FINDLAY, OHIO – The Iowa Wesleyan College football team reaped more benefits of its win Saturday over Waldorf College as quarterback Bryan Abihider (Sr.-Hemet, Calif.) was named Mid-States Football Association Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week.
The award, announced Monday by MSFA sports information director Larry Alter, comes after Abihider completed 20 of 32 passes for 286 yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers’ 41-0 win over Waldorf College on Saturday that snapped IWC’s 20-game losing streak. Abihider also ran for 30 yards, in all accounting for 316 of his team’s 464 yards of total offense.
Abihider is the first Tiger to receive MSFA Midwest individual honors since Tremell Jones was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Week after IWC’s last previous win, a 10-3 decision over Waldorf in the 2006 season opener. He is the first IWC player to win the league Offensive Player of the Week award since Jabari Woods won it in 2005.
The senior’s 286 yards passing in his second collegiate start was the highest passing total by a Tiger quarterback since Sheldon Cross threw for 339 yards against St. Francis (Ind.) on Sept. 21, 2002. Four of his touchdown passes on Saturday went to sophomore receiver Lawrence Moore (Country Club Hills, Ill.), who had the second-best scoring day by an IWC receiver in school history. Moore’s four touchdown catches were one off the school record of five TD catches in a game, set by Bruce Carter against Concordia (Wis.) University Nov. 9, 1991.
The Tigers return to the field on Saturday on the road against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The game in Stevens Point, Wis. will take place at 1 pm. IWC will play its first home game in two weeks, facing Peru State (Neb.) College Sept. 20 at 1 pm.
For more information regarding the IWC football program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
