ROLLA, Mo. – For the second time in three weeks, a Missouri S&T defensive player has earned Player of the Week honors from the Great Lakes Valley Conference as defensive end Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) was named for the award by the league office.

In the Miners' 57-20 win over William Jewell on Saturday, Gafa had a career-high four quarterback sacks – one-half of the eight recorded by the Miners in the contest – for a total of 32 yards in losses.  Gafa had one sack for an 11-yard loss and other later in the game that resulted in a 16-yard loss.

Gafa's four sacks were the most by a Miner in a game since Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) had five in a 2021 game at Quincy, while the eight sacks were the most for the defensive unit since it made nine in its 2021 win over William Jewell.  In addition, the Miners defense held the Cardinals to 118 yards, the fewest in a game since the final game of the 2012 campaign when South Dakota Mines had just 117 against the S&T defense.

Gafa is the second Miner to earn the league's weekly defensive award this season – following Kian Shafe (Kansas City, MO/Park HIll) two weeks ago – and fourth Miner to win a conference player of the week award during the 2023 campaign.

Missouri S&T improved to 3-6 on the season (3-2 in the GLVC) and will play at Quincy on Saturday at 1 p.m.