Sierra, Foos Earn HCAC Weekly Honors

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Anthony Sierra and Tom Foos played major parts in lifting Defiance to a 28-21 conference victory at Rose-Hulman and have both garnered Player-of-the-Week accolades from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Defiance and Rose-Hulman traded touchdowns in the second quarter, with the host Engineers scoring on the final play of the half to take a 21-14 lead. That margin stood until the fourth quarter when the Yellow Jackets outscored Rose-Hulman 14-0 to pull out the 28-21 win.

Sierra was named the HCAC Defensive Player of the Week after helping DC keep a potent Rose-Hulman passing attack grounded in a game that saw the Engineers manage to complete just 20-of-42 attempts through the air. The freshman cornerback picked off a pair of passes and returned his second interception 30 yards for the game-tying score early into the fourth quarter.

Foos netted HCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Week honors after he helped Defiance win the battle of field position throughout the afternoon. The junior punter was called on five times and pinned Rose-Hulman inside their own 20-yard line on four of those five attempts, while averaging 36.4 yards per punt for a total of 182 yards in the victory.                                                  

The HCAC recognition is first for Sierra, while Foos earned the league honor for the third time in his career with the Purple and Gold.

The honors were the first and second of the season for Defiance (2-4, 1-2 HCAC), which will look to even its record in league action on Saturday, October 24, when it kicks off at Anderson (0-6, 0-3 HCAC) in a 6:00 pm start.