SEGUIN, Texas — After a 34-0 win in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opener against Hendrix Saturday, Texas Lutheran collected all three of the SCAC’s weekly football awards on Monday.
The trio of running back James Garza (Canyon Lake/Canyon Lake, cornerback Malik Johnson (Paris/Paris), and punter Ethan Breeden (Cypress/Waller) swept the player of the week honors for the first time since rejoining the conference as they were named offensive, defensive, and special teams’ players of the week, respectively. The weekly honors are a first for Garza and Breeden while Johnson has won the award three times this season.
Garza paced TLU’s rushing attack with a career-high 86 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries while tying for the team lead with four catches for 34 yards. The touchdowns were the first two of his TLU career after transferring from McMurry this offseason.
Johnson finished with one interception, and it was a historic one as he returned his for his fifth pick-six of the season, establishing a new NCAA single-season record across all levels in the process. The record was previously held by Mount Union’s Louis Berry (4, 2018) in Division-III with the record being no more than four from FBS to Division-III until Saturday. Johnson needs one more pick-six to tie Berry for the career Division-III pick six record as well as tie Stony Brook’s Chuck Downey’s record for single-season all-returns (interception, kickoff, punt) (6, 1986). Johnson has had a pick-six in four of the Bulldogs last five games. Johnson leads all of college football with seven interceptions so far this season.
Breeden punted three times on Saturday for an average of 41.3 yards including two inside the 20 yard line. Breeden’s 56-yard punt on Saturday was one yard shy of his career-high.
Up next, Texas Lutheran heads to Batesville, Arkansas, for a rematch with Lyon College, this time in conference play, on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 4 PM. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
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