ST. LOUIS - North Dakota State linebacker James Kaczor was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week by the league office Monday, Nov. 14. It is his second career conference player of the week award.

Kaczor, a senior from St. Cloud, Minn., made a game- and career-high 14 tackles and recovered an onside kick with 37 seconds left to clinch North Dakota State's 21-18 road win over Southern Illinois.

He made nine tackles in the first half for a Bison defense that spent more than 20 minutes on the field but held a 7-3 halftime lead. He also had one sack assist.

Kaczor leads the Bison with 64 total tackles and is second on the team with 4.5 tackles for loss.

Second-place North Dakota State (8-2, 6-1 MVFC) closes out the regular season hosting third-place North Dakota (7-3, 5-2 MVFC) in the annual Harvest Bowl game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.