ball right back with an interception from defensive back Avery Parker. The Baker senior had his seventh pick of the season until instant replay ruled the pass from Ferrer fell incomplete.

“We thought we had a big one there. Review got us,” Grossner said. “You want review, you’re asking for review all year and wishing you had it, and all of a sudden we had a big pick that was called our way and we were down one score on that end of the field and they overturned the call. Anytime you lose the turnover battle, you probably don’t have a chance to win.”

Ferrer was dialed for much of the night, though, as he threw two more touchdown passes of 59 and 36 yards to Coate to push the Cougars’ lead to 31-10. The St. Francis quarterback completed 18 of 30 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns.

“He got every possible award that a man could get on and off the field,” Grossner said. “You look at the (stat) sheet, and we threw the ball 50 times, but we only had 263 yards so that will tell you a lot of where the ball was going. It was going short, and they were rallying and tackling.”

Baker junior wide receiver Cornell Brown pulled the Wildcats back within 14 after scoring on a 1-yard dive over the top. Brown — who is a wide receiver by title, but also Baker’s top ball carrier — rushed for 103 yards on 18 carries. The versatile offensive weapon was limited in practice throughout the week due to a back and hamstring injury, but Grossner didn’t feel that it was apparent.

“The guy lives for football. I knew he’d give everything he had, and he did. He fought through it,” said Grossner of Brown. “We didn’t get much reps this week in Florida from him, but I don’t think it showed. I thought he came out and played hard.”

The Wildcats were unable to pull off a late fourth-quarter comeback like they did in their 45-41 win over Eastern Oregon in the NAIA semifinals, though. The Cougars put the nail in the Wildcats’ coffin with a 28-yard touchdown run from P.J. Dean with 2:48 to play.

“We didn’t make enough plays,” Grossner said. “You’ve got to make big plays in big games, and you can’t give up the big plays in crucial situations, which we did. I think every one of their scores was (a) big, long-yardage type score.”

The loss to the Cougars marked the Wildcats’ second appearance in the NAIA title game in school history. Baker lost the 1986 championship game, 17-0, to Linfield (Ore.).

The Cougars ended Baker’s season with a loss in the playoffs for the second time in the past five years. Despite the loss, Baker finished the season with a school-record 14 victories.

“The hometown has been supportive the whole time, so it’s a good feeling,” Brown, a Baldwin City native, said. “We had a good season, a good run. It’s a good feeling to have that respect and support from my hometown.”