Hintermeister & Clifton Earn Honors

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/05/15)—Levi Hintermeister and Eddie Clifton were rewarded for their outstanding performances in Concordia's 23-21 upset win over nationally-ranked Bethel by earning MIAC Player of the Week honors.

Hintermeister's play on defense and Clifton's outstanding punting skills helped the Cobbers beat the Royals for the first time since 2008. The victory helped Concordia jump into the top 25 in both the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association national polls for the first time this season.

The tandem are the second and third Concordia players to earn the conference's weekly award. Erik Bye was named the MIAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 21. It is the first MIAC Player of the Week honors for both Hintermeister and Clifton in their careers.  

The Cobber defense played a huge role in stopping Bethel's vaunted running attack. The Royals entered the game as the top rushing team in the conference and were ranked in the top 20 in the nation in rushing.

Hintermeister, who earned the MIAC Defensive Player of the Week award, had four solo tackles and 11 assists to get his impressive total of 15 stops, and he also had the two fumble recoveries, a half-sack and a tackle-for-a-loss. He helped lead the Concordia defense to an impressive effort as it limited Bethel to 117 rushing yards and 257 total yards, which were both season-lows for the Royals. Hintermeiser and the Cobber defense also held Bethel to 3-for-11 on third-down conversions. This season, Hintermeister has 46 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four TFLs and two fumble recoveries. He ranks fourth in the MIAC with 9.2 tackles per game.

Clifton, who was named the MIAC Special Teams Player of the Week,  helped Concordia win the battle of field position. Clifton kept Bethel pinned inside their own 25-yard line all day long with a career-game effort. The junior punter had a great day, punting four times for a total of 195 yards and an average of 48.8 yards per punt. His longest punt of the day was 67 yards, and it tilted the field position from deep inside Cobber territory to the Bethel 20-yard line. All four of his punts pinned the Royals inside their own 25-yard-line. This season, Clifton has punted 14 times for 576 yards and an average of 41.1 yards per punt. He's placed four inside the 20 and his long of 67 is the second-best punt in the MIAC this season.  

Hintermeister, Clifton and the rest of the Cobbers will look to keep their national-ranked success going when they travel to Northfield to take on Carleton on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m.