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HURRICANE UPDATE: Officials at West Texas A&M expect rain from a front unrelated to Hurricane Ike during Saturday evening's game with Azusa Pacific. The West Texas A&M campus, located in Canyon, Texas, is 500 miles off the projected hurricane path, and conditions at the game are not expected to pose a threat to spectators and participants.

THIS WEEK: Azusa Pacific continues play on the road when the Cougars visit NCAA Division II power West Texas A&M University Saturday (Sept. 13) in Canyon, Texas. Kick off is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).

HITS KEEP COMING: The heavy hitters keep coming, and it’s doubtful any NAIA team opens with a more demanding 2008 schedule than Azusa Pacific. The Cougars kicked off the campaign against defending NAIA champ and No. 1-ranked Carroll College, followed by the winningest NCAA FCS-MidMajor team over the past 5 years, University of San Diego. Now the Cougars take on NCAA Division II power West Texas A&M. It’s 3 different powers of 3 different affiliations. A year ago, these 3 teams — Carroll (15-0), San Diego (9-2) and West Texas A&M (12-1) — were a combined 36-3.

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-West Texas A&M game will be carried live on KGNC 710AM of Amarillo, Texas, and can heard via the Internet at www.kgncam.com. Neil Horn will call the play-by-play while Phil Woodall handles the color.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific opened the season ranked No. 23 in the NAIA Coaches’ Presason Poll and was No. 20 in last week’s Victory Sports Network Poll. The Cougars fell out of VSN poll this week and the first NAIA coaches poll isn’t conducted until next week.

West Texas A&M was ranked No. 9 in last week’s American Football Coaches Association poll and No. 8 in the d2football.com poll. New DII polls are released Tuesday (Sept. 9).

SERIES NOTES: This is the first-ever meeting between Azusa Pacific and West Texas A&M. In addition, this is also the Cougars’ first-ever contest with a team from the NCAA Division II-affiliated Lone Star Conference.

vs. TEXAS: Azusa Pacific is 2-3 all-time vs. Texas schools. The Cougars have split 2 meetings with Austin, dropped 2 to Hardin-Simmons, and then in 2004 they beat Trinity (30-14) to snap the Tigers’ 43-game regular-season home winning streak.

vs. NCAA DIVISION II: Opportunities to play NCAA Division II teams have been rare for Azusa Pacific, particularly since Humboldt State is the only DII program in California. Nonetheless, since 1996, Azusa Pacific is 13-6 vs. NCAA Division II teams. The Cougars have won 3 straight over DII programs and have taken 7 of the past 8 and 8 of the past 10.

LAST WEEK: Junior QB Seb Trujillo threw for 364 yards and 4 touchdowns, 3 of which went to John Matthews, to lead the University of San Diego to a 38-10 nonconference victory over Azusa Pacific.

The victory is USD’s fourth straight over Azusa Pacific and it runs the Toreros’ home field winning streak to an NCAA Division I-leading 26 straight. San Diego hasn’t lost at home since Sept. 25, 2004.

On the strength of Trujillo’s arm, USD broke open a tight game midway through the second quarter, scoring 28 consecutive points to move out to a 38-7 advantage following a 52-yard touchdown strike from Trujillo to Matthews. It was Trujillo’s seventh completion of 24-or-more yards on the night. In fact, Trujillo, who finished the night 20-for-35 passing, accumulated 277 yards on those 7 completions and just 84 yards on his other 13 hook-ups.

Following a 6-yard TD strike from Rodney Trimm to Michael Van Gorden, the Cougars pulled to within 3 at 10-7 midway through the second quarter. However, the Toreros tallied a pair of TDs late in the first half to enter the locker room up 24-7 at halftime and then tacked on 10 more points before Cougar PK Ben Hansen closed the scoring with a 38-yard field goal to tie Mike Betancourth’s school record of 12 straight made field goals.

Azusa Pacific collected just as many first downs as the Toreros, both had 18, and the Cougars had the ball for nearly 4 minutes more than USD. Yet, the Cougars could not overcome San Diego’s big-play strikes that helped produce 459 yards worth of Torero offense.

Individually for Azusa Pacific, Trimm, who opened the game by completing 9 of his first 11 passes, finished 20-of-44 passing for 163 yards. He was picked off twice but neither one led to a USD score. The Cougar ground game managed 95 yards, 46 of which came off 15 Chris Brown carries. Trimm added another 29 yards on 6 carries. Van Gorden, who posted his first collegiate TD, finished with 5 catches for 40 yards, while All-American Jon Davis was held to a relatively quiet night, finishing with 4 grabs for 40 yards while having his 5-game streak of catching at least 1 TD pass come to an end.

West Texas A&M racked up 637 yards of total offense and used 21 second-quarter points to blow by Central Oklahoma, 49-18, on the road. Quarterback Keith Null completed 32-of-46 passes for 389 yards and 4 TDs, while Keith Flemming rushed for 124 yards on just 15 carries. It was the Buffaloes 18th victory in the past 20 games.

ABOUT THE COACH : Victor Santa Cruz is his third year at the Cougar helm and his eighth on the coaching staff. Santa Cruz, 36, was the Cougar defensive coordinator before being named the program’s ninth head coach Dec. 14, 2005. A defensive mastermind, Santa Cruz has overseen some of the finest Cougar defenses, including the 2004 squad, arguably the best in program history, which narrowly missed the NAIA championship game after yielding a TD to eventual champ Carroll with less than 2 minutes left in the national semifinal game, falling 14-10 in Helena.

Santa Cruz picked up his first win as a head coach in a 31-6 smoking of Malone College in Fawcett Stadium at Canton, Ohio, home of the NFL Hall of Fame game. Noted as a man who will go anywhere to play anyone, Santa Cruz has put together 3 of the most challenging schedules in program history, but the dividends of a harsh itinerary seem to be yielding favorable returns when the Cougars closed the 2007 season by winning their last 4 games and 5 of their final 6.

A former prep standout at Rancho Buena Vista High in Vista, Calif., Santa Cruz was a 4-year letterman at the University of Hawaii where he tallied 139 tackles during his career as a linebacker. As a 1992 sophomore, he played on the Rainbows’ Western Athletic Conference championship team that defeated Illinois, 27-17, in the Holiday Bowl.

Prior to coming to Azusa Pacific, Santa Cruz spent 5 seasons as an assistant for longtime high school coach Herb Meyer at El Camino High in Oceanside, Calif.

Victor, who also teaches in the university’s exercise and sport science department lives in Rancho Cucagmonga with his wife Jamie and their 3 children, Victor, Jr. (7), Izabella (5), and Levi (2).

BIG ROSTER: The 2008 season opened with the largest Cougar roster in the program’s 44-year history — 114 players to be exact. Some previous Cougar squads surpassed the century mark but never before has any team had more than 110 players.

MADE IN CALIFORNIA: Of the 114 Cougars on the roster, 97 hail from the “Golden State,” leaving just 17 out-of-state players. There are 4 from Arizona, 3 each from Washington and Oregon, 2 from Illinois and 1 each from Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois, Texas, and Montana.

DOUBLE VISION: Azusa Pacific’s 114-player roster includes a pair of Matt Davises and 2 Chris Browns, neither of which are related to the other. Matt J. Davis (fr., Acampo, Calif.) is a wide receiver while Matt P. Davis (fr., Frelton, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS) is a linebacker. Chris N. Brown (jr., Fresno, Calif./Carmel HS) is a running back, and Chris T. Brown (fr., Crows Landing, Calif./Modesto Christian HS) is a linebacker.

To add to the name complexity of the Cougar roster there are 4 Davises (Jon & Matt J., who are brothers, along with Tyler and Matt. P), 2 Morenos (Mike and Eric, not related) and 2 Thompsons (Dominic and John, not related). Though not identical in name, John Van Den Raadt, Michael Van Gorden and David Vander Laan have created their own confusion.

DEFENDER AGAINST THE SACK: Azusa Pacific returns its entire starting offensive line of last year — a core group that consists of tackles Ben Winslow (sr., 6-4, 275, Greenville, Ill./Greenville HS) and Rob Palacios (so. 6-5, 310, Upland, Calif./Upland HS), and guards Justin Fortenberry (sr., 6-4, 290, Redding, Calif./Enterprise HS), Eric Beaton (so., 6-0, 235, Alta Loma, Calif./Western Christian HS), David Ofahulu (sr., 6-2,290, Orange, Calif./Villa Park HS) and Joel Garnica (sr., 6-2, 270, Whittier, Calif./Pioneer HS). The addition of all-conference junior college transfer Louis Magallon (jr., 5-11, 290, Hacienda Heights, Calif./Los Altos HS) only bolsters the Cougar front. Since last year, the Cougars have yielded just 14 quarterback sacks in the past 13 games.

QUICK HITS: Azusa Pacific hasn’t opened a season 0-3 since 1997 (losses at San Diego, to Hardin-Simmons and at Cal State Northridge). The Cougars began the 2005 and 2007 campaigns 0-2 but won the third game both seasons … Senior RB Alex Peltier (5-9, 200, Oceanside, Calif./Santa Fe Christian HS), needs just 145 yards to move into tenth place on Azusa Pacific’s all-time rushing chart with 1,548 … At 6-foot-10, freshman TE Luke Marquardt (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) is the tallest-ever Cougar … Punter Corey Lenahan (28 on Oct. 8) is the oldest Cougar while lineman Ahsohn Williams (won’t be 18 until Jan. 25) is the youngest ... True freshman Paul Royster (wr, 5-11, 175, Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) is the younger brother of former USC standout and Tampa Bay Buccaneer RB Mazio Royster … Freshman FB Garrett Borden’s (6-1, 225, Santa Clarita, Calif./Santa Clarita Christian Schools) father is Steve Borden, better known by his ring name “Sting” in the world of professional wrestling ... Junior DE James Brunt (5-11, 310, Oceanside, Calif./Mater Dei HS) was a 4-year starting fullback at state power Mater Dei High, even as a 13-year old freshman.

ABOUT WEST TEXAS: West Texas A&M coach Don Carthel has engineered one of the best program turnarounds in NCAA Division II. In the 4 seasons prior to Carthel’s 2005 arrival, the Buffaloes had gone 7-36 on the gridiron, yet Carthel wasted no time turning West Texas A&M into a power. He inherited a team that went 2-8 in 2004 and immediately turned it into a 10-2 playoff squad in 2005. His 2006 team went 11-2 and last year’s Buffalo unit posted a program-best-ever 12-1 mark. He has guided West Texas to 3 straight winning seasons, a first since the 1968-69-70 campaigns.

The Buffaloes return the key components of an offensive unit that averaged 530 yards and 42 points a game last year. Keith Flemming, who nearly rushed for 1,200 yards last year, has his eyes on another 1,000-yard season and is averaging 88 yards through 2 games. Quarterback Keith Null, who threw for 4,134 yards and 41 TDs last year, is back as well and is completing 67% (60-for-90) of his passes through 2 games, accumulating 721 yards and 6 TDs in the process.

On defense, the Buffaloes are led by All-American LB Jared Brock, who has 11 tackles and a sack through the first 2 games.

Following victories over No. 21-ranked Mesa State (23-20) and Central Oklahoma (49-18), West Texas A&M is averaging 516 yards of total offense while yielding 302 to the opponent. Through the air, the Buffaloes averaging 401 yards a game, while picking up 115.5 on the ground.

CONNECTIONS: Azusa Pacific assistant coach Rudy Carlton (running backs), last year’s starting QB for the Cougars, returns to Texas where he spent this past spring and summer in Cypress, Texas, as a quarterback for the Texas Copperheads of the Arena Football League 2. Carlton threw for over 2,200 yards in his first season.