LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Slippery Rock University football players Vincent Berardi and Brett Kwoka were named Athletes of the Week when the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced its first weekly award winners of the 2026 season Monday afternoon.
 
Berardi, a senior from Columbia Station, Ohio, was named the PSAC Offensive Athlete of the Week, while Kwoka, a fifth-year from Wilmington, Delaware, was named the PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Week.
 
Due to a limited number of teams playing "week zero" games last week, the PSAC merged its weekly awards Monday and handed out only one set of honors instead of the traditional divisional award winners. The Conference will return to PSAC East and West honorees beginning next week.
 
Slippery Rock's players were recognized for their roles in leading The Rock to a 45-43 double overtime comeback win over No. 12 Minnesota Duluth in the season opener last Thursday night.
 
Berardi bookended the game with touchdowns, scoring on a 54-yard TD pass on the first play from scrimmage and hauling in a short TD pass in the first overtime period. He finished the night with four catches for SRU career-highs of 95 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Kwoka made what was likely the most important play of the game in terms of giving SRU a chance to come back. Trailing by 10 points with under four minutes to play, Kwoka forced a strip sack that was recovered by Aaron Scales Jr. and returned 65 yards for a touchdown that cut the deficit to three points and took only a few seconds off the clock. SRU was able to get the ball back one more time and kick a game-tying field goal to force overtime. Kwoka finished his night with eight total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks to go along with the forced fumble.
 
Slippery Rock extended multiple streaks in the win with the program's 17th straight win in a season opener, 20th straight win in a home opener and 18th straight win on "White Out" night. The Rock also recorded the 200th victory at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium since the facility was opened in 1974.
 
SRU will be off this week before returning to action Sept. 12 on the road at East Stroudsburg University for a showdown of the two teams picked to finish second in their respective PSAC divisions this fall.
 
 
 
 

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