INDIANAPOLIS – A few familiar names appeared on the new list for Great Midwest Athletic Conference Football Players of the Week as announced on Monday morning.
Week 8 featured four matchups, including three in conference action. Tiffin maintained its pace at the top of the standings, reeling off its sixth straight victory as the Dragons put up 60+ points vs. Lake Erie.
Hillsdale overcame a slow start vs. Kentucky Wesleyan to cruise to a 41-14 victory at home while Ohio Dominican’s defense stood tall in a shutout effort against Walsh in a low-scoring affair.
Findlay’s bid for an upset against No. 6 ranked Notre Dame (OH) was an exciting one after the Oilers recovered an onside kick late, but fell to the Falcons in a prime Super Region 1 matchup.
Tiffin was receiving votes in the last AFCA Coaches Poll and the Dragons figure to receive consideration for the first NCAA Super Region 1 rankings that will be released later today.
Offensive Player of the Week
JaQuan Hardy
Tiffin
Running Back
RS Junior
Westlake, OH (Westlake HS)
As gaudy of numbers as the Tiffin offense has put up through seven weeks of the season, the Dragons raised the bar again with 63 points and almost 450 yards of total offense in Week 8.
Hardy ran for 124 yards and scored three touchdowns while averaging 6.9 yards per carry as Tiffin’s ground game accounted for 243 of the offensive output.
Hardy cashed in from the red zone on separate Tiffin drives in the second quarter before busting free for a 36-yard scoring run with just over three minutes left in regulation.
Hardy was able to celebrate a 1,000-yard season as he continues to lead the conference in rushing. The redshirt junior now has 1,006 yards to date and is just the fourth player in conference history to gain over 1,000 yards on the ground in a season.
Hardy certainly is within striking distance of the single-season rushing record of 1,554 yards held by Findlay’s Daouda Sylla in 2017.
This is Hardy’s second conference player of the week performance. He is averaging over 125 yards per game and is also tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns with Hillsdale’s David Graham (11).
Defensive Player of the Week
Camren Moore
Ohio Dominican
Linebacker
RS Senior
New Carlisle, OH (Tecumseh HS)
Moore is currently the conference’s all-time leader in career tackles with 213, effectively passing Malone’s Ryan Weber (197) in recent history. Going into the season, he was ranked fifth.
The two-time all-conference selection (first team in 2017, seceond team in 2018) was a tackling machine as the Ohio Dominican defense pitched a 7-0 shutout against Walsh.
Moore was credited with 16 tackles, including nine solo stops, vs. the Cavaliers. It was the second time he had 16 tackles already this season, doing so against Tiffin, and is the second-highest single-game output by a player in 2019.
He was also credited with a pass breakup as ODU scored in the first quarter. Moore and the Panthers made four different stops on downs to halt Walsh drives.
Moore leads the conference in tackles per game (9.9) and is second in total tackles with 69 despite ODU playing in one less game than most teams.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Logen Neidhardt
Ohio Dominican
Punter
Junior
Hicksville, OH (Hicksville HS)
Also earning honors for the second time this season was Neidhardt as field position certainly was a swing factor in Ohio Dominican’s 7-0 win vs. Walsh.
The former Great Midwest Special Teams Player of the Year and All-American gave Walsh limited opportunities on five attempts as he averaged 46.2 yards per punt.
Neidhardt had 231 yards total and one of the top 10 best marks for a single-game average. He placed three punts inside the 20-yard line and had a long of 61, the second-longest boot of the season in the conference.
Neidhardt is now a six-time special teams player of the week in his career – two times each in 2017, 2018 and 2019.