Morningside College's Joel Nixon, a 6-0, 205 lb. senior quarterback from Wakefield, Neb., has been named the NAIA National Player of the Week and the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in last Saturday's 63-7 Homecoming victory against 19th-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University.
Nixon amassed 435 yards total offense to lead No. 4 Morningside to its sixth victory in as many outings. He completed 20 of 28 pass attempts for a career-high 395 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 40 yards in nine attempts. The 395 yards passing was the eighth highest single-game total in Morningside history. Nixon threw touchdown passes of 75 yards to Colby Henderson, 69 yards to Jake Allen, 20 yards to Kyle Schuck, and 17 and eight yards to Joel McCabe.
Nixon, who received the GPAC Offensive Player of the Week award for the fourth time this season, is averaging 322.2 yards total offense and 271.2 yards passing per game to rank third and eighth, respectively, in the NAIA national ranks. He has completed 100 of 168 pass attempts (59.5 percent) for 1,627 yards and 20 touchdowns and has thrown at least two touchdown passes in each of the Mustangs' six victories. His 1,627 yards passing through six games is already the 12th highest single-season total in the Morningside record book.
Morningside will face its fifth nationally ranked opponent in its first seven games when it faces No. 17 Hastings College this Saturday in Hastings, Neb.
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Sophomore quarterback Bobby Brown (Storm Lake, Iowa/Storm Lake) has been named the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Male Athlete of the Week, while teammate Nick Plueger (Le Mars, Iowa/Le Mars) has been named the league's Football Defensive Performer of the Week. Both are for the period ending October 14.
Brown completed 16-of-26 attempts through the air against Central College on Saturday for 318 yards and three touchdowns. One of those TD's went for 86 yards on 3rd-and-13 to freshman Jalen Henningsen (Alta, Iowa/Alta) on the last play of the first quarter. He set single-game career highs in both passing yard and touchdowns, while his 318 yards were the most by any BVU quarterback since 2009.
Plueger, who currently leads the IIAC in tackles per game (14.5) turned in a game-high 14 total stops against the Dutch, to help lead a Beaver defense which forced five turnovers. He recovered a fumble deep in Central territory which set up BVU's third score and a 17-0 lead.
Both individuals were key components of the team's thrilling 30-25 Homecoming win, just the second overall victory against the Dutch since 1979 and the first in Storm Lake since 1959.
Buena Vista (1-5, 1-2 IIAC) will look to win back-to-back games and even its league record when it travels to Loras College (2-4, 1-2 IIAC) on Saturday afternoon for a 1:00pm contest.
Joel Nixon threw for a career-high 395 yards in Morningside's win over Dakota Wesleyan Saturday.
