Brandon Wegher was named the GPAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third 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 third time this season after he rushed for 258 yards and five touchdowns and had four pass receptions for 57 yards to finish with 315 all-purpose yards in last Saturday’s 44-21 win against Concordia University.

Wegher’s touchdowns came on runs of one and 44 yards in the first quarter, 34 yards in the second quarter, and 13 and 83 yards in the third quarter. The 83-yard touchdown run was the Mustangs’ longest play from scrimmage this season. The five touchdowns raised his season’s total to a school-record 26 rushing touchdowns. He has scored a school-record 28 touchdowns this season and has a school-record 35 rushing touchdowns for his career. Wegher’s 170 points this season is also a school record. His 258 yards rushing against Concordia was the fourth highest single-game total in Morningside history.

He has rushed for 1493 yards and 26 touchdowns in 165 attempts for an average of 9.0 yards per carry. Wegher is the leading rusher in the nation with an average of 186.6 yards per game and is also the NAIA national leader with an average of 215.5 all-purpose yards per game and in scoring with 170 points for an average of 21.3 points per game. His 1493 yards rushing is the second highest single-season total in Morningside history and is 131 yards shy of the Mustangs’ record of 1624 yards rushing in a season by Jake Peterson in 2009.

Wegher has rushed for 2698 yards during his Morningside career for the second highest total in school history. He is 179 yards behind the Morningside career record of 2877 yards by Dave Bigler, who played at Morningside from 1969-71.

Morningside will take a No. 1 national ranking and an 8-0 record into a 1 p.m. home game against seventh-ranked Northwestern College this Saturday at Elwood Olsen Stadium.