HADLEY, Mass. -- Bates football junior slotback Sergio Beltran is the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week and Bobcat senior captain linebacker Matt Juneau is the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week, as announced Monday by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Beltran (East Palo Alto, Calif.) paced the Bobcats with five catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday in a 21-20 win for Bates over Middlebury. His five catches are tied for the most in one game this season by a Bates receiver. Beltran also ran the ball four times for 19 yards. It's the first win for the Bobcats over the Panthers in football since 1988.

On the final drive of the second quarter, Beltran made a 29-yard diving catch to get the Bobcats into Middlebury territory. Then he followed that up on the same drive with an incredible leaping grab on a 27-yard touchdown catch to put the Bobcats ahead 14-10 with 35 seconds to go in the second quarter. The touchdown catch came on a third and five, so if he didn't make the play, Bates would either have had to go for it on fourth down or kick a long field goal.

To cap off his big afternoon, Beltran caught the game-winning touchdown pass. With Bates down 20-14 and facing a third and nine from the Middlebury 14, Beltran caught a pass at the 10-yard line, shook his defender, and dove into the end zone to put the Bobcats up 21-20 after the extra point with 5:22 left in the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, Juneau (Wakefield, Mass.) notched nine total tackles, including six solo stops. He helped sack Middlebury quarterback -- and reigning NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week -- Brian Moran late in the fourth quarter on third and six from the Bates 22, forcing a long field goal attempt that came up short, preserving the win for the Bobcats. 

Juneau leads the Bobcats with 1.5 sacks this year and ranks third on the team with 47 total tackles.

Beltran is the second Bobcat this season to earn NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, following sophomore Ryan Lynskey (Cranford, N.J.), who earned the award after the football team's win at Wesleyan. Juneau is the first Bobcat to earn NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week honors since Tony Hooks '23 in 2022.

This marks the first time in Bates football history that the Bobcats have earned NESCAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same week. 

Bates (2-5 NESCAC) is back in action this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. when they host Bowdoin (2-5 NESCAC) on Senior Night at Garcelon Field.