College Football News – Guilford’s Pawlowski(Northwest Guilford HS) Repeats as ODAC Offensive Player of the Week

FOREST, Va. – For the second straight week and the 10th time in his career, Guilford College’s Matt Pawlowski (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford) earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Offensive Football Player of the Week Award. Quakers have received the honor five times this year.

Pawlowski, a 6-2, 205-pound senior quarterback, passed for a school- and ODAC-record 611 yards and a personal-best seven touchdowns in Saturday’s 52-49 victory at Catholic University of America. His 611 passing yards rank ninth in NCAA Division III history and mark the most by an NCAA quarterback this season in any division. Pawlowski also picked up 37 rushing yards and his 648 total offensive yards in the game stand fifth all-time in Division III, tops in all NCAA divisions this year.

Pawlowski had 341 passing yards and three touchdowns by halftime. He surpassed previous the league and school standards of 592 passing yards set by Guilford’s Josh Vogelbach ’09 against Hampden-Sydney College in 2007. Pawlowski threw at least one touchdown in every quarter in his fifth game this season (10th in his career) with at least five passing scores.

Classmate Adam Smith hauled in three of Pawlowski’s scoring passes, including a two-yard catch with 2:16 left in regulation. The play gave Guilford a two-score edge in a game that featured 12 touchdown passes between the two teams, one shy of the Division III standard. Pawlowski matched his career high with 37 completions in 63 attempts, including a 66-yard score to Austen Thompson on Guilford’s opening drive. The lone blemish on his ledger was a fourth-quarter interception, which ended a streak of 459 straight pass attempts without an interception that dated to last year. Since 2013, Pawlowski has thrown 94 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Saturday’s outburst gives Pawlowski 32 touchdown passes this year, one behind national leader Joe Callahan of Wesley College and the fourth-highest total in school history. Pawlowski ranks eighth nationally with 2,531 passing yards and stands fifth in passing efficiency (178.8) and points responsible for (196). His 330.8 total offensive yards per game rank 11th nationally. He has completed 62.5 percent (170 of 252) of his passes in 2015.

Pawlowski has thrown for 10.823 yards in his career, tops among active Division III quarterbacks and the fifth-highest total among active signal-callers in all NCAA divisions. The total stands third in league history and 16th all-time in Division III. His 109 career touchdown tosses rank second in ODAC history, lead active Division III quarterbacks and place third among all divisions. Pawlowski also has 11,661 career total offensive yards, second among active Division III leaders (seventh in all divisions) and second in Guilford and ODAC history.

Coach Chris Rusiewicz’s Quakers are off to a 7-1 start for the second straight season and the fourth time in school history. Guilford hosts Hampden-Sydney Saturday (11/7) at 1:00 p.m.