INDIANAPOLIS – Three different institutions were represented in the most recent wave of Great Midwest Athletic Conference Football Players of the Week that were announced on Monday afternoon.
Week 4 of the spring season saw two contests completed between Tiffin and Hillsdale and Findlay and Kentucky Wesleyan. Lake Erie and Walsh was postponed due to COVID protocol while co-league leading Ohio Dominican was idle.
The 2019 conference champion Dragons gathered their third consecutive win after throttling Gannon in Week 3 during non-conference action. Findlay scored 40 points in the first half to hand Kentucky Wesleyan a loss at Steele Stadium to also move into the grouping of 3-0 and tie Ohio Dominican at the top of the standings.
Offensive Player of the Week
Nick Watson
Tiffin
Quarterback
RS Senior
Cincinnati, OH (La Salle HS)
Watson orchestrated over 500 yards of total offense against the Chargers, throwing for 371 with his rocket arm and gaining 55 more on the ground. The reigning conference offensive player of the year completed 22 of his 37 pass attempts.
Watson engineered time consuming drives on offense as he threw for a pair of scores and rushed in for another.
After a scoreless first quarter, Watson took it in himself from 7 yards out to finish off an eight-play series. He then took the Dragons nearly the length of the field on the next drive, a 92-yard sequence finished off in the red zone on a 1-yard toss from Watson to Devin Nelson.
Tiffin chewed up almost six minutes off the clock early in the fourth quarter on a 10-play drive as the senior QB found James Dean for a 27-yard scoring play. That drive again was 96 yards down the field after Tiffin was backed up against its own goal line.
Watson has completed almost 56 percent of his passes this spring to go with a league-leading 907 yards and has 4 TD’s. He is averaging over 302 yards through the air as well, another number leading all conference quarterbacks.
Defensive Player of the Week
Reggie Micheaux
Findlay
Defensive Line
Junior
Taylor, MI (Wayne Memorial HS)
After Kentucky Wesleyan more than held its own against Ohio Dominican in the Week 3 season opener, the Oilers stepped up to the challenge in a big way with Micheaux and Co. leading the charge.
The junior lineman made a living in his opponent’s backfield, blowing up plays for six total tackles, 2.5 sacks and a total of 4.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
The 4.5 tackles for a loss is tied for the third most in a single game in conference history and Findlay allowed just six points on the scoreboard by the Panthers’ offense. Findlay’s defense also scored off an interception by Kijana Caldwell and a fumble return for a touchdown courtesy of Christopher Jefferson.
Micheaux helped hold KWC’s total offense at bay with just over 200 yards and the Panthers’ ground game just averaged 2.2 yards per carry.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Jack Shannon
Hillsdale
Punter
Senior
Huntertown, IN (Carroll HS)
In a defeat, Shannon turned in a record-breaking effort with his booming leg, setting a new single-game mark for average punting with four attempts.
Shannon averaged 48.4 yards per kick, including a long of 64, a distance that ranks top 10 in the conference record books.
The senior did his best to help Hillsdale against defending conference champion Tiffin by pinning the Dragons twice inside the 20 and had only one touchback.
The previous single-game record for punting average was shared by current Hillsdale QB Luke Keller and former Ohio Dominican two-time conference special teams player of the Logen Neidhardt, who is currently at Eastern Illinois.