Lake Forest College football players Joey Valdivia and Alex Pasiewicz were named Midwest Conference Offensive and Special Teams Performers of the Week, respectively, on Monday.
Valdivia, a senior tailback, carried the ball 25 times for 153 yards on the day. He also reached the end zone on a 32-yard run in the final minute of the first half and scored the winning touchdown from 12 yards out with 30 seconds to play in the contest. Valdivia leads the nation with a program record 21 rushing touchdowns this season and ranks second in the country with 1,219 rushing yards. He has finished six of the team's seven games with at least 100 rushing yards and two scores.
Pasiewicz, a senior wide receiver and returner, scored the Foresters' first points on Saturday on a 100-yard kickoff return. It was his team record third kickoff return touchdown of the season, which leads the nation, and fourth of his career, which is also the most in school history. He returned three kickoffs in the game and finished the day with program records for kickoff return yards in a game (163), season (644), and career (1,391). In addition, Pasiewicz successfully executed two fake punts, rushing for 27 yards on the first and 13 on the second, to keep Forester drives alive.
Valdivia leads the conference with 176.13 all-purpose yards per game while Pasiewicz is second at 169.38.
MWC Performers of the Week are selected by the league's director of media and information. It was Valdivia's second straight MWC Offensive Performer of the Week award and third this season. Pasiewicz was also the league's Special Teams Performer of the Week on September 19.