This week's Missouri Valley Football Conference Players of the Week include RB Amauri Pesek-Hickson of UNI; DL Devin Goree of Missouri State; RB Charles Pierre Jr. of South Dakota; PK Andrew Lastovka of Youngstown State; and OL Jared Penning of UNI.
Offensive Player of the Week
RB Amauri Pesek-Hickson, UNI
6-0, 225, Jr., Omaha, Neb. (Blue Valley North HS / Kansas)
Starting at running back for just the second time in his career (first at UNI), Pesek-Hickson ran for a league-high 180 yards on the ground on 31 carries as the Panthers upset No. 11/9 North Dakota in a 27-0 shutout at home, the program's first-ever shutout against an FCS top-10 opponent. Averaging 5.8 yards a carry, he also scored his first career touchdown in the first quarter on a 14-yard carry to the left off a UND fumble. Pesek-Hickson's 180-yard rushing performance were the most by a Panther since Tyvis Smith's 207-yard game in 2015 in the second round of the FCS playoffs at Portland State, helping complement a 239-yard passing performance by quarterback Theo Day in UNI's first win over North Dakota since 1978.
Defensive Player of the Week
DL Devin Goree, Missouri State
6-3, 254, Jr., Denton, Texas (Guyer HS)
Goree helped lead Missouri State to its second straight Valley win by racking up a game-high 8 total tackles in Saturday's win over Murray State, including 3 solo stops and 2.5 sacks in the victory. Goree's sack of Racers' QB DJ Williams on the final play of the game helped seal a 28-24 homecoming victory for the Bears who executed a rejuvenated defensive performance in the second half behind Goree's effort. The junior defensive end contributed to the Bears holding Murray to just one field goal and 120 total yards (on 8 possessions) in the second half and 3-of-13 on third and fourth down conversions. Goree now has 5.5 sacks over the last two ball games.
Newcomer of the Week
RB Charles Pierre Jr., South Dakota
5-10, 195, R-Fr., Orlando, Fla. (Ocoee HS)
Pierre Jr. carried four times for a game- and career-high 107 yards in South Dakota's 17-3 road win against Indiana State Saturday. His day was highlighted by an 81-yard touchdown run that is USD's longest since 2007 and at the Division I level. Pierre Jr.'s score made it a two-score game early in the fourth quarter.
Special Teams Player of the Week
PK Andrew Lastovka, Youngstown State
5-8, 165, R-Fr., Sagamore Hills, Ohio (Nordonia HS)
In his seventh game as a Penguin, Lastovka looked like a veteran when he came on to kick a 37-yard field goal as time expired in YSU's 41-38 win over Illinois State on Saturday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium. In the game he added a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter and five extra points. The two field goals were a career high. In 2023, he is 6-of-6 on field goals and 29-of-30 on extra-point tries.
Offensive Lineman of the Week
OL Jared Penning, UNI
Penning played a critical role in UNI’s offensive success both on the ground and through the air in helping the Panthers secure the program’s first-ever shutout of a top-10 FCS opponent in a 27-0 win over North Dakota at home. His blocking up front helped Amauri Pesek-Hickson, who made his first start at running back in his UNI career, run for 180 yards on 31 carries and one touchdown, the most by a Panther in eight seasons. UNI’s offense was able to rack up 402 total yards of offense with 20 first downs, marking the third game this season the Panthers have gone over 400 total yards (Idaho State, Youngstown State).
OTHERS NOMINATED
WR Daniel Sobkowicz, Illinois State -- Sobkowicz broke out in a big way for the Redbirds in their contest at Youngstown State. The Arlington Heights, Illinois, native set career-highs in receptions (11), receiving yards (170) and receiving touchdowns (3) against the Penguins. Averaging over 15 yards per reception, Sobkowicz was the favorite target of quarterback Zack Annexstad with 18 total on the day. Sobkowicz had touchdown grabs of 27 yards, 7 yards and a long of 31 yards for his final score of the day.
WR Taylor Shields, Murray State -- Shields had a standout game in the Racers bout with Missouri State with a two-touchdown performance with five receptions and 61 yards total. Shields ranks second on the team with 228 yards this season with a team-high four touchdown receptions across seven games in 2023.
WR D'Ante' Cox, Southern Illinois -- Had seven catches for 88 yards and a TD as No. 12 Southern Illinois fell to top-ranked South Dakota State, 17-10.
QB Mitch Davidson, Youngstown State -- Davidson helped engineer another YSU fourth-quarter comeback in the Penguins' 41-38 win over Illinois State. YSU trailed 35-31 entering the fourth and with the contest tied at 38, led a 4:18, 10-play march that set up the game-winning field goal vs. Ilinois State. For the game, Davidson was 16-of-25 for 203 yards and completed a career-high four touchdown passes. He had scoring tosses of 72, 33, 15 and six. Overall 126 of his 203 yards came on touchdown tosses.
QB Jordan Pachot, Missouri State -- In just his third career start, MSU quarterback Jordan Pachot passed for 4 touchdowns and racked up 287 passing yards to lift the Bears past visiting Murray State on homecoming in Springfield. Pachot engineered a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive in the third quarter that gave the Bears their first lead of the game and resulted in the game-winning score in a 28-24 victory. The victory also included four plays of 25-yards or better, including a season-long 54-yard completion in the first half. The right-handed gunslinger is now averaging 257.7 passing yards and 20 completions per start, while already eclipsing 1,000 passing yards on the season. He has 7 passing TD's in his last two games with just one interception in 53 attempts in that span.
S Cale Reeder, South Dakota State -- Reeder registered a career-high 10 tackles (7 solo), including a half-tackle for loss, and forced a fumble to help lead South Dakota State to a 17-10 victory at No. 12 Southern Illinois on Oct. 21. As a team, the Jackrabbits limited SIU to minus-3 net yards rushing in the second half while running their winning streak to 21 games.
DL Josh Dinga, Illinois State -- Dinga did it all for the Redbird defense in their road contest at Youngstown State. The sixth-year senior from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, finished the contest with five tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup against the Penguins. His sack was the only one of the day for the Redbirds, who finished the day with five tackles for loss in total.
LB Stephen Hillis, South Dakota -- Hillis tied his career high with 14 tackles and had one for loss in South Dakota's 17-3 road win against Indiana State Saturday. The Coyotes limited the Sycamores to 288 yards of offense and to their second-lowest scoring output of the season.
LB Amir Abdullah, Illinois State -- Abdullah has been a disruptive force for the Redbird defense all year long and he led the way for the Redbirds against Youngstown State. The Chicago native tallied a career-high 11 tackles, seven of which were solo stops, and finished the day with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. That TFL upped his total to 11.0 on the year, which puts him at the top of the Valley Football leaders on defense.
WR Griffin Wilde, South Dakota State -- Wilde continued his fine freshman season by catching two passes for a team-high 61 yards and a touchdown Oct. 21 at No. 12 Southern Illinois. Wilde’s touchdown covered 49 yards from Mark Gronowski and came on the third play from scrimmage of the second half to give SDSU a 14-0 lead. It was Wilde’s fourth touchdown reception of the season, which is tied for the team lead.
K/P Hunter Dustman, South Dakota State -- Dustman had his best day as a punter as a Jackrabbit and added a clutch field goal in the fourth quarter to help South Dakota State get past 12th-ranked Southern Illinois for a 17-10 road win on Oct. 21. He averaged 54.2 yards on four punts (three of which were 50-plus yards), tying his previous career-best with a 59-yarder on his first attempt of the game before booming a 62-yarder in the third quarter. After missing a 48-yard field goal attempt earlier in the game, Dustman came back with a 44-yard field goal with 2:41 to play that capped a 15-play, nine-minute drive and pushed the Jackrabbit lead back to two scores at 17-7.
P Orion Phillips, Murray State -- Phillips continued his impressive freshman season for the Racers with a huge day against Missouri State including a season and career-best 71-yard punt to pin the Bears inside their own seven-yard line. For the day, Phillips had a 49.25-yard average with three of his four punts landing inside the Missouri State 20. The Australian is averaging 44.38 yards per punt this season with over 1600 total punt yards.
P Grant Burkett, Missouri State -- Missouri State's All-American punter and FCS active career punting leader averaged 48.4 yards on five punts, the sixth-best single-game punting average in school history, to help the Bears win the field position game and execute an impressive second-half comeback win over Murray State. Burkett had three punts of 50 yards or better, including a game-long 54-yarder in the fourth quarter, to keep the Racers at arm's length. Burkett was also Missouri State's holder on all four extra point attempts, all successful tries.
P Jared Campbell, Western Illinois -- Campbell had a big day for Western Illinois, punting seven times for an average of 38.6 yards. Campbell had a long of 51 yards and two downed inside the 20. He also ran for 15 yards on a fake punt that picked up a first down.