Draka, Fenlason Named MVFC Players of the Week

ST. LOUIS – With exceptional performances that aided No. 11 Illinois State in a road defeat of No. 4 South Dakota State, junior linebacker Dylan Draka and senior placekicker Sam Fenlason were each named Missouri Valley Football Conference Players of the Week Sunday by the league office.

The MVFC Defensive Player of the Week honors are the first for Draka in his career at ISU and Fenlason was named the league's Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season. They were joined by quarterback Austin Simmons of South Dakota (Offensive Player of the Week) and running back Jalen Bussey of North Dakota State (Newcomer of the Week) as this week's honorees.

Draka did it all for the Redbirds in their victory over No. 4 SDSU. The junior linebacker recorded five tackles, including four solo stops, and tallied three TFLs in the victory over the Jackrabbits. The Wheeling, Illinois, native was also credited with a forced fumble, a pass breakup and recovered a pair of fumbles for the Redbirds. His sack/fumble and recovery late in the fourth quarter set up Fenlason's fourth field goal of the contest to make the score 27-18. Draka and the Redbird defense forced four turnovers on the day and limited the Jackrabbits to just 81 yards rushing and 260 yards of total offense. SDSU came into the contest averaging 234 yards on the ground and 422 total yards per game.

Fenlason tied his career high with four made field goals in the win over the Jackrabbits, including a career-long 46-yarder to seal the victory. The senior from San Diego connected on his first field goal make of 33 yards to cut the SDSU lead at halftime to just one point at 11-10. A 32-yarder late in the third quarter trimmed the Jackrabbits' lead to 18-13 and his 37-yarder early in the fourth quarter narrowed the deficit to just two points at 18-16. He capped off his superb day with the long 46-yard bomb with 6:33 left in the game to bring the score to its final at 27-18. Fenlason is now 12-for-14 in field goal attempts this season (.857) and is second on the team in scoring with 62 total points.

The nationally-ranked Redbirds (7-3, 4-2 MVFC) return home Saturday to host Missouri State (1-8, 1-5 MVFC) on Senior Day at Hancock Stadium, with kickoff set for noon. 

GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App:  Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.