MEQUON, Wis. – On Tuesday afternoon, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) announced its Student-Athlete of the Week honors for football. Ben Birch was voted as the NACC Defensive Player of the Week by the league's athletic communications professionals.

A junior linebacker from Grafton, Wisconsin, Ben Birch is claiming the honor for the first time in his career.

Birch played a key role in the Falcons' Cheese Bowl victory over Lakeland.

He finished with a career-best 23 tackles in the victory, including 13 solo tackles.

The Grafton native forced a fumble and finished with a1.5 tackles for loss.

This is the fourth time that a Falcon has been honored by the NACC. Senior Marquiton Sellers was voted as the NACC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 28 and junior Nick Klein was the NACC Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 7, with freshman Cole Martin doing so on Oct. 7.

Benedictine took the other two honors with Dino Stephens with the offensive honor and Santino Florio at special teams.

Birch and the Falcons return to action on Saturday at Aurora.