This week's Missouri Valley Football Conference players of the week include QB Beau Brungard of Youngstown State; LB Tye Niekamp of Illinois State; PK Andrew Lastovka of Youngstown State; RB Carson Fletcher of South Dakota; and OL Seth Anderson of North Dakota.

Offensive Player of the Week
QB Beau Brungard, Youngstown State
6-0, 215, Jr., New Middletown, Ohio (Springfield)
Brungard accounted for six more touchdowns in guiding the Penguins to a 48-29 win over Indiana State. He had three rushing scores in the first quarter and a half before following that up with three touchdown passes. In the first half he had short runs of eight, one and one yard before throwing TD passes of 20, two and five. He completed 23-of-30 passes for 264 yards while rushing for 90 yards on 17 carries.

Defensive Player of the Week
LB Tye Niekamp, Illinois State
6-3, 240, Jr., Normal, Ill. (Normal Community HS)
Niekamp recorded a new career-high with 16 tackles, which included nine solo stops against the Jackrabbits. Niekamp was also credited with a forced fumble and a pass breakup in the contest, as the Redbird defense forced three turnovers and tallied five sacks and 10 TFLs against SDSU. The 16 tackles tops his previous high of 14 set twice earlier this season, and Niekamp now has six double-digit tackling efforts on the year with four contests with 13 or more to give him 110 on the year.

Special Teams Player of the Week
PK Andrew Lastovka, Youngstown State
5-8, 170, Jr., Sagamore Hills, Ohio (Nordonia HS)
On a windy afternoon, Lastovka accounted for 12 points in YSU's 48-29 win over Indiana State. He made two of three field goals converting from 39 and 42 yards and made six PATs.

Newcomer of the Week
RB Carson Fletcher, South Dakota
5-10, 215, Fr., Racine, Wis. (Racine-Horlick HS)
Fletcher had a breakout game for the Coyotes in the thrilling 53-51 win at (21) Southern Illinois. He led the team in carries (19) and rushing yards (104) in his first-career 100-yard rushing game, while pacing the USD rushing attack on the day. 12 of his carries came in the second half when the Coyotes found a way to score 20-unanswered points to take their first lead at 34-31 late in the fourth quarter. Nearly half his yards (46 yards) came in the fourth quarter when the freshman put the team on his back and carried the Yotes down the field multiple drives in a row for the chance to come back and win the contest.

Offensive Lineman of the Week
OL Seth Anderson, North Dakota
5th, 6-5, 300, Moorhead, Minn.
In the 35-17 win at Murray State, Seth Anderson and North Dakota’s offensive line helped the Fighting Hawks register 344 yards of offense, led by 213 yards on the ground. Sawyer Seidl paced the rushing attack with 96 yards and a touchdown on 22 attempts. Colton Brunell and Jerry Kaminski also had second-half touchdown runs in the victory.  After just having 129 yards of offense in the first 30 minutes, the Fighting Hawks racked up 215 yards offensively in the second half and outscored the Racers by a 28-8 margin.  Last week, Anderson graded out at 85 percent.