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Yuma, Arizona – October 10, 2006 -- Arizona Western College is proud to announce that for the first time in just over two years, the Matadors’ football team is ranked in the NJCAA Top 20 Football Poll this week, and two Matador football players were named as WSFL Players of the Week.  The announcements come on the heels of the Matadors’ impressive win over Eastern Arizona College this past Saturday night in the first-ever AG Classic. 

The Matadors enter the NJCAA Football Poll in a tie for 19^th with Itawamba Community College from Mississippi.  It’s the second time this season that the Matadors have been mentioned in connection with the national poll, since they were in the ‘Also Receiving Votes’ portion of the poll two weeks ago-prior to their loss to Scottsdale.  However, it’s the first time that the Matador Football program has actually received a national ranking since October 5^th, 2004, when the Matadors were ranked 18^th.  “We’re pleased to represent Arizona Western College in the national rankings for the team’s great effort,” remarked Pryor.  “We’re excited that our players are being recognized.  With that said, we still have a lot of football to play, and we can’t enjoy this for too long, because we need to keep working.”

Meanwhile, Matadors’ defensive end Luis Vasquez and wide receiver/kicker/punter Zach Davis were honored by the Western States Football League as two of this week’s WSFL Players of the Week.  Vasquez earned the WSFL Defensive Player of the Week award for his stellar work on the Matadors’ defensive line this weekend.  Vasquez led the team in tackles with 13-three of them for losses.  He also had one sack, and forced a fumble, recovered it, and ran 55 yards for an apparent touchdown (a portion of the runback was called back due to a penalty).  This is the first time that Vasquez has received this honor as a Matador.

Davis earned the WSFL Special Teams Player of the Week award this week.  Davis has been the full-time Matadors’ kicker for field goals and kickoffs ever since arriving to campus in the summer of 2005, but this season also took over full-time punting duties.  This past weekend, Davis was a perfect 2-for-2 in field goals-hitting from 21 yards and 27 yards away.  But Davis-who’s already the 2^nd-busiest punter in the WSFL this season-punted 7 times Saturday night, and placed 5 of them inside Eastern’s 20-yard line, including landing one at the Eastern Arizona 6-yard line with less than a minute left in the game.  “Big-time games require big-time performances,” remarked Pryor.  “These guys certainly exemplified that this weekend.  They both helped us control the ball game, and it’s fitting that they should both be recognized on this scale for their efforts.”