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THIS WEEK: After a week off from play, Azusa Pacific returns to the gridiron to visit NAIA foe Southern Oregon University Saturday (Oct. 18) in a 1 p.m. game in Ashland, Ore.

REFRESHED & READY: Following a midseason break, the Cougars are set for the final month and final 4 games of the season, including the last 3 at home — Dixie State, Central Washington and East Texas Baptist. After making lengthy road trips to Texas, Wisconsin and Northern California, a rested set of Cougars make their final road trip of the season in this week’s venture to Ashland, Ore., just 15 miles north of the California border.

VIDEO: The Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game can be seen live and free of charge on the Internet at www.souraiders.com. Click on the live audio, video and stats button toward the bottom of the page.

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game can also be heard on Internet radio through Stretch Internet, again by going to www.souraiders.com and clicking on the live audio, video and stats button at the bottom.

TICKETS: Tickets for the Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game are $15 for grandstand reserved seats, $10 general admission and $5 seniors (over 62) and children (under 12).

DIRECTIONS: From Southern California, take Interstate 5 north into Oregon. Take Exit 14, Ashland Ave, and go west. Turn right on Siskiyou Blvd. (U.S. 99), then turn right on Wightman. Raider Stadium will be on the right.

ABOUT SOUTHERN OREGON: Southern Oregon University is a 4-year university that specializes in liberal arts, sciences and select graduate and professional programs. The 175-acre campus located in Ashland, Ore., just 15 miles north of the California border, is surrounded by mountains, rivers and lakes and services 5,500 students.

Founded in 1882, Southern Oregon is 1 of 7 members of the Oregon University system that also includes University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Western Oregon University and Eastern Oregon University. The university enrolls approximately 4,000 students from within the Oregon borders and another 1,000 out-of-state students.

Formerly known as Ashland College and Southern Oregon State, the university is known for its Shakespearean studies and theatre art programs.

A longtime member of the NAIA, Southern Oregon is a football and wrestling independent and competes in the Cascade Conference in its other 10 sports.

SERIES NOTES: Southern Oregon leads the all-time series with Azusa Pacific, 6-3. In Ashland, the Raiders are 3-1 vs. Azusa Pacific, which includes a 57-7 thumping in the Cougars’ most recent visit in 2006.

The series originated in 1999 out of both programs’ scheduling needs after local NCAA DIII program began to drop Azusa Pacific and/or SOU from their schedules. The series quickly became a rivalry when in 1999 and again in 2000, Southern Oregon defeated Azusa Pacific and yet was denied a berth into the NAIA playoffs while the Cougars did advance to the postseason.

After 4 consecutive losses to open the series, Azusa Pacific finally broke through on Southern Oregon with a 23-14 victory in Azusa in 2003. In that game, the Cougars rallied from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit with 23 unanswered points as Ben Buys rushed for a career-high 243 yards on 38 carries and scored 2 TDs to overcome a Cougar passing game that produced just 22 yards on 5-for-13 passing.

The Cougars went on to win 2 more over the Raiders, including a defensive battle 13-9 verdict in Ashland in 2004, before Southern Oregon came back to take the past 2 meetings.

Cougar coach Victor Santa Cruz is 0-2 vs. SOU while Raider mentor Steve Helminiak is 2-0 against Azusa Pacific.

vs. NAIA: Azusa Pacific and Southern Oregon are 2 of just 3 NAIA members west of the Rockies with football (Eastern Oregon University is the other), and as a result, opportunities to play NAIA schools have been rare. In fact, from 1983 to 1997, Azusa Pacific played just 5 NAIA schools. However, in 2004, the Cougars played 6 NAIA teams in the regular season (9 in all with postseason play). A year ago, Azusa Pacific played 5 NAIA teams, but the life of an independent has its ebbs and flows, and this year the Cougars are facing just 2 — Carroll College and Southern Oregon. The Cougars are 63-63 all-time vs. NAIA teams, but since their 1998 NAIA championship season, they are 26-19 with includes an 8-5 mark in postseason play.

LAST YEAR: In one of the most aggravating defeats in recent Cougar history, Azusa Pacific fell to Southern Oregon, 14-13, on an unintended game-winning play in Azusa.

Azusa Pacific, which was coming off a convincing 38-7 thrashing of Southern Nazarene University the week before, turned around and sputtered against Southern Oregon, committed 3 midfield turnovers and failing 2 other times to punch the ball into the end zone, having instead to settle for short field goals.

Southern Oregon lingered long enough in the Cougar shadows to steal the victory, and early in the fourth quarter the Raiders parlayed a high snap of a point-after-attempt into an unplanned 2-point conversion which proved to be the difference in the game.

The Raiders, who trailed throughout the first 3 quarters of play, appeared to be headed toward tying the game after Shane Van Zant squirted into the end zone from 4 yards out to pull SOU to within a point at 13-12 with 11:48 left. On the ensuing point-after-attempt, holder J.C. Hunsaker stabbed a high snap that pulled him out of his crouch. With no available option, Hunsaker ran to his right, twisting, turning and bouncing off would-be tacklers, finally pushing his way into the end zone for the unconventional 2 points and a Raider lead.

To add to the Cougars’ frustrations, Azusa Pacific appeared to have scored a TD on a 6-yard pass from Rudy Carlton to Jon Davis, moving the Cougar advantage to 17-6 at the time. However after conferring, the officials changed their called and ruled Davis out-of-bounds on the catch, negating the TD and a substantial Cougar lead.

The game was anything but a work of offensive art. The 2 teams combined for just 356 yards of total offense (218 for Southern Oregon and 142 for Azusa Pacific), with SOU’s Marlon Rosales about the only player who could muster any production, rushing for 124 yards on 30 carries.

Corey O’Neill kicked 2 field goals of 25 and 26 yards for Southern Oregon, and Ben Hansen nailed field goals of 28 and 27 yards for Azusa Pacific.

Southern Oregon fumbled on its first 2 plays of the game, but recovered the pigskin each time. The Raiders hampered themselves with a whopping 12 penalties for a loss of 122 yards.

TOUGH FOES: Since Victor Santa Cruz took over the Cougar reigns in 2005, he has upgraded the schedule with a philosophy of playing anyone, anywhere and at anytime. In 2006, the Cougars travelled 34,000 miles to fill an 11-game schedule. And they have played some of the best of the best. The Cougars have played 4 undefeated teams in the first 5 weeks of the season Below is a select list of 14 of the 25 teams on the Cougar slate.

QUICK HITS: The Cougar offensive line has surrendered just 17 quarterback sacks in the past 17 games … Azusa Pacific has fumbled the ball just 4 times in 425 touches this season … The Cougars have converted 6-of-11 fourth-down attempts … Azusa Pacific has scored 12 of the 15 times (80%) it has been inside the opponent’s 20-yard line this season … Senior WR James Burke (sr., 6-3, 195, Antioch, Calif./Antioch HS) entered the 2008 season with just 3 receptions in 17 games during his career, yet already this year he has 27 catches (second on the team) for 256 yards … Senior RB Alex Peltier (5-9, 200, Oceanside, Calif./Santa Fe Christian HS), who missed the Humboldt State game with an injury, needs just 72 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.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS: No 2 teams in the NAIA play more difficult schedules than Azusa Pacific and Southern Oregon, thus explaining their identical 1-5 records to date.

The Raiders have played 3 nationally-ranked teams — Montana-Western (NAIA), Linfield (NCAA DIII) and Willamette (NCAA DIII) — 2 NCAA Division II foes (Humboldt State and Western Oregon) and an NCAA DI FCS team (Sacramento State). Still on the slate are NCAA DIII top 5-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor and NCAA DI FCS South Dakota.

The Raiders opened the season with an impressive road win at NAIA No. 21-ranked Montana Tech (30-25), but since then they have lost 5 straight. However, in 4 of those losses, including the game at Sacramento State, they were in the game to the very end. They lost 15-14 to Humboldt State after twice turning the ball over deep in Humboldt territory late in the game. Sacramento State was up by just a TD heading into the fourth quarter before beating SOU, 27-16. Willamette needed 2 fourth quarter TDs to rally for a 31-23 win over SOU. Linfield downed the Raiders, 14-7, in overtime.

Senior QB Bryan Lee-Lauduski, a Carlsbad, Calif., native, spearheads an offense that is averaging 290 yards a game. Lee-Lauduski is averaging 208 yards passing by completing 56-percent (110-for196) of his passes. He has thrown 8 TDs but has been picked off 12 times. His favorite receiver has been Darryl Price, who has a team-leading 32 grabs for 358 yards (11.2 avg.) and 2 TDs.

Senior Marlon Rosales handles the ground game and is putting up excellent numbers. He has 488 yards on 118 carries (4.1 avg.) and is averaing 81.3 yards a game. He rushed for a season-high 166 yards on 27 carries in the loss to Willamette.

On defense, senior strong safety Jason Young leads the team with 43 tackles and 3 interceptions. An excellent unit at stripping and taking away the ball, the SOU defense has already produced 16 takeaways, 8 by fumble and 8 by interception.

In welcoming Azusa Pacific to Raider Stadium this weekend, Southern Oregon is playing at home in Ashland for only the fifth time in the past 17 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 Cucamonga with his wife Jamie and their 3 children, Victor, Jr. (7), Izabella (5), and Levi (2).

LAST GAME: Azusa Pacific suffered another gut-wrenching, final-quarter loss, this time falling 24-17 at Humboldt State.

After losing the week before 10-9 at Wisconsin-Stevens Point when the Pointers scored their only TD with just over 2 minutes left, the Cougars appeared to be on the comeback at Humboldt State to force overtime. The Cougars rallied from a 21-7 hole behind the passing of freshman QB John ven den Raadt. His 17-yard TD toss to Jon Davis pulled the Cougars to within a TD, and after HSU missed a 50-yard field goal with 2:52 left, the Cougars had one last chance and were making good on it.

Van den Raadt completed 3 passes for 33 yards to put the ball at the Lumberjack 30-yard line with 1:20 remaining. Among those completions was a short toss to James Burke, who was driven back by 2 Jack defenders, and in so doing he was stripped of the ball. Humboldt State recovered the fumble to snuff out the Cougars’ final threat.

Van den Raadt finished the game 21-for-36 passing for 282 yards and a TD. Burke had 7 catches for 78 yards while the All-American Davis finished with 5 grabs for 71 yards and a TD. Chris Brown rushed for 60 yards on 16 carries and scored 1 TD, a 1-yard blast for the Cougars’ first score and make it 14-7 Humboldt State at the end of the first quarter.

Azusa Pacific gave Humboldt State 2 early scores in which the Lumberjacks needed just 3 plays to run out to a 14-0 lead. On the first play from scrimmage, HSU threw a lateral pass to wide out Mike Streck-Woodward who completed the play with a 69-yard pass to Kevin Miles for a quick 7-0 lead. Though forced to punt on their next possession, Humboldt State recovered a Monti Sutton muffed punt at the Cougar 35-yard line. After a 33-yard pass completion moved the ball to the Cougar 2, Joevany Cueva barrowed into the end zone to put the Jacks up 14-0 just 5 minutes into the game.

Azusa Pacific tallied 19 first downs to Humboldt’s 14. The Cougars had 390 yards of total offense while the Lumberjacks collected 404.

Southern Oregon turned the ball over 5 times, including 3 times in the second half, to lose at home, 35-3, to rival Western Oregon.

The Raiders surrendered a TD late in the first half and trailed only 7-0 at halftime. After WOU turned the opening possession of the second half into a TD, the Wolves turned around and picked off SOU QB Bryan Lee-Lauduski and promptly turned that into another 7 points and an insurmountable 21-0 advantage.