Herrion and Ward Receive IIAC Honors After Big Performances on Homecoming
Oct 20, 2015
IIAC Release
Wartburg Box Score
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Freshman running back Maurece Herrion ran for a career-high 140 yards and four touchdowns and senior defensive lineman Malachi Ward collected 3.0 sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown to claim Iowa Conference Player of the Week honors for their performances in stunning rout of No. 8 Wartburg, 45-13, on Homecoming this past Saturday afternoon.
Both players captured their first career IIAC awards as Herrion earned Iowa Conference Football Offensive Player of the Week and Male Athlete of the Week after rolling up a majority of the Spartans season-high 195 yards rushing. Ward was named IIAC Football Defensive Player of the Week and led a defense that held the Knights to a season-low 21 rushing yards. The dynamic duo gave the Spartans sole possession of first-place in the Iowa Conference and UD's first 3-0 conference start since 2011, their last time as Iowa Conference champions.
Herrion, three games into his budding career, has rushed for 348 yards and an Iowa-Conference leading eight touchdowns. The Elgin, Ill. native set single-game, career-highs with 31 carries, 140 yards, and four touchdowns in Homecoming victory over Wartburg. Herrion's eight-yard scoring run with 33 seconds remaining in the first half provided the Spartans go-ahead score as UD went into halftime leading 14-7. The first-year player also found pay dirt on runs of 7-, 9-, and 2-yard runs in the second half to give Head Coach Stan Zweifel his first win against Wartburg in his tenure at UD.
The player they call Mo is undecided on a major.
Ward, a defensive lineman, scored his first career touchdown after recovering a Wartburg fumble in the end zone towards towards the end of the third quarter. The Brown Deer, Wis. native wasn't finished and added three sacks to quadruple his career sack total to four. The senior now has seven tackles, including six solo stops, three sacks, one fumble recovery, and two quarterback hits on the season.
Ward majors in sports marketing & management.
The Spartans, riding a four-game winning streak since dropping their first two games to a pair of ranked opponents, head to Buena Vista (1-5, 0-3 Iowa Conference) this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Beavers fell in overtime to Luther, 41-34, a week ago, for their second-straight, seven-point loss.
