SILVER CITY, N.M. – These guys don’t flinch.

Some 700 miles from home, with the starting quarterback knocked out of the game and facing its largest deficit of the season, the NAIA’s No. 7-ranked Azusa Pacific resolutely scored 28 unanswered points in just over 2 quarters of play to come back and dump NCAA Division II member Western New Mexico, 35-21, for an impressive come-from-behind road victory and their 24th win in the past 28 games.

While the win certainly sends a national message to those who are listening, more importantly it validates in the Cougars’ collective minds that they are a unique team, perhaps one of destiny.

Making his third straight start in place of the injured Ben Buys, true-freshman RB Alex Peltier scored 3 touchdowns on runs of 9, 12 and 23 yards, and seldom-used senior QB Eric McClenahan came off the bench to complete 19-of-30 passes for a career-high 206 yards and 1 TD to lead the comeback effort. Of course, the nationally-rated Cougar defense helped ensure the victory as well with a dominating second-half performance that stuffed the Mustangs to just 31 yards on 30 plays while forcing 5 straight punts.

Coming into the game Azusa Pacific hadn’t yielded more than 17 points to any team this season, yet surprisingly the Cougars surrendered 21 first-half points, albeit by some strange plays, and with just under 5 minutes before halftime, Azusa Pacific found itself down 21-7, a first-ever 14-point hole experienced by this set of Cougars.

Additionally, junior QB Sean Davis, who was making first collegiate appearance in his home state of New Mexico, suffered a shoulder separation on the opening possession and was forced out of the game. The situation looked bleak, but it wasn’t.

McClenahan and Peltier engineered 5 drives in which the Cougars amassed 197 yards and 4 touchdowns and there could have been a fifth score had not a Mike Betancourth 40-yard field goal been ruled no-good when it appeared to have narrowly sailed between the pipes. It didn’t matter as the Cougars ran away for its seventh win in 8 tries this season.

"The neat thing about this team is that it doesn't go into panic mode," said Cougar coach Peter Shinnick. "There was never any doubt among the guys what was going to take place."

Western New Mexico, which earlier in the game took a 7-0 lead on an 81-yard screen pass, pushed its lead to 21-7 on a 1-yard Tate Gunning QB sneak. However, the Cougars answered on the ensuing drive by going 56 yards on 8 plays, 30 of which came on a pair of McClenahan completions to Paul Silva (14 yards) and Ricky Burgan (16 yards). Peltier accounted for another 26 yards on rushes, the final 12 producing his second TD of the game with 39 seconds left in the half to pull the Cougars to within 7 at 21-14 at halftime.

Azusa Pacific knotted the game at 21 on its opening possession of the third quarter, motoring 55 yards on 6 plays, capped by Peltier’s 23-yard sprint to the end zone.

"It was crucial that we scored right before the half," added Shinnick, "and then to scored on the first possession of the third quarter just made it a new game."

Early in the fourth quarter, the Cougars took their first lead when sophomore RB Marcus Lampkin came off the bench to spell Peltier and scored on a 12-yard run for his first TD as a Cougar. Azusa Pacific capped the scoring on its next drive when McClenahan connected with senior WR Jon Miller on a 17-yard scoring strike. It was McClenahan’s first TD since his 2001 redshirt freshman season.

The Cougar defense wasn’t about to let Western New Mexico get back into the game. Thanks in part to 8 second-half quarterback sacks (7 for the game), Azusa Pacific never let WNUM across the midfield stripe in the second half. Junior LB Steve Holte led the stand with a team-high 9 tackles, including 1 sack, while junior DT Chuck Asiodu added 8 tackles and 2 sacks to run his team-leading total to 9 sacks.

Azusa Pacific came into the game fifth in the NAIA in rushing defense (73.6 avg.) and held Western New Mexico to just 27 rushing yards on 33 carries and a mere 183 yards in total offense for the game.

Meanwhile, McClenahan, who was 19-for-50 passing in his career for 214 yards and 1 TD in 10 previous games over 3 seasons, enjoyed a career game against Western New Mexico, completing 19-of-30 passes for 206 yards. He was intercepted twice, both of which led to Mustang TDs. Yet after the second pick, he settled nicely into his role, and finished the game by completing 10 of his last 14 passes for139 yards and a 1 TD. His favorite target was junior TE Ricky Burgan who after last week’s career-high 5 receptions vs. Trinity came back today with a new career-best 8 catches for 77 yards. Miller had 4 grabs for 77 yards.

"Eric made 5 or 6 amazing throws where he threaded a needle," Shinnick said.

Peltier finished with 97 rushing yards on 24 carries. Lampkin added 31 yards on 11 carries.

Since getting shutout by Carroll (12-0) on Oct. 2 for their only loss of the season, Azusa Pacific has come back to register 3 straight 30-point games, a first since 2002.

With the loss, Western New Mexico falls to 2-6 on the season. Azusa Pacific, now 7-1, returns to NAIA play next week and continues its tour of the Western United States with its first-ever game against Eastern Oregon. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (PDT) in La Grande, Ore.