GVSU's Brad Iciek Named GLIAC Football "Offensive Player of the Week"

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BAY CITY, Mich. - Grand Valley State University junior quarterback Brad Iciek (Grandville, Mich) has been chosen as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Football Offensive Player of the Week by the league office. Northern Michigan University junior linebacker Nathan Yelk (Arlington, Wis./Poynette) was selected Defensive Player of the Week, while Ferris State University senior kicker Jim Yates (Goshen, Ind.) earned Special Teams Player of the Week Honors.

GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week:
Brad Iciek - Grand Valley State
(JR, QB, 6-1, 190, Grandville, Mich.)

Junior QB Brad Iciek played a key role in #1 Grand Valley State's 48-42 comeback victory over #23 Ashland. Iciek completed 16-of-25 passes for 319 yards and four TDs as he led GVSU back from a 36-21 third quarter deficit. He completed 10-of-15 passes for 223 yards and two TDs in the second half, while rushing for another score, as he directed four straight TD drives. Iciek led GVSU to touchdowns on seven of 10 possessions in the game.

Offensive Honor Roll: Billy Cundiff - AU, Mike Ryan - FS, Mike Chambers - UF, A.J. Kegg - HC, Craig Jenkins - UI, Keith White - MT, Fred Wells - NM, Spencer Klukowski - NU, Brandon Emeott - SV, Joique Bell - WS.

2008 Off. Players of the Week: (9/2) S. Short - MT; (9/8) M. Root - TU; (9/15) B. Cundiff - AU; (9/22) P. Milbrath - MT; (9/29) B. Iciek - GV; (10/6) C. Jenkins - UI; (10/13) K. Parrish - FS; (10/20) J. Berezik - GV.

GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week:
Nathan Yelk - Northern Michigan
(JR, LB, 5-10, 235, Arlington, Wis./Poynette)

Junior linbacker Nathan Yelk led Northern Michigan to a 29-21 win over Findlay on Saturday. He tallied 17 total tackles, including 14 solo stops, and 2.5 tackles-for-loss (minus eight yards) in the victory. Yelk leads the Wildcats with 68 tackles (49 solo, 19 assists) while recording five tackles-for-loss (minsu 21 yards), and one interception. He currently ranks fifth among GLIAC defenders in tackles per game at 9.7.

Defensive Honor Roll: Chris Harvey - AU, Kevin Noe - FS, Mike Chambers - UF, Jacob McGuckin - GV, Tom Korte - HC, Craig Ray - UI, Baher Faik - NU, Mike LeVand - SV, Parris Burt - Tiffin, Dante Dunn - WS.

2008 Def. Players of the Week: (9/2) P. Burt - TU; (9/8) J. Visser - FS; (9/15) P. Burt - TU; (9/22) T. Brenner - AU; (9/29) C. Wilson - FS; (10/6) A. Wojcik - HC; (10/13) D. Skuta - GV; (10/20) J. Jones - WS.

GLIAC Special Teams Player of the Week:
Jim Yates - Ferris State
(SR, P/PK, 6-1, 213, Goshen, Ind.)

Senior kicker/punter Jim Yates had a solid afternoon for the Bulldogs in their exciting 19-13 league home win over Northwood. Yates converted two field goal tries from 24-yards out and punted six times for 265 yards (44.2 avg.). Three of his punts landed inside the opponents' 20-yard line and one went for 54 yards.

Special Teams Honor Roll: Joe Knopick - UF, Todd Carter - GV, Eric Schweller - HC, Jace Morrison - UI, Jon Mills - MT, Anthony Leandri - NM, Chris Kollias - NU, Jeremy Burr - SV, Dante Dunn - WS.

2008 S.T. Players of the Week: (9/2) D. Dunn - WS; (9/8) D. Dunn - WS; (9/15) M. Petro - HC; (9/22) M. Petro - HC; (9/29) D. Dunn - WS; (10/6) E. Schweller - WS; (10/13) D. Harvey - AU; (10/20) A. Dunson - AU.

-----GLIAC Footballl Weekly Notes-----

Ashland - Ashland saw its six-game winning streak end Saturday night at Grand Valley State...junior quarterback Billy Cundiff went over 400 yards in total offense in a game for the third time this season. Cundiff passed for 358 yards and rushed for 44 against the Lakers. He had four touchdown passes, one shy of the school single-game record he has reached twice. Cundiff has thrown for a school single-season record 2,826 yards and he has 196 completions. He needs 13 more completions to establish the school single-season mark...senior wide receiver Johnny Long (Cincinnati, OH/Akron) had eight catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns at GVSU. Long set the school single-season mark for TD receptions - 11. He broke the record of 10, set by Chris Harkness in 1987... redshirt sophomore Joe Horn (Waynesfield, OH/Waynesfield-Goshen) had 12 catches for 183 yards at GVSU. That marks the second time this season AU had a pair of players go over 100 yards receiving in the same game, at Michigan Tech Horn had seven catches for 157 yards and junior Nick Bellanco (Wooster, OH) caught six passes for 122 yards. Long has four 100-yard receiving games this year and is averaging 85.2 ypg. Bellanco averages 89.2 receiving ypg., and Horn is the team leader at 94.1 ypg. All three players have over 40 catches...true freshman Chris Harvey (Columbus, OH/Walnut Ridge) made the first start of his career Saturday, playing at free safety. He led AU with 10 tackles and forced a fumble. Harvey is the brother of AU tailback Dawon Harvey...AU scored 14 points in the first quarter Saturday and for the year, has outscored the opposition, 103-27 in the first quarter.

Ferris State - Junior QB Kyle Parrish hooked up with redshirt freshman receiver Mike Ryan on a 50-yard touchdown pass with only 28 seconds left in regulation to lift the Ferris State University football team to a narrow 19-13 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) victory over the Northwood Timberwolves Saturday (Oct. 25) afternoon at FSU's Top Taggart Field in Big Rapids, Mich... The Bulldogs drove 68 yards on three plays in 42 seconds for the winning score after Northwood's Pat Sijan missed a potential game-winning 49-yard field goal try for the Timberwolves with 1:10 remaining. After back-to-back completions to senior receiver Cole Meredith and redshirt freshman slot David Freeman of six and 12 yards, respectively, Ryan was able to beat the Northwood defense down the left sideline on the third play of the drive for the TD reception from Parrish... The win gave Ferris its fifth victory of the year in six games decided by seven points or less. FSU improved to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in league play with the triumph while Northwood dropped to 2-6 both overall and in the GLIAC this campaign. The crowd of 1,633 fans braved chilly and drizzly conditions for much of the game as FSU celebrated Reunion Day by honoring its first-ever unbeaten team from the 1968 season.

Findlay - The Oilers dropped their seventh straight game on Saturday to Northern Michigan, losing 29-21...Findlay jumped out to a 14-0 lead but couldn't hold off the Wildcats in the second half... Sophomore quarterback Jonathan Mora completed 15-of-25 passes for 155 yards...He threw one touchdown and also threw an interception in the loss...Starting at wide receiver on offense and safety on defense, junior wide receiver Mike Chambers had two carries for 65 yards and a score while also making three receptions for 27 yards and a score. Defensively, Chambers led the team with 11 stops and also picked off a pass...He is now only six receptions short of breaking the school record for catches in a season... Sophomore wide receiver DaJerrian Smith hauled in four passes for 62 yards while Jackson had 13 rushes for 46 yards...Junior linebacker Joe Knopick made eight tackles to give him 103 on the year.

Grand Valley State - GVSU set a host of GLIAC regular season attendance records in 2008. The Lakers set a GLIAC record for single-season attendance with 64,511 in five home dates. The Lakers also set a GLIAC record with an average of 12,902 per game and a single-game record with 14,612 versus Ferris State. Previous marks were 59,037 in 2006; 11,807 for an average in 2006 and 14,557 versus Ferris State in 2005...GVSU established a single-season GLIAC record for points scored in the first quarter for a season Saturday versus Ashland. GVSU has now scored 136 first quater points, breaking the previous record of 133 held by the 2001 Laker squad...Grand Valley State is featuring a balanced offense in 2008, rushing for 1,773 yards and passing for 1,735 yards. In addition, the Lakers have 20 rushing TDs and 26 passing TDs...James Berezik is 14th in career rushing yards with 1,966 in 21 career games. Berezik is averaging 7.4 yards per carry...Blake Smolen has rushed for 1,463 yards and averaging 7.2 yards per carry...Smolen moved into eighth in career all-purpose yards with 3,422...Berezik moved into 16th in all-time, all-purpose yards with 2,850...Brad Iciek is seventh in career total offense with 4,779 yards...DL Dan Skuta moved to within .5 sacks (30.5) of GVSU career Mike McFadden (31). McFadden is fifth all-time in DII, while Skuta is sixth...Grand Valley State has won 40 consecutive regular season games. The Lakers' last regular season loss was 10/23/04 to Northwood (35-14)...Since 2001, the Lakers are 57-3 at home, 40-3 in their last 43 road games and 44-4 in all games away from Lubbers Stadium in their last 48...Grand Valley State has now played a regular-season record four ranked opponents in 2008. Ashland (#23) was the fourth ranked opponent for GVSU. Earlier this season GVSU played three straight ranked opponents (#25 SVSU, #24 Ferris State and #23 Michigan Tech).

Hillsdale - The Hillsdale College football team played in its lowest-scoring game in nearly two years Saturday in a 14-7 loss to Wayne State...The last time the Chargers played in such a low-scoring game was Nov. 4, 2006 in a 10-7 win over Findlay...The last time Hillsdale was held to single-digit scoring was in a 7-3 loss to Ashland on Oct. 15, 2005...The Chargers had averaged 31.5 points per game in their last four meetings vs. the Warriors, in matchups from 2004-07...Senior Tom Korte had two more tackles-for-loss, giving him 16.5 for the season...Linebacker Mat Szula had a career-high 10 tackles in the game...Three of Hillsdale's four losses this season have come by seven points or less...Hillsdale hasn't beaten Wayne State at Adams Field since Oct. 11, 2003...With one more win, the Chargers will clinch back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1995-1996...Hillsdale will play its final home game of the 2008 season Saturday against Ferris State University.

Indianapolis - UIndy piled-up 54 points in a convincing win at Tiffin. It was the most points scored by the Greyhounds since an overtime win vs. Michigan Tech (59-52) back on Sep. 20,2003. UIndy's 27 points in the second quarter Saturday were the most by the team in a single quarter since Sep. 6, 2003, when the Hounds piled-on 30 first-quarter points at Saint Joseph's ... Craig Jenkins (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) etched his fourth straight 100-yard rushing game in the win, giving him 14 for his career. Jenkins surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the second time in his career, becoming just the third UIndy player to achieve that feat. The senior sits just 87 yards shy of the school record (1,136) for single-season rushing yards, a mark he set back in 2006. Craig Ray (Plainfield, Ind.) posted his second two-interception game of the season, after picking-off a pair at Saginaw Valley State back on Sep. 27. His interception return TD was the first by a Greyhound since the 2004 season, when three different players achieved the feat.

Michigan Tech - Senior Keith White (Rhinelander, Wis.) posted eight catches for 118 yards and a touchdown at Saginaw Valley State. The 6-4, 225-pound wide receiver moved within 61 yards of becoming the school's all-time leader in receiving yardage. He also ranks fourth in career receptions (135) and third in career receiving touchdowns (20) ... Steve Short (Iron Mountain, Mich./Kingsford) completed 25-of-38 passes for a season-high 333 yards and a touchdown at Saginaw Valley State last Saturday (Oct. 25). The junior tallied his highest passing total since the 2007 season opener when he set a school record of 431 at Winona State ... Tyler Cattelino (Houghton, Mich.) attempted and missed a 53-yard field on the final play of the first half which would have been a school-record for longest field goal. He did make a 29-yarder in the game and is 6-of-8 on field goal tries this season ... Junior Bobby Slowik (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest) caught eight passes for 102 yards at SVSU for his first 100-yard game of the season and second of his career.

Northern Michigan - The Wildcats snapped a six-game skid with a 29-21 win over Findlay on Saturday...NMU will play its home season finale against Grand Valley State on Saturday (Nov. 1)...Fred Wells started at running back against the Oilers from his usual position of wide receiver, he responded by leading all rushers with 119 yards on 23 carries with two scores...NMU recorded 395 yards of total offense (246 rushing and 149 passing) against Findlay, which was the most since the second week of the season...Anthony Leandri connected from 40 yards out with one second before halftime for his longest field goal of the season...NMU was 4-4 in red zone scores on Saturday and for the season the Wildcats are 21-28...NMU was perfect on fourth down conversion against Findlay (4-4)...Nathan Yelk had 17 total tackles (14 solo and three assisted) and 2.5 tackles-for-loss...Redshirt freshman Anthony Marietti had his first career interception against the Oilers and returned it for 45 yards.

Northwood - Northwood fell to 2-6 on the season with a 19-13 loss at Ferris State ... it was the third time this season the Timberwolves have lost a game in the final minute ... FSU tossed a 50-yard touchdown pass in the final moments to earn the win ... the final stats in the game proved to be even, as FS held a 339-324 advantage in yards, while the Timberwolves had a 17-14 edge in first downs ... Northwood was led on the ground by junior quarterback Spencer Klukowski (Rockford, Mich.), who finished with 91 yards and a touchdown ... defensively, Baher Faik (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams) had a strong game for the Timberwolves ... he finished with a career-high 14 tackles, which included three tackles for loss ... NU finished the game with 230 yards rushing ... Northwood will return home for a game against Wayne State Saturday at Noon.

Saginaw Valley State - The story of the day was senior running back Brandon Emeott (Caro, Mich.) who gained 203 yards rushing on 29 carries with four touchdowns for the Cardinals. Emeott scored on runs of two, ten, 37 and 16 yards on the afternoon. The Cardinals scored their first touchdown on the day when Danny Stiefel (Emmett, Mich./Stevenson) found tight end Galen Stone (Swartz Creek, Mich.) on an eleven yard touchdown pass to take a 7-6 lead. Stiefel was 18-of 31 for 217 yards passing with a touchdown on the afternoon. The Cardinal defense was led by John Jacobs (Prudenville, Mich./Midland Dow) who led all defenders with 16 tackles, he also forced two fumbles on the afternoon. Mike LeVand (Grandville, Mich.) had six tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery, while Kyle Rowley (Oxford, Mich./Michigan State Univ.) led the secondary with nine stops and also had an inception in the endzone in the first quarter.

Tiffin - Parris Burt led the Dragons defense with 14 tackles, including 10 solo stops...Arthur Allen added 7 tackles...Dyshaun Edwards had 204 all-purpose yards, including 152 yards in kick returns, 39 yards receiving, and 13 yards rushing...Cameron Mobley led the receivers with 50 yards on 6 catches.

 Wayne State - WSU recorded its seventh win of the season on Saturday, the most since 1983 ... the Warriors are 5-0 at home for the first time since 1974 ... the last time WSU won five straight at home was actually eight straight from September 24, 1983, through October 13, 1984 ... junior running back Joique Bell (Benton Harbor, Mich.) became the school's all-time leading rusher (4,284) on WSU's first play of the fourth quarter, a 25-yard run ... after being held to 57 yards on 16 carries through 45 minutes, Bell rushed for 83 yards on 13 carries in the final quarter ... Bell surpassed the 4,000-yard rushing mark and the 5,000-yard all-purpose plateau for GLIAC games only ... with his two touchdowns, Bell is six points behind David Kircus' all-time GLIAC points record of 348 ... the Wayne State defense entered the game ranked eighth nationally in both turnover margin (+1.63 per game) and scoring defense (allowing 13.6 ppg) ... WSU had three takeaways (two interceptions and one fumble recovery in the Warrior end zone) and held an opponent to 10 points or less for the sixth time this season ... senior safety Dante Dunn (Lansing, Mich./Waverly) had an interception and a pass break-up to move into third place on WSU's all-time passes defended list ... he also needs 56 kickoff return yards to set the WSU career mark (Jon Roberts had 1,734 from 1995-98).