YSUsports.com - Football: Marcus Mason Captures Gateway Offensive Player-of-the-Week Honors

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Oct. 29, 2006
Football: Marcus Mason Captures Second Gateway Player-of-the-Week Honor
St. Louis, Mo. -- For the second time in three weeks, Youngstown State senior tailback Marcus Mason (Potomac, Md.) has been named the Gateway Football Conference's Offensive Player of the Week.

On Saturday, Mason rushed for 176 yards on a career-best 34 carries and finished with two touchdowns in the Penguins' impressive 27-13 victory at third-ranked Illinois State.

Mason went over the 100-yard mark for a school-record-tying fifth consecutive game and has scored at least two touchdowns for the fifth straight contest.

He tied the school mark for consecutive 100-yard rushing games held by Dave Kimmel (1956) and Paris Wicks (1982). Mason rushed for over 100 yards in four straight games last year.

Entering the game, the Redbirds had been surrendering just 108.9 yards rushing per game, but the Guins amassed 352 on Saturday.
Mason closed the gap significantly in the chase for the Division I-AA rushing lead. Central Connecticut State's Justise Hairston was held to 64 yards by Monmouth and saw his per-game average drop from 174.8 per game to 162.4 a contest. Mason's average moved up from 153.0 to 155.9.

Mason has 17 rushing touchdowns in eight games played for the year and ranks tied for second behind Furman's Jerome Felton who has 20 touchdowns in nine games.

He has 940 yards on 131 carries in five Gateway games this year averaging a staggering 188 yards per contest. He has scored 12 touchdowns in league play as well.

The Gateway Defensive Player of the Week was Western Illinois linebacker Jerome Bennett who played a key role in the Leatherneck's 24-13 victory at Northern Iowa. The Special Teams Player of the Week is Southern Illinois' A.J. Wallace. Wallace blocked a punt that turned a 10-3 SIU deficit into an eventual 27-10 lead in a 27-17 victory at Missouri State.
The Penguins and Southern Illinois meet at Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. and will be carried live on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 122).