Crown College vs.
Azusa Pacific
Saturday (Nov. 6)
Cougar Stadium, 6 p.m.

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 7-2

Crown – 2-6

THIS WEEK: Azusa Pacific hosts fellow NAIA independent Crown College of St. Bonifacius, Minn., Saturday (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. in Cougar Stadium.

RADIO/STATS: Azusa Pacific’s student-run radio station KAPU will broadcast the Azusa Pacific-Crown game. Click here to listen to Mike Dennis, Alex Charles and Kristen Buckner call the action starting at 5:55 p.m.

Additionally, the game stats will be posted live over the Internet as the game unfolds. Click here to view current game stats.

TICKET PRICES: Tickets for the Crown game are sold at the gate on game day, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Prices are $5 for general admission, and $3 for students with ID. Children age 12 and under are free.

TRULY A HOMECOMING: A capacity crowd of approximately 4,000 is expected for Azusa Pacific’s homecoming game with Crown. And in this case, this truly is a homecoming for both alumni and the Cougars. Azusa Pacific is making its first appearance in Cougar Stadium in 5 weeks. Since their last outing at home, a 12-0 setback to then No. 1-ranked Carroll College on Oct. 2, the Cougars have traveled to Orange, Calif., (30-3 victory over Chapman), San Antonio, Texas, (30-14 victory over Trinity), Silver City, N.M., (30-14 victory over Western New Mexico) and La Grande, Ore. (14-10 loss to Eastern Oregon). In light of last week’s upset at Eastern Oregon, there is no better place to be than at home to nurse the wounds of that setback while enjoying some home cooking.

SERIES NOTES: This is the first meeting ever between Azusa Pacific and Crown. Azusa Pacific has played only 1 other team from Minnesota, sweeping a 2-game series with NCAA Division III member Gustavus Adolphus during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 14 in this week’s NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cougars have appeared in 32 consecutive NAIA Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Crown is not ranked.

BOUNCE BACK: For only the fifth time in the past 29 games Azusa Pacific has to bounce back from a defeat. The Cougars haven’t lost back-to-back games since the close of the 2001 season when they fell to Southern Oregon and Chapman in successive weeks. Since 1998, Azusa Pacific is 11-3 in games following a loss.

HIGH STAKES GAMES: While last week’s loss at Eastern Oregon did not deal a fatal blow to Azusa Pacific’s NAIA playoff aspirations, it nonetheless inflicted serious damage to the Cougars’ hopes of hosting a postseason contest. Additionally, the Cougars now find themselves in must-win situations in their final 2 games of the regular season vs. Crown and Valley City State (Nov. 12). A loss to either Crown or Valley City State could knock Azusa Pacific out of playoff contention.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick, son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker and UCLA All-American Don Shinnick, is in his sixth season at Azusa Pacific. He has fashioned an excellent 43-17 (.717) record to date and only Cougar Hall-of-Famer Jim Milhon (1978-94) has won more games at Azusa Pacific (81). Shinnick led Azusa Pacific to the 1999 NAIA semifinals and put the Cougars back in the NAIA playoffs in 2000 and again last year.

John Auer is in his fourth year at Crown College. A former defensive end at Winona State (1989-92), Auer began his coaching career in 1993 at St. Cloud State where he spent 8 seasons on Huskies’ coaching staff, including 3 years (1995-97) as a graduate assistant for then Husky offensive coordinator Pete Shinnick, Azusa Pacific’s current head coach. It was through that connection that this Azusa Pacific-Crown game was put together. Azusa Pacific will reciprocate the trip next year with a November game in Minnesota.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: They say that there is no place like home, not that Azusa Pacific would know since the Cougars haven’t been home in a month. Still, since 1998, Azusa Pacific is 33-6 at home, which included a school-record 12-game home field winning streak that was snapped the last time the Cougars were seen in the Canyon City, a 12-0 defeat to Carroll on Oct. 2.

GOING NOWHERE, FAST: The Azusa Pacific defense has been sterling throughout the entire 2004 campaign. The Cougars have yielded just 10 TDs (5 rushing and 5 passing) in 9 games. This is a stingy bunch that doesn’t allow the opponent to motor up and down the field. In fact, of the foe’s 117 possessions this year, only 8 have traveled more than 50 yards in length and 76 drives are done after surrendering just 1 first down. The Cougars are allowing just 72.7 rushing yards a game which rates among the NAIA’s ten best this year.

RETURN OF THE SACKMASTERS: This year’s Cougar defense is on par with some of the best in school history, including the 1981 Cougars who set the school record with 56 quarterback sacks in 10 games. This year’s set of Cougars have tallied 38 sacks in 9 games (4.2 avg.). The Cougars accumulated 6 or more sacks in a game 3 times this season, including a season-high 9 in the victory at Western New Mexico. Junior DT Chuck Asiodu, a transfer from Colorado State, leads the team with 11 sacks to date. Senior DT Jed Thurner follows with 7.5 sacks. In all, 12 different Cougars have had a hand in at least 1 sack.

SNAP BACK: Junior QB Sean Davis will be taking snaps again this week against Crown after missing the past 2 games with a shoulder injury. Davis, who is tenth on Azusa Pacific’s all-time passing chart with 2,511 career yards, has completed a career-high 55% (100-for-181) of his passes this year for 1,151 yards and 7 TDs. While Davis was out, senior Eric McClenahan filled in quite ably, completing 31-of-55 (.564) passes for 319 yards and a TD in 2 games.

COUGAR NOTES: Junior college transfer Mike Betancourth has made 10-of-16 field goal attempts this year, the most by a Cougar place-kicker since fellow Chaffey College transfer Mike Spelman banged 14-of-24 during the 12-game 1999 season. Devon Jones holds the school record with 16 field goals made in 10 games during 1981 … With 3 catches last week at Eastern Oregon, senior WR Ryan Allen pushed his consecutive reception streak to 27 games. Allen, who transferred from Air Force in 2001, has caught at least 1 pass in every game he has played at Azusa Pacific … Junior TE Ricky Burgan, who 2 weeks ago had a career-high 8 grabs at Western New Mexico, has 17 catches in the past 3 games and is now second on team behind Jon Miller’s 32, with 26 grabs, the most by a Cougar tight end since 1999 (37 by Willie Perryman).

ABOUT THE PURPLE STORM: A Christian liberal arts institution located just west of Minneapolis, Minn., Crown College is currently an NAIA independent which is making a move to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III membership.

The Purple Storm is 2-6 to date, having posted victories over Trinity College of Ellendale, N.D. (74-20) and Maranatha Baptist Bible (27-21 last week in the Metrodome). Crown has dropped decisions to Maranatha Baptist Bible (32-14), Rockford (33-12), Northwestern of Minnesota (26-20), Principia (36-35 in OT), Martin Luther (34-20) and Minnesota-Morris (38-10).

Crown’s 44-player roster features 5 seniors and a trio of sophomores from California, James and Johnny Yang of Clovis (Clovis HS) and Mitch Jones of McCloud (McCloug HS).

In last week’s victory over Maranatha Baptist Bible played in the Metrodome, Crown rallied from 8 points down with a pair of TDs in the final 8 minutes to post the come-from-behind victory. Freshman QB Matt Bremer scored both TDs, including the game-winner on a 4-yard run with 1:58 left in the game. Bremer enjoyed an outstanding game, rushing for 106 yards and 3 TDs while completing 23-of-40 passes for 237 yards.

On the season, Bremer leads Crown in rushing with 487 yards on just 87 carries (5.6 avg.) with 7 TDs. Through the air, he has completed 80-of-162 passes for 1,019 yards and 8 TDs. His favorite target is Wesley Clark, who has 42 catches, 3 of which went for TDs.

Defensively, the Purple Storm is led by senior LB Andy Davis, who has 101 tackles this season, including 11 for loss. Junior DB Chris Reid has 4 of Crown’s 9 interceptions this season.

SHINNICK SAYS: “Eastern Oregon played very well and you have to give them a lot of credit,” said Azusa Pacific coach Peter Shinnick. “They had more enthusiasm and energy than we did. It was a game we knew we had to play well and we didn’t.

“While the loss hurts us, I told the guys that the end results can still be the same, we just change the story line. We’ve been here before. I’m not going to let one game at the end of a lot of travel affect how I feel about this team. I still think we have a very good football team, and I have a lot of high expectations for them.

“My feeling is that we start the playoffs this week, and we start them at home. We have to play great and take care of business against Crown and go at this one game at a time. Every now and then a team gets a wake-up call, and that is what has happened with us. We’re at a high sense of urgency right now.

“It’s fantastic to be at home this week and not have to leave on Thursday or Friday to get to a game. I don’t think there is another team in America that has gone through what we have the past 3 weeks. Believe me, we are very excited to be home

“(Crown College head coach ) John (Auer) is a good friend of mine. I can tell he is building the Crown program the right way. He is getting their roster numbers up and they play hard all the time.”