For Immediate Release
Monday, October 11, 2021
NSIC Media Relations
Media Packet

NSIC Offensive Player of the Week
#4 Hunter Trautman (QB, 6-0, 200, Gr., St. Francis, Minn. / St. Francis HS) - Northern State
- Led Northern State to a 52-49 victory at Winona State, throwing for 418 yards and five touchdowns
- Completed 32-of-47 passing attempts without an interception, averaging 13.1 yards per completion 
- Tied the Northern State career record for passing touchdowns 
- Added 16 yards rushing and one rushing touchdown 
- Leads the NSIC in average passing yards per game (342.7), total yards (2056), and passing touchdowns (24)

NSIC Defensive Player of the Week
#55 Alex Kowalczyk (LB, 5-11, 210, Fr., Sioux Falls, S.D. / O’Gorman HS) - Wayne State 
- Totaled 13 tackles, one sack, three tackles for loss and one pass breakup in Wayne State’s 35-24 win at #11 Minnesota State
- Had eight solo tackles and five assisted stops and added one sack for three yards and three tackles for loss for six yards

NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week
#5 Jake Balliu (WR, 5-9, 185, Gr., Lake Villa, Ill. / Lakes Community) - Winona State
- Returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring for Winona State in a 52-49 loss to Northern State
- The touchdown return was the sixth-longest in Warrior history
- He had 155 yards in kickoff returns and 65 yards in punt returns
- He racked up 220 total return yards and led the Warriors with five catches
- Currently seventh in the country in combined kick return yards with 349

Other Top Performances
Offense
#11 Kyle Saddler (AUGIE) threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns as the Vikings topped Upper Iowa in their homecoming game. He did not throw an interception in the contest and completed 25 passes with three of them going 49 or more yards.
#6 Malik Williams (BSU) caught three passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in 42-14 win. He brought in two 75-yard touchdown catches. HIs third overall and second consecutive multi-touchdown game of the season. He averaged 53.3 yards per reception and moved into tie for 7th all-time at BSU in receiving touchdowns.
#11 Danny Kittner (UMary) caught 13 passes for 133 yards and 3 scores.  His touchdowns covered 13, 23 and 22 yards. He has had at least 100 yards receiving in all 6 games this season. He leads the nation in receptions/game (11.7), receiving yards/game (165) and is tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns (12).
#4 Logan Graetz (UMD), in his second career start, went 13 for 24 while throwing for 150 yards and four passing touchdowns. On the day, Graetz also rushed for 12 yards on three rushing attempts. His four passing touchdowns propelled UMD to a 31-27 road win at UMary. 
#23 Luke Imdieke (MSUM) caught a team-high five passes for 57 yards in 29-17 Dragon win at Minot. He also rushed for 35 yards on six carries and averaged 10.2 yards per reception.
Landon Freeman (USF)  set a career-high with 136 yards rushing on nine carries to lead USF to a 35-7 road win at SMSU. He had his second 100-yard rushing game of his career. Freeman, who had 19 carries for 105 yards and a TD against Concordia St. Paul in week two, scored on runs of 20 and a career-high 69 yards as he averaged 15.1 yards per rush.
#2 Anthony Watkins (WSC) rushed for 115 yards on just 16 carries and two touchdowns in a 35-24 upset win at #11 Minnesota State.  He had touchdown runs of 40 and 32 yards. His 32-yard touchdown run at 9:07 mark of 4th quarter gave WSC the lead for good at 28-24. This was his second 100-yard rushing game of season, the other one was 107 yards in 31-28 win at then #11 Minnesota Duluth two weeks ago.
#18 Owen Burke (WSU) earned his second career 300-yard passing game, tossing for 334 yards against Northern State. Had five touchdown passes, moving to 54 total TD passes in his career Was 22-of-38 with a longest throw of 41 yards Connected with eight different receivers in the contest

Defense
#17 Eli Weber (AUGIE) led Augustana with eight tackles in the victory over Upper Iowa. Of those eight, four were tackles for loss, totaling 21 yards. He also tallied 1.5 sacks, totaling 14 yards. He was part of a defense that leads the nation in fewest rushing yards per game allowed.
#9 Gabe Ames (BSU) tallied 3.0 tackles for a loss and a sack in 42-14 win. His sack went for loss of 10 yards and TFL went for loss of 17 yards. He paced BSU with seven tackles, including three solo. He also recovered a fumble to set up a touchdown just before halftime. His 3.0 TFL tied a single-game career high. 
#27 Michael Kirkendoll (UMD) led the Bulldogs in tackles with eight total tackles during UMD’s 31-27 victory over UMary on Saturday. On the day, Kirkendoll also tallied one forced fumble and 1.0 tackle for loss.
#26 Cody Sorenson (MSUM) had a big day on defense helping the Dragons to a 29-17 win over Minot. He returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown, his first pick six of his career. He also had a team-high three pass breakups and added five tackles, including three solo stops.
#22 Carter Lohr (USF) had a career-best two interceptions for a DII USF school game record of 109 yards to help USF to a 35-7 win at SMSU. Lohr had interception returns of 70 and 39 yards as USF had four in the game, which was the most since four vs. Augustana in 2018. With Lohr’s 109 yards, USF set a DII program game mark of 166 yards in interception returns. He also had two tackles and a TFL in the win.
#20 Cam Gavin (WSU) racked up 14 total tackles against the Northern State Wolves on Saturday, a season high for the senior from New Lenox, Ill. He had 12 solo stops and added two assists as he racked up two tackles for loss, totaling seven yards.

Special Teams
#19 Ben Limburg (AUGIE) went 3-of-4 on field goal attempts and was perfect 4-of-4 on PATs as the Vikings defeated Upper Iowa. He connected on field goals from 44, 36 and 19 yards. On eight kickoffs, he averaged 53.5 yards per kick including two kicks that were taken from the 50 yard line due to penalties.
#45 Logan Kobus (UMD) notched four punts within the 20-yard line. On the day, Kobus punted six times for 221 yards and an average of 36.8 yards per punt.
#25 Joey Hughes (MSUM) returned a blocked punt 29 yards for a touchdown in 29-17 win over Minot State. He also added a tackle. 
#26 Payton Eue (NSU) scored ten points for Northern State in their 52-49 victory over Winona State, He hit 7-of-7 PATs and recorded a 38-yard field goal. He averaged 54.0 yards per kickoff and 33.2 yards per punt. 

NSIC Football Players of the Week
9/7/21
O: #9 John Larson - UMD
D: #39 Clay Schueffner - WSU
SP: #26 Payton Eue - NSU
9/13/21
O: #10 Brandon Alt - Bemidji State
D:  #18 Andrew Egnarski - Concordia-St. Paul
SP: #26 Payton Eue - Northern State (2)
9/20/21
O: #34 Thuro Reisdorfer - SIoux Falls
D: #8 Peyton Buckley - Augustana
SP: #81 Curt Cox  - Minnesota Duluth
9/27/21
O: #11 Kyle Saddler - Augustana
D: #27 Hunter Bohannon- SMSU
SP: #41 Alex Powders - Wayne State 
10/4/21
O: #9 Logan Nelson - University of Mary
D: #51 Nate Pearson - Minnesota Duluth
SP: #4 Ty’Shonan Brooks - Minnesota State
10/11/21
O: #4 Hunter Trautman - Northern State 
D: #55 Alex Kowalczyk - Wayne State
SP: #5 Jake Balliu - Winona State

About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men’s league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women’s league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 24 team national championships and crowned 81 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.

About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes can earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA’s three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.