ROCK HILL, SC – The past few days have been very eventful for the UVA Wise football team. First, they upset 15th-ranked Newberry on the road Saturday evening and then received a national shoutout on ESPN's
The Dan Patrick Show this morning. Now, the South Atlantic Conference has announced that the Highland Cavaliers have hit the trifecta for Player of the Week honors, sweeping all of the conference weekly awards for the first time in program history.
Thomas McCoy earns WePlayed Sports SAC Offensive Player of the Week honors,
Braylon Henry claims the Defensive Player of the Week spot, and
Aiden Magee is the Special Teams Player of the Week.
It is the first player of the week honor for all three student-athletes, and marks the second, third and fourth times this season a Highland Cavalier has earned SAC accolades.
The Cavs never trailed in their upset of #15 Newberry 48-38 Saturday evening, partly due to the efforts of McCoy, who had eight receptions for 137 yards and three touchdowns. All were career highs for the sophomore from Centreville, Virginia. One of the TDs was a 75 yard pass from
McCalan Beason in the third quarter. He leads the team with seven receiving touchdowns this season.
Defensively, Henry had a big game as the sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, had two key second-half interceptions to go along with three tackles.
Magee, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Georgia, was a perfect 2-2 in PAT's and a perfect 2-2 in field goals for the game. He kicked field goals of 27 yards and 32 yards, with the latter one putting the Cavs ahead by ten points with 1:55 remaining in the game.
Looking through the archives, this is the first time in program history dating back to when UVA Wise first joined a conference in 2001 that Highland Cavaliers have swept the offensive, defensive, and special teams awards. They have had two of the three on several occasions, most recently on October 4, 2021 when Lendon Redwine (offensive) and Markel Dailey (defensive) earned honors for the Cavs' upset of #16 Lenoir-Rhyne – which was the last time UVA Wise defeated a nationally-ranked team.
Lenoir-Rhyne also happens to be the next opponent for UVA Wise as the Bears come to Wise this weekend for a 6 p.m. kickoff on the Beaty-Richmond Field at Carl Smith Stadium.
