GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced that Rick Powell has been named the HCAC Offensive Player of the Week, while Tom Foos was tabbed as the HCAC Special Teams Player of the Week, after the duo helped DC to a 24-10 win at Hanover.
Powell accounted for 309 of Defiance's 352 total yards of offense in the victory and scored a pair of touchdowns. The junior quarterback averaged 9.8 yards per rush, while piling up 195 total yards on the ground. Powell's career day was highlighted by a 71-yard bolt to the end zone to break a scoreless tie in the first quarter, while later ripping off a 45-yard dash to set up his 17-yard touchdown run that gave the Jackets a 24-10 cushion with 6:58 left in the game.
When Powell was not shredding the Panther attack with his legs, he was moving the chains through the air. The Rochester, Mich., native completed 17-of-22 passes for 114 yards, while helping Defiance set season highs with 352 total yards of offense and 24 points scored.
Powell was not alone in having a career day on the gridiron for the Purple and Gold, as Foos set a new Defiance College single-game record by booming a 70-yard punt and connecting on a 37-yard field goal and all three of his point-after attempts.
The Helena, Ohio, native averaged 46.8 yards per punt over four attempts and netted 60.2 yards per kickoff in the winning effort for DC. The record-setting 70-yard punt off the foot of Foos also helped Defiance flip the field position on Hanover, helping to set up DC's first score of the game just two series later.
The HCAC Player-of-the-Week honor is the fifth for Foos in his DC career and his second of the 2010 campaign. Powell garnered the award for the first time in his collegiate career and became the first DC offensive player to earn a weekly accolade from the league since Luke Dillon did so three times in 2007. Powell is DC's first quarterback to earn the award since Hans Vetter did so following a 41-14 victory over Bluffton in 2005.
Powell, Foos and the Yellow Jackets (1-2, 1-0 HCAC) will take the field at Justin F. Coressel Stadium for the first time this season, when they host Franklin (2-1, 1-0 HCAC) on Saturday at 1:30 pm in an early-season battle for first place in HCAC standings.