Southern Utah sports briefs

FOOTBALL: Southern Utah's Colin Pretlow and Trevor Ward have been named this week's Great West Conference players of the week for defense and special teams, the conference announced today. The duo each had a big hand in the Thunderbirds 15-14 win at North Dakota Saturday night, SUU's first-ever GWC road win.

Pretlow, a 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore cornerback from Las Vegas, co-led the Thunderbirds with six tackles, five solo, but his biggest play was probably his interception with 41 seconds remaining which stopped North Dakota's final drive and sealed the Thunderbird win. Pretlow also had a sack on a third-and-three that led to a missed North Dakota field goal in earning the conference's defensive award.

Ward, a 6-5, 245-pound junior punter from Ogden averaged 52 yards per kick on four punts, with two pinning the Fighting Sioux inside the 20 yard line and a third going into the end zone for a touchback.