Mats' Walton named Player of Week

Arizona Western College defensive end Joel Walton has been named the Western States Football League Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

The announcement comes just three days after Walton helped lead the Matadors to their first road victory of the season, a 35-28 victory over the Mesa Thunderbirds at John D. Riggs Stadium on the campus of Mesa Community College Saturday night.

Walton, who is in his third year with the Matadors after redshirting as a freshman, has been described by AWC football Coach Tom Minnick as "having a motor that's always running," and he proved it once again Saturday night at Mesa.

Walton was a major disruption to the Thunderbirds' offensive flow, recording a pair of sacks in Mesa's first 11 offensive plays. Both of those sacks ended a Thunderbird drive and forced Mesa to punt.

A series later, Walton flushed Mesa quarterback Jimmy Bevell out of the pocket and then swatted the ball out of his hand, forcing a fumble that fellow Matadors defensive end Zack Masch would recover.

Mesa then adjusted its offensive blocking and kept Walton in check for the next quarter, but the Phoenix-Central High alum came back strong later in the game.

As Mesa was trying to rally in the fourth quarter, Walton found Bevell early in the quarter for his third sack of the night, leading to a stalled Mesa drive.
Finally, sack No. 4 on the night for Walton came one Thunderbirds' drive later - again stalling a promising drive.

In all, Walton was in on nine tackles Saturday night - six of them solo tackles.

On the season, Walton's eight sacks have propelled him to the top of the leaderboard for sacks in the WSFL.

The Matadors are off this week after the non-conference game with New Mexico Prep was cancelled, resulting in a forfeit victory for AWC. They host WSFL foe Phoenix College Oct. 25 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.