Mitch Hendricks lit up the Augsburg secondary to the tune of 504 yards and seven touchdowns in Saturday's 55-31 win. For his efforts, Hendricks earns MIAC Player of the Week honors for the third time this season. Photo courtesy of Caleb Williams, d3photography.com.
Release Courtesy of Matt Higgins – MIAC Assistant Executive Director
Hopefully whoever is updating the Gustavus passing record books is using a pencil, because four weeks into the 2014 season, junior quarterback Mitch Hendricks (Laporte, Minn./Bemidji) appears to be on a mission to re-write them each week. Saturday, he threw for more than 500 yards with seven touchdowns, breaking two school records and tying another, while moving to the top of the national passing leader board in a 55-31 win over Augsburg. For his performance, the MIAC sports information directors honored Hendricks again Monday with his third MIAC Football Offensive Player-of-the-Week award of the 2014 season.
Hendricks led the Gusties to another stunning offensive performance by completing 33-of-39 passes for 504 yards, seven touchdowns, and an interception. The yardage and touchdowns broke Gustavus school records, and the 33 completions tied the team’s single-game mark. His seven touchdown passes are also a new MIAC record for passing touchdowns in a conference game. This season, Hendricks leads all of NCAA Division III and the MIAC in passing yards (1,584), passing touchdowns (20) and completion percentage (78.8 percent). He has just one interception against his 20 TDs, and has completed 119-of-151 passes for an average of 396.0 yards per game.
Thanks to Saturday’s big win, Gustavus is one of just two 4-0 teams in the MIAC, and one of just three to start conference play 2-0. The Gusties received votes again this week in the AFCA Division III Coaches’ Poll and fall just outside the Top 25. Saturday, Hendricks and company will try to keep the winning streak alive and the big numbers coming when they try to improve to 5-0 in front of their home fans. Gustavus will host Carleton (1-3, 0-2 MIAC) in St. Peter, Minn., Saturday at 1 p.m.