Case Western Reserve University junior safety Jake Kavcic received a pair of honors following his standout performance during the team's 52-10 win over Saint Francis University at DiSanto Field in Cleveland on Saturday, earning a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week as a special teams player and securing PAC Special Teams Player of the Week acclaim.
Kavcic immediately set the tone in the game for the Spartans, blocking a punt on the opening drive to set up the first CWRU touchdown of the game two plays later. He added a safety later in the game, tackling the Saint Francis punter in the end zone with 9:34 left in the third to increase CWRU's lead to 29-3. Kavcic was also active in the return game, bringing back two kicks for an average of 39.0 yards per return (with a season-long 54-yard return) and three punts for an average of 13.3 yards (with a long of 15).
Defensively, the strong safety had five tackles (one solo), including one for a loss, and intercepted his first pass of the campaign in the victory.
Kavcic leads the team with 32 tackles (27 solo) and seven pass breakups, adding three tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, and a forced fumble, while averaging 23.8 yards per kick return and 13.6 yards per punt return.
Kavcic is the second Spartan in program history to be named to the D3football.com Team of the Week at the special teams position, joining former Spartan Marco Toth (week 8 of the 2021 season). It is the second time this season Kavcic has received D3football.com Team of the Week honors, after receiving the honor at safety for the first week of the season. A total of 20 Spartan players and two offensive lines have received 30 D3football.com Team of the Week honors in the 27 years since the award was first issued, including three honors this season (two for Jake and one for his twin brother, Andy Kavcic). Kavcic is the sixth Spartan to be named to the D3football.com Team of the Week multiple times over a career, and the fourth to earn the honor twice in a single season.
The PAC weekly honor marked the first of Kavcic's career.
The Spartans improved to 4-1 with the win over the Red Wolves. CWRU will be back at DiSanto Field this weekend, hosting Waynesburg University at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 17.
Spartan football players have earned the following weekly awards this season:
D3football.com Team of the Week
Sep. 8: Jake Kavcic (safety)
Sep. 22: Andy Kavcic (running back)
Oct. 13: Jake Kavcic (special teams)
PAC Player of the Week
Sep. 21: Andy Kavcic (Offense), Beau Wolf (Special Teams)
Oct. 5: Dominic Ghilani (Defense)
Oct. 12: Jake Kavcic (Special Teams)
