ATLANTA — The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced its SIAC Football Players of the Week on Tuesday, Oct. 15, honoring student-athletes for impressive performances in games played last week.
Kelvin Durham (
Fort Valley State),
Lawrence McConnell (
Kentucky State),
DeJuan Bell (
Fort Valley State) and
Matthew Yafondo (
Miles) were recognized.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – KELVIN DURHAM, FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Quarterback | R-Junior | Homestead, Fla.
Durham engineered 4 second-quarter touchdown drives as the Wildcats scored five times in the 49-40 win over Allen. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 182 yards and 4 touchdowns and a 9-yard touchdown run. Of the 4 second-quarter touchdowns, he threw a 25-yard touchdown, ran the 9-yard option and threw a 3-yard touchdown pass. Durham added 44 and a 7-yard touchdown pass in the third and fourth quarter for 193 total yards and 5 touchdowns.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – LAWRENCE MCCONNELL, KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
Defensive Back | Sophomore | St. Louis, Mo.
McConnell had a season-high of 9 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception in win against Benedict.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – DEJUAN BELL, FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Wide Receiver | Graduate | North Augusta, S.C.
Bell had another special day on special teams. Trailing 13-0, Bell returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to be the first of five FVSU touchdowns in 14:42 of the second quarter. His 29-yard punt return gave FVSU the ball on the A36 to set up the fifth touchdown of the quarter. For the game, Bell totaled 212 all-purpose yards – 1 punt return of 29 yards, 3 kick returns for 144 yards, 1 rush for 6 yards and 2 receptions for 33 yards.
NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK – MATTHEW YAFONDO, MILES COLLEGE
Linebacker | Freshman | Fultondale, Ala.
Yafondo had 5 solo tackles and a quarterback hurry in Miles' 32-21 win over Albany State. His big play came on the Golden Rams' second play from scrimmage, when he notched his first career interception and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. The pick-six gave the Golden Bears a 14-0 lead less than three minutes into the game, and Miles would never trail en route to grabbing sole possession of first place in the SIAC.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of historically black colleges and universities with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit
www.thesiac.com.