AZUSA, Calif.. – Yea, though Valley City State walked through the San Gabriel Valley for the first time, it feared—Azusa Pacific.

The NAIA’s No. 11-ranked Azusa Pacific scored any and every way possible the first 6 times it touched the ball, tallying points on a field goal, fumble recovery, rush, punt return, interception return and another rush to jettison to a 38-0 lead. And there were still 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

By the time the final second ticked off the clock, Azusa Pacific completed its regular season with a 68-6 win over visiting Valley City State University of North Dakota on a rare Friday night game in Azusa. The 68 points are a single-game school-record, breaking the former standard of 60 set in 1978, and 38 points in the first quarter are also a program record for most points in a quarter, ironically breaking the mark of 37 that was just set in last week’s 58-6 win over Crown College.

Tonight’s win moves the Cougars to 9-2 and sets them up for next week’s NAIA Football Championship Series. The 16-team field and first-round pairings will be announced by the NAIA national office in Olathe, Kan., Sunday morning.

Against Valley City State, the Cougars forced 6 turnovers, including 3 in the first quarter alone, and needed just 18 plays and 113 yards of offense to tally the 38 points. Following a Mike Betancourth 22-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive, Azusa Pacific began the quick sinking of Valley City State when Jed Thurner picked up the first of 2 Kenard Walker first-quarter fumbles and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Cougar cushion less than 5 minutes into the game.

Following a 29-yard Jon Miller punt return to put the ball at the Viking 12-yard line, freshman Alex Peltier converted a third-down play with a 15-yard twisting dash to paydirt to push the Azusa Pacific lead to 17-0.

The Cougar defense, which currently rates among the NAIA’s top 3, continually frustrated Valley City State and induced the Vikings into 1 of its 8 3-and-out drives. Miller took the next punt and returned 85 yards for another Cougar score.

Shell-shocked by the onslaught, Viking quarterback Brandon Albrecht threw an interception on the third play of the next drive, and once freshman CB Cameron Tucker managed to secure the batted ball he returned it 15 yards for an Azusa Pacific touchdown and 31-0 lead.

“To be honest, I was just trying to bat the ball down,” said Tucker. “Then I realized I might be able to catch it, but it took me 10 yards just to get control of the ball.”

Still not done, senior RB Ben Buys capped a Peder Moore fumble recovery at the Viking 29-yard line with a 2-yard blast for Azusa Pacific’s fifth touchdown of the quarter.

The rest was academic. In the second quarter, Peltier added another touchdown on a 19-yard run, and Betancourth kicked 2 more field goals, including a career-best 52-yarder, the second longest boot in school history to give Azusa Pacific a 51-0 halftime lead, matching last week’s effort as the most points ever scored by a Cougar team in one half.

“This was an amazing team performance,” said Cougar coach Peter Shinnick. “Every phase of the game clicked tonight. Valley City has been playing well all season. They just caught us at a time when we are playing great ball.”

Indeed, Azusa Pacific was masterful in putting together a complete game. The Cougars held Valley City State to 1 rushing yard, only 71 yards of total offense, and just 2 first downs in the first half. Valley City State didn’t cross its own 40-yard line until 2:30 left in the second quarter. The Vikings finished the game with 48 rushing yards and 267 yards in total offense (77 of which came on the Vikings' only score of the night, a pass from Brandon Albrecht to Travis Anderson early in the second half).

“We came out with our ears pinned back,” said Cougar safety Troy McPeak, who tallied 6 tackles and had a hand in forcing 2 Viking first-half fumbles. “We wanted to make a statement tonight to the whole country. We’re coming into the playoffs with all cylinders pumping.”

The Cougars registered 352 yards in total offense and an astonishing 286 yards in returns. Together, Miller and Coba Canales averaged a whopping 36.4 yards over their 5 punt returns combined. Also, Tucker had another interception that he returned 14 yards while Mike Perez gathered his second pick of the year, returning it 14 yards as well.

“Our defense was getting to their quarterback, getting sacks and scoring with the ball,” added Shinnick. “Plus they were giving the offense the ball at Valley’s 30 or 35 yard lines, which just made it that much easier for our offense.”

Peltier finished with 60 yards on 9 carries to go along with 2 TDs to give him a team-high 9 this season. Marcus Lampkin came on the second half to rush for 60 yards on 13 carries. Buys finished with 48 yards on 11 carries, all in the first half, and scored his school-record 36th touchdown of his career. Quarterback Sean Davis completed 10-of-18 passes for 165 yards and 1 TD, a 37-yard strike to freshman Nick Johnson for his first-ever collegiate TD to round out the game’s scoring with 12:16 left to play.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific secures its fifth playoff berth in the past 7 years.

“We’re almost peaking,” said McPeak. “Our confidence is great right now, and we’re extremely hungry. We had an abrupt stop to last year, and we don’t want to feel the bitterness we experienced last year.

Azusa Pacific heads into the playoffs with the pedal to the metal, having out-scored its past 2 opponents 126-12.

“You kind of saw this sort of score coming with the Crown game, but I never would have envisioned this score with Valley,” said Shinnick. “This was flat-out amazing. We have an unbelievable group of seniors. They believe in each other, and won't let their teammates get down. Their leadership is the best I've had here.

"We need to remember, though, that the playoffs are a whole different level. We haven’t gotten out of the first round the past 2 times, so we have to be ready.”

Valley City State, which surrendered a school-record 68 points, closes its season at 5-5.