E8 Announces Football Players of the Week
Empire 8 Athlete-of-the-Week awards were handed out for the Week of Oct. 29-Nov. 4. This week's honors were claimed by student-athletes from Ithaca, Salisbury University and Utica College.
Salisbury senior quarterback Dan Griffin and Utica senior wide receiver Jeremy Meier shared offensive player of the week honors.
Griffin ran for a career-high five touchdowns on 17 carries and 142 yards. He recorded TD runs of 2, 56, 4, 2 and 1 yard on the day. The Jarrettsville, Md., native averaged 8.4 yards per carry, while also adding 47 passing yards.
Griffin's 30 points moved him within one touchdown of trying for the program lead in all-time points scored at 258.
Meier totaled 112 yards and nine catches in a loss to No. 21 Salisbury on Saturday and became the first receiver in school-history to catch for over 1,000 yards in a single season and broke the school's all-time receptions record for a season with 69. The senior standout is now the College's all-time leader with 2,364 career receiving yards and 28 career touchdown receptions.
Junior Brian Garvey tied a school record with three interceptions in Ithaca's 28-7 conference victory over Hartwick on Saturday en route to being named Empire 8 Football Defensive Player of the Week.
His three interceptions were part of a school-record six interceptions overall by the Bomber defense. Garvey returned his third interception of the day four yards for a touchdown. He also factored in on eight tackles.
Salisbury sophomore linebacker Steven Gamble earned Special Teams Player of the week. Gamble blocked an extra-point attempt following the Pioneers scoring a third-quarter touchdown. It was Salisbury's fourth blocked kick of the season.
Gamble, a Rockville, Md., native, added four tackles, one for loss, a forced fumble and recovery and a pass broken up.