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Cardinals sweep MAC Player of the Week honors
November 07, 2022 | Football
Pearce, Steele, VonGunten earn weekly recognition from league office
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ball State's trio of Cole Pearce, Carson Steele and Ben VonGunten were named the Mid-American Conference West Division Players of the Week, the league office announced Monday. Pearce earned the defensive award, Steele picked up offensive recognition and VonGunten was labeled the special teams recipient.
With Monday's announcement, seven different Cardinals have earned a weekly honor from the MAC this season: Jaquan Amos (Oct. 3), Lucas Borrow (Oct. 10), John Paddock (Sept. 26, Oct. 3), Jordan Riley (Oct. 17), Steele (Oct. 10, Nov. 7), Pearce (Nov. 7) and VonGunten (Nov. 7).
Ball State rode a career-high 192 rushing yards from running back Carson Steele to earn a hard-fought 27-20 victory at Kent State, handing the Flashes their first home loss since 2019. Steele's 192 yards are the fourth-most produced by a MAC back this season and tied for the sixth-most by a Cardinal in a road conference game ever. Steele became the eighth player in the FBS to break 1,000 yards this season, and his current total of 1,082 ranks fourth in the country.
Pearce contributed 12 tackles, including 3.0 tackles-for-loss, and 1.0 sack in Ball State's comeback victory. After falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter, Pearce and the defense allowed just one scoring drive the remainder of the game and held the league's No. 1 offense 25 yards below their season average and induced 12 third-down stops.
VonGunten drilled a pair of field goal attempts and made all three of his point-after attempts to key the win at Kent State. He made a 34-yard attempt with 12 seconds remaining in the first half and then opened the second half with a 31-yard make to help make it a 7-point difference at 20-13.
The Cardinals return to action Tuesday night at Toledo. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Ball State Gainbridge Radio Network, WLBC and SiriusXM.
With Monday's announcement, seven different Cardinals have earned a weekly honor from the MAC this season: Jaquan Amos (Oct. 3), Lucas Borrow (Oct. 10), John Paddock (Sept. 26, Oct. 3), Jordan Riley (Oct. 17), Steele (Oct. 10, Nov. 7), Pearce (Nov. 7) and VonGunten (Nov. 7).
Ball State rode a career-high 192 rushing yards from running back Carson Steele to earn a hard-fought 27-20 victory at Kent State, handing the Flashes their first home loss since 2019. Steele's 192 yards are the fourth-most produced by a MAC back this season and tied for the sixth-most by a Cardinal in a road conference game ever. Steele became the eighth player in the FBS to break 1,000 yards this season, and his current total of 1,082 ranks fourth in the country.
Pearce contributed 12 tackles, including 3.0 tackles-for-loss, and 1.0 sack in Ball State's comeback victory. After falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter, Pearce and the defense allowed just one scoring drive the remainder of the game and held the league's No. 1 offense 25 yards below their season average and induced 12 third-down stops.
VonGunten drilled a pair of field goal attempts and made all three of his point-after attempts to key the win at Kent State. He made a 34-yard attempt with 12 seconds remaining in the first half and then opened the second half with a 31-yard make to help make it a 7-point difference at 20-13.
The Cardinals return to action Tuesday night at Toledo. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Ball State Gainbridge Radio Network, WLBC and SiriusXM.
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