Azusa Pacific at Humboldt State, Saturday (Sept. 24)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 1-2

Humboldt State – 3-0

THIS WEEK: One of the most hotly contested rivalries on the Cougars’ annual slate continues for the 15th consecutive season this week when Azusa Pacific visits NCAA Division II member Humboldt State for a 6 p.m. kickoff, Saturday (Sept. 24) at the Redwood Bowl in Arcata, Calif. Six of the past 8 meetings have come down to the final minute of play, and this year’s get-together is expected to fall in line with history.

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Humboldt State game can be heard live on the Internet via KATA 1340AM radio of Eureka, Calif. Go to the Humboldt State athletics website to link to the broadcast. All the action will be called by J.B. Mathers with the pre-game show beginning at 5:45 p.m.

TICKETS: Tickets for the game are $8 for adults, $5 for students. Children under 6 are free.

DIRECTIONS (from Los Angeles area): Take the 101 Freeway north. North of Eureka, exit Sunset Ave toward Arcata/Humboldt State. Turn Left onto Sunset Ave. Turn Right onto LK Wood Blvd, then left onto Harpst Street and left on Union Street. Redwood Bowl is at the end of Union.

SERIES NOTES: Humboldt State leads the all-time series with Azusa Pacific, 11-6. The home team has prevailed in the past 7 meetings, and no visitor has won on the opposing field since the Cougars’ 16-12 decision on the Redwood Bowl turf in 1997. Nine of the 17 previous meetings have been decided by a TD or less, including last year’s 17-10 Cougar victory in Azusa.

At the Redwood Bowl, Humboldt State holds a lopsided 8-1 advantage over Azusa Pacific, with the Cougars’ lone victory up north being the aforementioned 1997 win. In their last trip to Arcata, the Couars fell 21-7 for their only regular-season loss of the 2003 campaign.

vs. NCAA DII: Humboldt State, the only NCAA Division II football school in California and the closest to Azusa Pacific within a 700-mile radius, was the only DII school on the Cougar slate for 7 years. The addition of Western New Mexico last year marked the first time since 1996 that Azusa Pacific played 2 DII schools in the same season. Since 1996 Azusa Pacific is 8-5 vs. DII teams.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick, son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker and UCLA All-American Don Shinnick, is now in his seventh season at the Cougar helm. Shinnick has just brought Azusa Pacific through its best 6-year span in program history, guiding the Cougars to victory in 47 of the past 65 games, which includes an impressive 28-6 record over the past 3 seasons. He is currently 48-20. In Shinnick’s tenure the Cougars have appeared in 66 of 77 NAIA Coaches Top 25 Polls, including the past 39 in a row, which has translated into 4 NAIA playoff berths, 2 of which had the Cougars advance to the semifinals. Shinnick has coached 22 All-Americans, 11 scholar-athletes and 73 school records have been broken since his 1999 arrival. Shinnick, who served as Humboldt State’s offensive line coach during the 1998 season, is 3-3 vs. his former employer.

Doug Adkins is in his sixth year at Humboldt State where he has fashioned a 20-36 record to date. At 3-0 this year, he has the Lumberjacks off to their best start since 1994. A former defensive coordinator for the Lumberjacks, Adkins served as the defensive line coach at Nevada-Reno before returning to Humboldt State as the head coach in 2000. He played his college ball at then NAIA-member Central Washington, where he also served as an assistant coach before making coaching stops at Oregon Tech and Wenatchee Valley College. Adkins is 2-3 vs. Azusa Pacific.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific was ranked No. 18 in this week’s NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cougars have appeared in 39 consecutive NAIA Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Humboldt State is not ranked.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific picked up its first win of the season in 3 tries, downing NCAA Division III Willamette University of Salem, Ore., 31-13. The Cougars parlayed 3 Bearcat turnovers into 3 touchdowns and led 31-0 before surrendering a pair of fourth-quarter scores. Junior RB Marcus Lampkin rushed 100 yards on 15 carries, scoring 2 touchdowns, including one on a 33-yard sprint that put the Cougars up 28-0 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Willamette ruled the clock, holding on to the ball for more than 36 minutes which translated into 86 snaps for the Bearcat offense. However, the Cougar defense was up to the task, forcing 4 turnovers in all.

Humboldt State overcame 4 turnovers and 8 key penalties to hold on for a 19-14 road victory over NAIA-member Southern Oregon. Daniel Nembhard’s second TD of the game, an 11-yard run less than a minute into the fourth quarter, broke open a tight game and gave the Lumberjacks some breathing room at 19-7. The rest was up to the Humboldt defense which held the Raiders inside their own 20-yard line on their final 3 possessions (10 plays).

GETTING HIS KICKS: Senior place-kicker Mike Betancourth, who a year ago led the NAIA with 19 field goals made, pushed his school-record consecutive field goals made streak to 12 straight by converting his first 2 attempts at San Diego. However, his third try from 35 yards out clipped the right upright to snap the streak. Earlier in the game, Betancourth nailed a 45-yarder for the second longest boot of his career (he had a 52-yarder vs. Valley City State last year) and the seventh of 40 yards or longer since coming to Azusa Pacific last year. Now with 108 career points, Betancourth needs just another 9 points to move into tenth place on Azusa Pacific’s all-time scoring chart. His 22 field goals made are second most in Azusa Pacific history.

ALL-AMERICAN PLAY Senior LB Stephen Holte, a 2004 NAIA All-American first teamer, is playing even better than he was a year ago. Last year, Holte averaged 7.1 tackles a game, but through 3 contests this year, he is averaging a hefty 17 tackles per outings. Two weeks ago, against No. 1-ranked Carroll, he recorded 21 take-downs, just 1 shy of the school record. He came back last week against Willamette and registered another 18 tackles. Holte also tops the team with 3 tackles for loss and 2 interceptions.

LIGHTING THE LAMP Junior RB Marcus Lampkin is Azusa Pacific’s do-everything offensive weapon. Though just 5-foot-6, 170 pounds, he stands large in the Cougar offense, currently topping the team in rushing (51.7 yards/g, 5.2 yards/c) and receiving (10 receptions for 101 yards). A former walk-on transfer from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., Lampkin has found the Canyon City to be to his liking. In his past 2 games in Azusa (vs. Sioux Falls in last year’s NAIA playoffs and vs. Willamette last week), Lampkin has rushed for 206 yards on 28 carries (7.4 avg.) with 3 TDs.

ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS: Humboldt State is off to its best start since 1994 when the Lumberjacks won their first 5 games while on their way to an 8-2 season. Ironically, that ’94 Jack team knocked off Azusa Pacific, 33-14, in the fourth week to run its record to 4-0 at the time.

This year’s set of Jacks sandwiched a pair of road wins at Menlo (60-14) and Southern Oregon (19-14) around a home victory over Mesa State (28-9). Redshirt junior QB Blake Moorman, a transfer from San Diego Mesa College, spearheads a Lumberjack offense that is averaging nearly 36 points and 340 yards worth of offense each game. Moorman has completed 48-of-79 passes for 630 yards and 5 TDs. In the win over Mesa State, Moorman completed 21-of-28 passes for 223 yards and 3 TDs, all to Darren Ross in the second half. The ground game is managed by former Mt. SAC standout Daniel Nembhard, a senior running back who has 5 TDs thus far and is averaging 78 yards a game. He tallied 88 yards on 31 carries with 2 TDs in the win at Southern Oregon last week.

FOR PETE’S SAKE: “Whenever you’re 3-0 you have to feel good about what’s going on,” said Cougar coach Peter Shinnick as he assessed Humboldt State’s quick start from the 2005 gate. “They dismantled Menlo, beat a traditionally tough Mesa state, and as I’ve side before, any win at Southern Oregon is a good win. So they’re playing well. Doug (Adkins) has got his players in the right place. They look huge to us. They have very large offensive and defensive lines. They do a nice job with the offense, running the ball effectively and distributing it well. They’ll keep you off balance. They are very solid on defense. For whatever reason, we’ve always struggled to move the ball against them, and it appears that his could be one of those of games as well.

“In my time here, we have yet to play well there. That’s our challenge to our senior class, and this could be a legacy for them – to win at Humboldt State and turn our fortunes for the program in games up there.

“Against Willamette, we just executed better. The guys graded higher and did a better job with their assignments. I hope we’re a late-blooming team, and that we get better each week. If we would have played like this the first 2 weeks, things could have been different. We’ve corrected some mistakes, and we’re just hitting our rhythm on offense.”