deluca earns player-of-the-week honors

Senior John DeLuca of the Muhlenberg football team was named offensive player of the week by the Centennial Conference for the second time this season.

DeLuca accounted for 267 yards of total offense in the Mules’ CC-title-clinching 45-8 win against Ursinus. He rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns and also threw a 65-yard touchdown pass. He gained 136 of his yards in the second half, including all 86 on the drive that ended in Muhlenberg’s fourth touchdown. DeLuca, who rushed for 242 yards against McDaniel three weeks ago, is the fourth player in team history to log two 200-yard games in a season.

The big day put DeLuca within reach of several school records. Two he could get in next week’s regular-season finale at Moravian are most yards in a season (he needs 78 yards to break the record of 1,533 he set last year in 12 games) and most carries in a career (he needs nine to break the record of 849 held by Matt Bernardo). A little further down the road, DeLuca needs 45 carries to break the record of 329 in a season he set last year, six rushing TDs to break the season record of 19 set by Bernardo in 2001, and 255 yards to break Bernardo’s all-time mark of 4,117.

DeLuca, who entered the game eighth in Division III in rushing, improved his CC-leading rushing average to 161.8 yards per game. He is sixth on the all-time CC list in career rushing yards and fifth in career 100-yard games (19).