San Diego State kicker Gabe Plascencia has earned Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking three field goals in SDSU’s 23-0 win at Fresno State.
Plascencia, a senior from Oakland, booted field goals of 42 and 50 yards to help the Aztecs to a 13-0 halftime lead. He added a 27-yarder to boost the lead to 16-0 three minutes into the fourth quarter.
SDSU coach Sean Lewis called Plasecencia “Mr. Consistent” following the Aztecs’ fifth straight win.
“He’s consistently good, not occasionally great,” Lewis said. “He approaches his work throughout the course of the week like it’s game day, so that when the moment comes, the moment’s never too big.”
Plascencia is now 13-for-13 for the season in field goals and has made 25 straight dating back to last season. He broke the Mountain West record with his first field goal against Fresno State. He also has the ongoing SDSU record for consecutive field goals.
For his career, Plascencia is now 28-for-29 (96.5%) on field goals, making him the most accurate kicker in SDSU history. That honor had been held the past four decades by Chris O’Brien (1984-85), who was 28-for-32 (87.5%).
“He’s the epitome right now of his preparation, his hard work, meet the opportunities that are presented,” Lewis said. “He’s kind of just living in this moment of three more kicks that were all really, really important. We’re lucky to have him. He’s one that we probably don’t talk about enough that was loyal to the soil when a lot of people came around and tried to poach him, steal him away.”