Bethany's Jalen Holmes Earns PAC Offensive Player of the Week Honors
Nov. 2 – GREENVILLE, Pa. – After shouldering the workload Bison football's 58-26 victory over Grove City, Bethany single-season rushing record holder, Jalen Holmes (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) has been named the Presidents' Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Holmes dominated the ground game in Bethany's lopsided win over the Wolverines, touching the ball 26 times while posting a PAC and Bison single-game record 341 yards. He also added a career-high four scores in the matchup, tallying touchdown runs of 15, 49, 51 and 55 yards, respectively.
Along with shattering the single-game mark for rushing yards, Holmes also became the Bison's single-season rushing record holder, getting his total to 1,268 yards. He also broke the school's single-season rushing touchdown record (14) previously held by Eric Walker in 2012.
Posting the second-highest rushing total of any back in the country this season, Holmes became the first Bethany running back to reach the 1,000-yard mark since Will Anderson in 2002. With his numbers, Holmes rocketed himself into second-place among the PAC rushing leaders, sitting at 141.0 yards per game. His total yardage currently ranks second in the conference, while his touchdowns sit third.
Holmes has been extremely efficient this season, getting his gaudy numbers on just 198 carries. He has posted six games with at least 100 yards in 2015, and is averaging 200 yards and two touchdowns over his last four games.
The Offensive Player of the Week award marks the first for Holmes, who was given feature back duties at the beginning of the 2015 season. He joins seniors wideout Eric Blinn (Beaver, Pa./Western Beaver), defensive end Nadim Raddar (Laurel, Md./Old Mill) and linebacker Donavan Hayden (Hayattsville, Md./Northwestern) as Bethany players to earn the award this season. The Green & White's four honorees are tied for the second most in the conference this season. Only Case Western Reserve has produced more honorees (5).
Holmes and the Bison will be off this week, but will be back in action as they finish the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 14 as Saint Vincent. The matchup with the Bearcats in Latrobe is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.