FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
CCIW Press Release
Nov. 12, 2012 - North Central College's Quinn Haas and Josh Mitchell have been selected as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Football Players of the Week on defense and special teams, respectively, for Nov. 5-11.
The pair were honored for their roles in the 14th-ranked Cardinals' 37-6 victory at Augustana College on Saturday, which secured a share of the program's seventh straight CCIW Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
Haas led the Cardinals with a season-high nine tackles, including two tackles for loss, as North Central limited the Vikings to just 161 total yards and five first downs while recording a season-high 13 tackles for loss. Haas ranks third on the team with 43 total stops this season.
Mitchell, meanwhile, racked up 224 yards on six punt returns, an average of 37.3 yards per return, to keep North Central in advantageous field positions all afternoon long. He scored the Cardinals' first touchdown on an 80-yard return, matching the second-longest punt return in school history, and had three other returns of at least 25 yards against an Augustana team which had allowed only 45 total punt return yards all season.
The two selections give North Central a total of eight Player of the Week selections in 2012. Defensive back Shane Dierking and linebacker Joey Michals have been honored as the CCIW's Defensive Player of the Week, while kicker Nick Dace has been cited twice as the conference's Special Teams Player of the Week and running back Nick Kukuc was twice selected as the Offensive Player of the Week.
North Central (8-2) will participate in the first round of the Division III Football Championship on Saturday, traveling to face eighth-ranked California Lutheran University (8-1). The game is set to kick off at noon Pacific time (2 p.m. Central).
LInks to live in-game video, audio and statistics can be found on the Cardinals' schedule page at northcentralcardinals.com/schedule.aspx?path=football.
