AU's Washington, WSU's Eggleston & MTU's Ark, Named GLIAC Football Players of the Week

AU's Washington, WSU's Eggleston & MTU's Ark, Named GLIAC Football Players of the Week
Posted: Sep 30, 2019

GLIAC -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) has announced its weekly awards following week four of the 2019 football season. Ashland freshman tailback Gei'vonni Washington garnered GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Wayne State senior linebacker Leon Eggleston earned GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week recognition along with Michigan Tech junior punter Will Ark who was awarded GLIAC Special Teams Player of the Week.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Gei'vonni Washington - Ashland

Ashland University’s football team made history on Saturday (Sept. 28) at Northwood in winning its 500th all-time game.
Eagle freshman tailback Gei’vonni Washington made some history of his own on Monday (Sept. 30) morning, being named 2019 Week 4 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the victory against the Timberwolves.
Washington is Ashland’s first GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week since Andrew Vaughn on Nov. 6, 2017, and is the first Eagle freshman to be named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week since the conference restarted football in 1999. The last AU rookie to garner a conference Offensive Player of the Week award was Matt Otero in 1997 in the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference. Against Northwood, Washington ran 30 times for 125 yards and three touchdowns, and added four catches for 16 yards. All three of Washington’s rushing touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, as the Eagles erased a 20-10 deficit through three periods, and in the fourth, he ran 12 times for 67 yards. Washington is just the second Ashland runner this decade (Anthony Taylor twice in 2013) to record at least 25 carries, 125 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the same game. 

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Leon Eggleston - Wayne State

Wayne State University senior outside linebacker Leon Eggleston (Sylvania, Ohio / Southview) helped lead the Warrior defense in limiting Saginaw Valley to just 20 points (the Cardinals entered Saturday's contest averaging 31 points per game) in WSU's first win over a top 25 squad since the 2014 campaign (a 41-31 win over 13th-ranked Carson-Newman on Sept. 13, 2014 at Tom Adams Field).  The 168 passing yards and 307 yards of total offense were season-lows for SVSU. Eggleston had a 10-yard interception return which extended WSU's advantage to 17-0 late in the first quarter.  He finished the contest with five tackles (4 solo, 1 assisted), with a key 13-yard tackle for loss on a 1st-and-10 from the WSU 12 in the fourth quarter as the Warriors were clinging to a four-point lead.  After another stop by Eggleston on second down, and a pass break-up on third down, preceded Wayne State blocking the SVSU field goal attempt.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Will Ark - Michigan Tech

Junior quarterback/punter Will Ark had an outstanding game punting the football Saturday against Grand Valley State. Ark punted the ball eight times for 385 total yards, which was only six yards shy of Tech’s single game school record of 391 yards set by Ryan Ostach against Hillsdale on September 9, 1998. Ark averaged 48.1 yards per punt, including a season long kick of 63 yards on Saturday. Five of his eight punts landed inside the 20-yard line and one kick was a fair catch. Ark’s ability to pin the Lakers’ offense deep in their own end of the field kept their offense off balance for a good portion of the game. In addition to punting, Ark completed 15 passes for 111 yards and added 16 yards on four carries from the quarterback position.

 

HONORABLE MENTION

OFFENSE: Deondre Ford (DU), William Marano (MTU), Nate McCrary (SVSU), Joe Garbarino (NU), Marvin Campbell (FSU), Ravon Johnson (NMU), Aryuan Cain-Veasey (GVSU)

DEFENSE: Deion Powers (DU), Xavier Ciardo (MTU), Michael Woolridge (SVSU), Dimitri Abro (NU), Jason Harrison (AU), Delon Stephenson (FSU), Leon Eggleston (WSU), Isaac Darkangelo (NMU), Isaiah Nkansah (GVSU)

SPECIAL TEAMS: Chris Ahmed (DU), Connor Luksic (SVSU), Alex Spicuzzi (NU), Satchel Denton (AU), Jackson Dieterle (FSU), Jacob Miller (GVSU)

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