Amid a weekend filled with exceptional performances, Case Cookus and Patrick Onwuasor stood out above all others.
Cookus, Northern Arizona’s true freshman quarterback, and Onwuasor, Portland State’s senior free safety, earned Big Sky Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, the league announced on Monday. Cookus also earned FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors for his record-setting performance.
Cookus tied a school record by throwing for seven touchdowns passes, including bombs of 59, 41 and 22 yards as NAU kept its playoff hopes alive with a 63-21 win over Northern Colorado. Cookus completed 25-of-31 passes for 363 yards before taking a seat at the end of the third quarter. His seven touchdown passes tied Travis Brown’s NAU record set in 1996.
NAU quarterback Case Cookus during UNC game/by Nick Canaday
Northern Arizona jumped out to a 21-0 lead and held a 42-7 advantage at the half. Cookus guided the NAU offense to seven straight touchdowns and a 63-7 lead through three quarters. As a team, NAU put up 668 yards of total offense, 106 shy of the school record. This season, Cookus had thrown for 2,130 yards, 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions. His passer efficiency rating of 197.4 leads the FCS.
Cookus’ performance bested that of North Dakota running back John Santiago for the weekly award. Santiago, a true freshman, set a career high for a second straight week by rushing for 230 yards on 30 carries as UND posted a 44-38 win over No. 19 Montana State last Saturday. Santiago scored a 45-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 75-yard touchdown in the second quarter as UND equaled its season-high for points (31) in the first half alone. Santiago’s 4-yard touchdown with 1:41 to play proved to be the go-ahead score. This season, Santiago leads the Big Sky with 1,162 yards rushing. He now has 11 rushing touchdowns.
Onwuasor tied a Portland State school record with three interceptions, all in the first quarter, in the Vikings’ 35-16 win over Montana. The win was PSU’s first since 2004 over Montana and just the third time Portland State has defeated the Grizzlies since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak to Montana overall and kept PSU alive in the conference title race.
Onwuasor, a former Arizona transfer, now has seven interceptions this season, the top total in the FCS. His standout performance earned the weekly award over several other important and notable performances on Saturday.
Eastern Washington junior captain middle linebacker Miquiya Zamora notched 16 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss as EWU held off Weber State, 14-13.
North Dakota sophomore safety Cole Reyes notched 11 tackles, snared an interception and recovered a fumble in UND’s win over Montana State.
Southern Utah had a pair of nominees following SUU’s 54-37 win over Cal Poly. Senior outside linebacker Mike Needham recovered two fumbles and returned both for touchdowns to go along with a forced fumble and 20 total tackles. Senior defensive end James Cowser notched two sacks and three tackles for loss, forced a fumble and recovered two more, the second which he took 57 yards for a touchdown. SUU scored three defensive touchdowns in the game and has now scored six times on defense this season.
Northern Arizona senior Ryan Hawkins was the Big Sky’s Special Teams Player of the Week. All 10 of Hawkins’ kickoffs resulted in touchbacks, all 9 of his extra points were converted, and he booted three punts for an average of 40.7 yards per kick for Northern Arizona.
Northern Colorado came in as the FCS leader in punt and kickoff returns, but thanks to Hawkins’ kicking, they had zero opportunities to return a kickoff, and the one punt the Bears did return was for 21 yards.
Nominees for Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week included: Jalen Moore, Eastern Washington; John Santiago, North Dakota; Alex Kuresa, Portland State; Kyle Lewis, Cal Poly; Trae Riek, Northern Colorado; and Ammon Olsen, Southern Utah.
Nominees for Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week included: Miquiyah Zamora, Eastern Washington; Eddie Horn, Northern Arizona; Cole Reyes, North Dakota; Burton De Koning, Cal Poly; Keifer Glau, Northern Colorado; James Cowser, Southern Utah; and Mike Needham, Southern Utah.
Nominees for Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week included: Gabe Gubrud, Eastern Washington; Marcus Kinsella, Portland State; and Keita Calhoun, Southern Utah.
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