Brandon Wegher was named the GPAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row and the fourth time this season.

Brandon Wegher, a 5-11, 210 lb. junior running back from Dakota Dunes, S.D., was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row and for the fourth time this season after his performance in the No. 1-ranked Mustangs’ 42-24 victory over No. 7 Northwestern College in last Saturday’s GPAC showdown at Elwood Olsen Stadium.

Wegher rushed for 217 yards, including touchdown runs of four and 19 yards, and had two pass receptions for 41 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown, in the win against the Red Raiders.

The 217 yards was the seventh highest single-game rushing yardage total in Morningside history and enabled him to break school records for yards rushing in a season and in a career. Wegher raised his season’s total to 1710 yards to break the Mustangs’ former single-season standard of 1624 yards by Jake Peterson in 2009. Wegher, the leading rusher in the nation with an average of 190.0 yards per game, has rushed for 2915 yards during his two-year career to break the former Morningside record of 2877 career yards rushing set by Dave Bigler, who played at Morningside from 1969-71.

Wegher has a school-record 28 rushing touchdowns to move within four TDs of the NAIA national record of 32 rushing touchdowns in a season shared by Jo Jon Jones of Lambuth University in 1994 and Roger Butler of Tabor College in 2005. Wegher has a school-record 31 touchdowns this season to move within three TDs of the NAIA national record of 34 touchdowns in a season set by Jones in 1994. 

Morningside’s victory against Northwestern assured the Mustangs of at least a share of their fourth consecutive GPAC championship. The Mustangs can win the title outright when they take a 9-0 record, including an 8-0 mark in the GPAC, into their regular season finale when they travel to Crete, Neb., on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game against Doane College.