Brentwood, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) football senior quarterback JaVaughn Craig Rivers has been named Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in the 2019 season.
Saturday was a big day for the Chattanooga native.
In addition to his 22nd birthday and Senior Day, Craig Rivers helped the Govs clinch an OVC title for the first time since 1977 with a win against Eastern Illinois.
As he has been all season, Craig Rivers was electric, going 15-for-28 through the air with three touchdowns and leading the Govs with 57 yards on 10 carries for two more scores on the ground.
All five scoring plays for the Govs in the 35-7 win had Craig Rivers’ fingerprints on them:
- He opened the day with a 13-yard touchdown strike to Baniko Harley to get the Govs on the board in the first quarter.
- Early in the second, he answered an Eastern Illinois touchdown with a five-yard scramble of his own.
- Later in the second, his 19-yard jaunt sent the Govs into halftime with a two-score advantage.
- Two more times he engineered scoring drives through the air in the third quarter: first, a nine-yarder to Harley…
- … followed by a 40-yarder to Wilson to seal the deal.
Craig Rivers is the first player in program history to earn three OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors in the same season.
Craig Rivers and his Austin Peay teammates next turn their attention to Furman, whom the APSU Govs will host in an opening-round FCS playoff game at noon, Saturday at Fortera Stadium.
