ROCHESTER, NY - Another week, another Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week award for Tyler Szalkowski (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute). 

The Pioneer quarterback was once again gifted the league's weekly honor, sharing the accolade with his opponent this week in Cortland's Mike Rescigno. This makes it three awards in four possible weeks for the Rochester native.

Szalkowski continued his dominant season this past weekend, leading the Pioneers to a 35-7 halftime lead and an eventual 45-13 win over visiting Alfred State. Utica's superb signal caller completed 24 passes in the contest, racking up 285 yards and four passing touchdowns. In the second quarter alone, the Rochester native completed 12 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns, putting the game out of reach by halftime. Szalkowski continued to have complete control of the deep ball, completing nine passes of 15 or more yards in the win. On the season as a whole, Szalkowski has gone 107-144 (74.31% completion percentage), throwing for 1,485 yards and 16 touchdowns. This has led the quarterback to maintain absurd averages through four games, averaging 26.7 completions, 371.25 yards, and four passing touchdowns per contest.

Szalkowski and the Pioneers will have a huge road test this weekend, traveling to SUNY Cortland with the hopes of ending the Red Dragons' 28-game Empire 8 unbeaten streak. Both teams have massive momentum heading into this game, and it's shaping up to be one of the pivotal matchups of the Empire 8 season. Saturday's game is slated for a 1:00 PM start time at Grady Field.