Azusa Pacific 30
Trinity (Texas) 14

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The last time San Antonio saw a defense this good, Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis were making their last stand at the Alamo.

That may explain why Trinity University is one of the top offenses in all of NCAA Division III. The No. 9-ranked Tigers average 42 points and 512 yards of offense, but could barely muster a fight today.

The NAIA’s No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific forced 7 turnovers and surrendered just 60 first half yards with its stifling defense then unloaded a surprising aerial assault in a 30-14 win over the Tigers Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 6-1. Trinity suffers its first defeat and falls to 5-1. It also snaps the Tigers’ 43-game regular-season home winning streak. It was the first regular-season Trinity loss at home since Oct. 21, 1995.

Coba Canales intercepted the first pass of the game to set the tone as the Cougars turned away the first 10 Tiger possessions, including all 8 in the first half, 5 of them by way of punts, the other 5 by turnovers.

On the offensive end, Cougar QB Sean Davis had his finest game his career finishing 15-for-22 with a career-high 260 yards and a career-high 3 touchdowns. It was his first 200-yard game of the season.

The Cougars scored on their second possession when Davis connected with Ryan Allen on a 23-yard pass that ended a 4-play, 31-yard drive midway through the first quarter. Canales then picked off his second pass of the day on Trinity’s first possession of the second quarter and ran it in 10 yards for a touchdown to give the Cougars a 13-0 halftime lead.

Azusa Pacific forced Trinity to punt on its first chance in the second half, and Davis wasted no time as he connected with Jon Miller on the first play for a 67-yard touchdown strike.

Miller finished with 4 grabs for a career-high 164 yards and 2 scores.

Trinity finally got on the board midway through the third quarter when they started at the Cougar 43 after a punt. Six plays and 43 yards later, Dan DesPlaines connected with Derek Boles on a 14-yard pass to make it 20-7 with 7:43 to go in the quarter. Six minutes later, Mike Betancourth connected on a 37-yard field to make it 23-7 before Davis hooked up with Miller a second time on a 76-yard score to balloon the lead to 30-7 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Cougar defense had limited Trinity to just 218 yards until the Tigers took the final drive of the game 82 yards in 10 plays capped by a 5-yard run by back-up QB Jacob Cannon to finish the scoring with just 45 seconds left.

All told, the Cougars gave up 300 yards of offense Trinity, although 82 of them came on the final drive. The also limited the Tigers to just 48 yards rushing on 26 carries. They picked 3 passes (Cameron Tucker nabbed his team-leading third of the season) and recovered 4 fumbles.

The Cougars meanwhile racked up 320 yards of offense, getting 260 in the air. Alex Peltier led the Cougar ground game with 62 yards on 22 carries.