Brandon Wegher is the NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week after his record breaking performance against Dakota Wesleyan.

Brandon Wegher, a 5-11, 210 lb. junior running back from Dakota Dunes, S.D., was named the NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week and the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in last Saturday’s 50-7 victory against 16th-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University.

Wegher rushed for a school-record 327 yards and four touchdowns in 30 attempts for an average of 10.9 yards per carry. He broke the former Morningside record of 284 yards by Jake Peterson against Dana College in 2009. Wegher’s touchdowns came on runs of seven, 20, 31, and 40 yards, while his longest run from scrimmage was a 43-yard dash in the fourth quarter on his final carry of the game to break Peterson’s record. Wegher’s four touchdowns raised his season’s total to 19 rushing touchdowns to tie a Morningside single-season record previously set by Peterson in 2009.

Morningside rushed for a school-record 475 yards against Dakota Wesleyan to break its first single-game record of 467 yards against Wartburg College during the 1980 season.

Wegher’s record breaking 327-yard performance against Dakota Wesleyan put him over the 1000-yard mark for the season with 1146 yards in 122 attempts for an average of 9.4 yards per carry. He leads the nation with an average of 191.0 yards rushing per game. Wegher also leads the nation with averages of 220.0 all-purpose yards per game and 21.3 points per game. Wegher has scored 21 touchdowns to move within two TDs of Morningside’s single-season record of 23 touchdowns by Jake Peterson in 2009.

Wegher is the second leading career rusher in Morningside history with 2351 yards and 28 touchdowns in 330 attempts for an average of 7.1 yards per carry during his Morningside career. He is 526 yards behind the Morningside record of 2877 career yards by Dave Bigler, who played at Morningside from 1969-71.

Morningside will take a 6-0 record and the nation’s No. 1 ranking into a 7:30 p.m. game against Briar Cliff University this Saturday in the DakotaDome in Vermillion, S.D.