INDIANAPOLIS – Hillsdale, Lake Erie and Ohio Dominican, were represented in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Football Players of the Week selections for Week 5 on Monday morning.
Four league contests were completed on Saturday as seven of the eight teams played their first Great Midwest game of the season.
Lake Erie (1-4, 1-1 G-MAC) scratched its way into the win column with a late fourth-quarter rally against defending conference champion Alderson Broaddus (1-4, 0-1 G-MAC). The Battlers had a chance to win as time expired, but a field-goal attempt was offline.
Riley Frederiksen’s nine-yard run lifted the Storm with 5:54 to go in regulation and gave head coach Gerald Hazzard his first win at the helm of the program.
Ohio Dominican (2-3, 2-0 G-MAC) buried Malone (0-4, 0-1 G-MAC) in a defensive struggle late at the Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, one week removed from the Panthers pitching a conference shutout against Lake Erie in Week 4.
A 13-3 halftime lead for ODU was secured by a strong defensive effort in the second half as the Pioneers looked to control the clock. Former Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Week Grant Russell had a hand in all three Panthers TD’s while EJ Colson ripped off the longest run in conference history of 85 yards.
Hillsdale (3-2, 1-0 G-MAC) ran roughshod over Kentucky Wesleyan as the Chargers offense put up electric numbers with a statement win over the Panthers (1-3, 0-1 G-MAC).
Findlay has scored 40+ points in each of its last three games and the Oilers (3-1, 1-0 G-MAC) blazed a trail to a 47-3 win over Walsh (0-5, 0-1 G-MAC) in both teams’ Great Midwest debuts on the gridiron. UF’s Aaron Ivory returned an interception for a touchdown for the second straight week after he pulled off the same feat in Week 4 vs. Tuskegee.
Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Week
Chance Stewart
Hillsdale
Quarterback
Junior
Sturgis, MI (Sturgis HS)
One week after shattering single-game conference records in passing yards and total offense vs. #14 UIndy, the talented junior gunslinger was at it again in his first Great Midwest action during homecoming weekend in Hillsdale.
Stewart was responsible for six touchdowns against KWC, including four passing and two on the ground as he amassed 351 yards of total offense. He completed 16 of his 21 pass attempts and gained 70 yards rushing, the second-best total by a quarterback (74) in league history.
With the score heavily in favor of the Chargers, Stewart was on the field for Hillsdale’s first possession in the third quarter before giving way to Steve Ficyk.
Stewart carved up the Kentucky Wesleyan in the second quarter through the air, connecting with three different targets on scoring passes of 2, 3, 66 and 8-yard distances. Hillsdale carried a 42-0 lead at halftime.
He capped a 4-play, 49-yard drive in his last appearance of the game with a rushing score from nine yards out.
In five games, Stewart has completed nearly 63 percent of his passes for 1,283 yards and eight touchdowns versus four interceptions. He is averaging 256.6 passing yards per game, third in the league.
Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Week
Desmond Stanley
Lake Erie
Defensive Back
Redshirt Junior
Macedonia, OH (Nordonia HS)
Inactive for the first three weeks of the season, Stanley has seized an opportunity and established himself as rising prospect for the Storm defensive unit. Various injuries have given way for the redshirt junior to see the field and his impact was felt in the secondary in Week 5.
Against Alderson Broaddus, Stanley racked up 13 tackles, including five stops behind the line of scrimmage and contributed two sacks while forcing a pair of fumbles.
The five tackles for a loss are a new conference single-game record after Jeff Stephens (AB) had four against Fort Valley State in 2016.
Stanley helped the Storm win their first game of the season. He had nine tackles in Week 4 against Ohio Dominican.
His two forced fumbles are also tied for a single-game best with teammate Thomas Covington and Malone’s Ryan Weber. The two sacks are the ninth time a player has registered the single-game total, including five times in the current season.
Great Midwest Special Teams Player of the Week
Logen Neidhardt
Ohio Dominican
Freshman
Hicksville, OH (Hicksville HS)
Neidhardt is a repeat selection for special teams weekly honors after helping Ohio Dominican control possession and pin its opponent deep in a closely-contested game vs. Malone.
He had six punts for 237 yards and three of those were inside the Pioneers’ own 20. His longest punt of the evening was a 46-yard boot and he averaged almost 40 yards per attempt.
Neidhardt is now tied for second in net punting average with Walsh’s Cole Krumpak at 41.1 yards per kick. He has made 24 punts with a long of 54 in his first season at the collegiate level.