Southern Oregon at Azusa Pacific, Saturday (Oct. 1)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 2-2

Southern Oregon – 0-3

THIS WEEK: Azusa Pacific returns home for only the second time in 5 weeks when the Cougars host NAIA rival Southern Oregon Saturday (Oct. 1) at 6 p.m. in Cougar Stadium.

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game can be heard live on the Internet via KAPU radio. All the action will be called by Andrew Wheeler, Alex Charles and Christen Buckner with the pre-game show beginning at 5:45 p.m.

TICKETS: Tickets for the game are $5 for adults, $3 for students. Children under 12 are free.

DIRECTIONS (from Oregon): Take the 5 Freeway south into the Los Angeles area. Exit 210 Freeway toward Pasadena. Once in Pasadena continue east on the 210 toward San Bernardino. Exit Citrus Ave., and turn left. Go through 3 signals, crossing Alosta Ave. Turn right onto campus. Stadium is on the left.

SERIES NOTES: Southern Oregon leads the all-time series 4-2 but Azusa Pacific has won the past 2 meetings, including last year’s 13-9 decision, the Cougars’ first-ever victory in Ashland, Ore. Southern Oregon has won 2 of its 3 previous visits to Azusa, but the Cougars took the last meeting in the Canyon City, 23-14 in 2003.

The winner of the this game has gone on to the NAIA playoffs each of the past 4 years.

In their initial meeting of 1999, Southern Oregon upset the defending national champion Azusa Pacific, 42-31, to snap the Cougars’ school-record 11-game home field winning streak. In their next trip to Azusa 2 years later in 2001, the Raiders drubbed Azusa Pacific, 64-21, to tally the second most points ever scored on a Cougar defense while handing Azusa Pacific its worse margin of defeat in 33 years.

LUSTERLESS?: Does this year’s Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game lack the same luster of year’s past when a single NAIA playoff berth was on the line? No, not really. Over the past 6 years, the Southern Oregon-Azusa Pacific game has quickly brewed into a healthy rival in which the winner usually gets an NAIA playoff bid (but not always … Azusa Pacific got the 1999 and 2000 bids even though SOU beat the Cougars during the regular season only adding to the rivalry’s intensity). Now, however, Southern Oregon’s 2005 playoff hopes are on the brink of oblivion, lending one to believe that this year’s meeting lacks significance. Yet given the history of this series, the Raiders would like nothing more than to get their first win at the expense of Azusa Pacific to kick-start their own playoff hopes. At the same time, they could inflict some serious damage on the Cougars’ postseason aspirations.

vs. NAIA: Azusa Pacific, the only NAIA school in California that sponsors football and only 1 of 3 west of the Rockies, doesn’t get many opportunities to play fellow NAIA member institutions. In fact, the Cougars have played just 27 NAIA teams over the past 7-plus seasons and are 16-11 in those games since 1998 with 4 of those loses coming to Southern Oregon.

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. He is gunning for his 50th career win this week, having carved a 49-20 mark to date. Shinnick 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. In Shinnick’s tenure the Cougars have appeared in 67 of 78 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.

Shay McClure is Southern Oregon’s interim head coaching after being named to the lead position this past spring following the resignation of 9-year head coach Jeff Olson. A former Raider defensive back standout, McClure had served 5 seasons on the SOU staff, including the past 3 seasons. He is no stranger to Southern California either, having served on the coaching staffs at the University of San Diego (1997-98) and Occidental College (1999-01).

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific was ranked No. 16 in this week’s NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cougars have appeared in 39 consecutive NAIA Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Southern Oregon is not ranked.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific squared its record at 2-2 with a rare 13-12 victory at Humboldt State, only the second win for the Cougars at the Redwood Bowl since their initial visit there in 1987. The Cougars sparkled on special teams, tallying all 13 points before they ever got their first first down of the contest. A game-opening 94-yard kickoff return set up the Cougars’ only TD of the game, while a 22-yard punt return and a blocked punt set up 2 field goals to account for the other 6 points. Meanwhile, the Lumberjack special teams struggled throughout the night. Besides the aforementioned long Cougar returns and blocked punt, HSU failed to execute with its field goal unit, missing 2 PATs and a potential game-winning field goal.

For the first time in 25 years, Southern Oregon is winless through 3 contests after falling to instate rival Western Oregon, 24-10, in Ashland, Ore. Western Oregon added 2 scores (safety and a TD) in the final 7 minutes of the game to pull away for the victory. Raider QB Dan Downey tied a school record with 56 pass attempts, completing 25 for 234 yards in his first collegiate start.

GETTING HIS KICKS: With 5 field goals this year including 2 that proved to be the difference at Humboldt State last week, senior place-kicker Mike Betancourth, who a year ago led the NAIA with 19 field goals made, now has 24 made field goals in his brief 19-game career at Azusa Pacific and is only 12 field goals shy of All-American Devon Jones’ (1978-81) school career-record of 36 that he established over the course of 4 seasons. Earlier this season, Betancourth completed a string of 12 straight field goals made, a school record that dated back to last year. Now 5-for-7 on field goal attempts this season, Betancourth is 24-for-33 for his career, including a 5-for-8 clip for boots 40 yards or longer. His 115 points scored are 11th on Azusa Pacific’s all-time chart and his next field goal made will move him in ninth.

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 4 contests this year, he is averaging a hefty 15 tackles per outings. Three weeks ago, against No. 1-ranked Carroll, he recorded 21 take-downs, just 1 shy of the school record. He came back against Willamette and registered another 18 tackles. Holte also tops the team with 5 tackles for loss and 3 interceptions. His next pick will be the most by a Cougar linebacker since Greg Smith’s 5 interceptions in 1995.

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 (66.8 yards/g, 5.0 yards/c) and receiving (15 receptions for 148 yards). A former walk-on transfer from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., Lampkin has found the Canyon City to be to his liking. Not only has eclipsed the century mark in rushing the past 2 games (117 vs. Willamette and 112 vs. Humboldt State), but over his past 6 games dating back to last year, Lampkin is averaging 67 yards a game and 5.3 yards a carry.

UP THE LADDER: Senior QB Sean Davis, who has started 27 of the Cougars’ past 28 games (21-6 as a starter), continues to climb the Cougar career passing chart with each game. Davis enters this week’s game with 3,695 passing yards, sixth on the Cougar career list. He needs just 179 more yards to move into fourth and just 305 yards to become only the third Cougar ever to throw for over 4,000 yards.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS: Not since 1980 has a Southern Oregon team opened a campaign with 3 losses, and a win this week at Azusa Pacific would end all comparison’s with the 1980 team that started 0-4 before finishing the season at 3-7.

After getting drilled 51-0 at San Diego to open the 2005 season, Southern Oregon has come back with fine defensive efforts in losses to Humboldt State (19-14) and Western Oregon (24-10). However, it’s the offense that has struggled to get on track. The Raiders are averaging just 147 yards in total offense and 8 points a game thus far. The ground game has been nonexistent, accumulating minus-3 yards on 69 carries to date. Of course 13 QB sacks have accounted for much of the Raiders’ lost rushing yardage. As a result, SOU has relied on the arm of sophomore QB Dan Downey, who in his first collegiate start last week against Western Oregon, completed 25-of-56 passes for 234 yards and a TD.

CONNECTIONS Southern Oregon OL Eric Greenley was a high school teammate of Azusa Pacific LB Clint Shamblin at Granite Bay (Calif.) High … Cougar starting OT Steve Mejia’s father, Andrew Mejia, played football at Southern Oregon.

FOR PETE’S SAKE: “Our special teams were much improved all the way around at Humboldt State,” said Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick. “Of course we did well on our returns and kicks, but our coverage unit was just as outstanding. Humboldt came into the game as one of the most impressive return teams in the nation, and we held them in check and that was very important to our success up there. Every time Humboldt plays us they feel they can beat us, no matter how strong we have been in the past. However, this time we beat them early in our special teams.

“Our defense is getting better every week. We completely shut down Humboldt’s running game, which had performed extremely well in 3 previous games. We have stepped it up a notch in stopping the run. We still have to clean up some things in the secondary and in our pass defense, but I’m confident that we will improve.

“Right now we’re just not throwing the ball well enough to keep people honest. Our completion percentage has to be better and our yards have to be higher, and that’s where we’re going to be concentrating this week. On the other hand, I’m very pleased with the run game. It has come along quite nicely that past few weeks. (Alex) Peltier is blocking well and Marcus (Lampkin) is running very well.

“(Stephen) Holte is having a phenomenal year, and I’m really excited for him. We’re a little younger up front than in year’s past, so he has stepped up and been there to plug holes. He’s gotten better in his drops and reads, and that shows in the fact that he leads us in interceptions. We knew last year that he had this kind of ability.”