Northwest quarterback also named JUCOWeekly National POTW
By Brian Lentz, NWCC Sports Information
Within a 24-hour span, Northwest quarterback Ren Hefley has been the recipient of three national Player of the Week awards, the most recent coming Wednesday afternoon from the NJCAA.
Hefley was awarded POTW recognition on Tuesday morning by the MACCC and later garnered the same award from JUCOWeekly.com and NJCAA Division I.
Hefley, a Little Rock native and a transfer from Presbyterian College, posted his career-best performance last Thursday in a 44-21 victory at Coahoma. He completed 20 of his 27 pass attempts and passed for 317 yards, while also becoming only the fourth Northwest quarterback ever to pass for six touchdowns or more in a single game.
For the season, Hefley is 128-for-194 with 1,715 yards, 18 touchdowns and three interceptions. He is currently averaging 245 passing yards per game and leads the nation in passing touchdowns, while ranking second in passing yards per game, trailing only Pat McQuaide of Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Hefley is only the second Northwest player to earn national Player of the Week honors from the NJCAA and the Rangers’ first national POTW honoree from JUCOWeekly. His defensive teammate, Jykeveous Hibbler, earned NJCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Week accolades in Week 2.
Northwest (7-0, 4-0 MACCC North) will host Holmes on Thursday for Homecoming and the regular season home finale at Bobby Franklin Field. The Bulldogs are much improved, coming in at 4-3 overall (3-2 MACCC North) and winners of three of their last four contests.
Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 P.M. on Ranger TV (nwccrangers.com/watch) and WHCQ-LD 8, with kickoff coming at 7 P.M. on Action News 5 Plus, available on your Roku, Apple TV or basic antenna (Channel 5.5).
Bob Bakken is the most recognized and most trusted name in DeSoto County news and sports reporting, as readers continue to express their appreciation for his accuracy and fairness in the stories he writes. Bob is also heard on 95.3 The Rebel twice a week with sports updates and high school football play-by-play broadcasts in the fall. A former newspaper editor and writer, his award-winning background also includes television news producing, sports media relations, and radio broadcasting.
