By Mike Walsh
Correspondent

The plaudits are piling up for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

The former Nazareth star was named the Big Ten’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 23, sharing the award with Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.

The LaGrange Park resident was also selected to the Davey O’Brien Great Eight list of college quarterbacks and was one of eight signal-callers chosen as a Manning Star of the Week.

The honors came after McCarthy’s excellence in the Wolverines’ 49-0 blanking of in-state rival Michigan State in East Lansing on Oct. 21. McCarthy was 21-of-27 passing for 287 yards with a career-best four touchdown tosses.

His efforts helped the Wolverines to attain 28 first downs and 477 yards of total offense.

With that performance, McCarthy moved into a tie for sixth all-time in Michigan history with 45 career TD passes. He also took over the No. 10 spot in career passing yardage with 5,034.

Adding to his accolades, the junior quarterback also was chosen the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 16. While guiding the Wolverines to a 52-7 triumph over Indiana in Ann Arbor, McCarthy completed 14-of-17 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns.

The two games marked the first time the Wolverines scored 50-plus points in back-to-back Big Ten games since 1975, when they beat Northwestern, 69-0, and Indiana, 55-7.

This season is the first in which the program had 10 straight games scoring 30-plus points.

 

Goal-stopper
Benedictine senior goalkeeper Sergio Valencia was named the Defensive Player of the Week in men’s soccer by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference for the timeframe ending Oct. 15.

Valencia, who prepped at Mount Carmel, helped Benedictine to home victories over Concordia Chicago (3-0 on Oct. 11) and Marian University (2-1 on Oct. 14).

The Burbank resident played all 180 minutes in the two matches combined and notched two saves in the shutout of Concordia Chicago. He added nine saves as the Eagles edged the Sabres.

On the season, Valencia has started all 10 matches in which he has appeared. He’s allowed 20 goals for a 2.06 goals-against average. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound keeper has recorded 44 saves, a .688 save percentage, four wins and one shutout.