BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - The Duquesne football team was well represented in the weekly honors handed out by the Northeast Conference on Monday after a thrilling 31-28 victory at LIU in its conference opener.

Graduate student kicker Brian Bruzdewicz earned Special Teams Player of the Week and was selected as an NEC Prime Performer, freshman running back Edward Robinson was named the conference's Rookie of the Week, then junior quarterback Darius Perrantes and junior wide receiver Tedy Afful were tabbed Prime Performers.

Bruzdewicz secured the Duquesne victory with a 34-yard field goal in the final seconds of a 31-28 win. The Sharks attempted to ice him with a timeout as he fired off his first try, but Bruzdewicz was not phased as he split the uprights with plenty of leg for the win when it mattered. The McMurray, Pa. native was also 4-for-4 on PAT attempts in the game, which tied for the most in the league last week. Bruzdewicz is a perfect 14-for-14 on point afters this season. It is Bruzdewicz's fourth weekly honor from the NEC in his career and first in 2023.

After an early career-best 96 yards at Coastal Carolina, Robinson continued to make his mark on the Dukes offense as a freshman running back. The Maple Heights, Ohio native earned his first NEC weekly honor after scoring his first career touchdown in a 10-carry, 70-yard performance at LIU. Robinson's 7.0 yards per rush was good for third in the NEC last week. His third-quarter touchdown came from 13 yards out and capped off an 8-play, 80-yard drive, in which he ran four times, to give the Dukes their first lead of the afternoon (28-21). Robinson also helped set up the game-winning field goal with four straight runs and picked up a key first down, allowing the Dukes to run the game clock down and bring out Bruzdewicz for the win.

Perrantes led the NEC with three touchdowns and was atop the conference in passing yards (254), total offense (234 yds), passing efficiency (152.54), completion percentage (58.6), completions (17), and passing yards per completion (14.94) for the week. Perrantes engineered back-to-back scoring drives to end the first half, including a 28-yard TD pass on the run to Keshawn Brown on 3rd-and-24 to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left before halftime. The junior from Los Angeles, Calif. continued his longball success this season with six completions for 17 or more yards. Perrantes now has seven touchdown passes on the season, which is tied for the most in the league, and leads the NEC in passing yards per game, at 176.0.

Afful caught the Dukes first two touchdown passes, a 13-yard screen pass which he diced through the middle of the Sharks defense and an incredible toe-tap grab inside the back corner from 17 yards out, in the conference opener. The junior from Bloomfield, N.J. tied with two teammates for a game-high four receptions while totaling 55 yards and was the lone receiver in the NEC to catch multiple touchdown passes last week. The two TDs were a career-high and four catches tied for a career-most.

Duquesne will be at nationally-ranked Delaware this weekend for its fourth straight road game. Kickoff from Newark is scheduled for 3 pm.

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