Azusa Pacific at Wisconsin-Whitewater

Saturday (Sept. 16)

Perkins Stadium, 1 p.m. (CDT)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 1-1

Wisconsin-Whitewater – 1-0

THIS WEEK: Two of the best teams of their respective associations meet on the gridiron when the NAIA’s No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific visits the NCAA Division III’s No. 2-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater, Saturday (Sept. 16). It’s on the top inter-association games of the years. Kickoff at the 11,000-seat Perkins Stadium is set for 1 p.m. (CDT, 11 a.m. in California).

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Wisconsin-Whitewater game can be heard live on the Internet on KOOL-106.5 FM of Whitewater, Wis. Go to the Wisconsin-Whitewater athletics web site and click on the “Listen to the Warhawks” button.

SERIES NOTES: Not only is this the first-ever meeting between Azusa Pacific and Wisconsin-Whitewater, it is also the first time the Cougars have ever played a school from Wisconsin.

vs. NCAA DIII: Since 1996, Azusa Pacific is 40-7 vs. NCAA Division III teams and has won 13 straight and 15 of the past 16, last falling to a DIII squad in 2001 (at Chapman, 27-25, on a 52-yard FG as time expired).

BEYOND THE BORDER: Saturday’s game in Wisconsin marks only the 31st game Azusa Pacific has ever played outside the California borders. From 1972 to 1997, the Cougars ventured beyond the Golden State just once, visiting Texas’ Austin College in 1992. Now, however, traveling beyond California is seemingly a monthly occurrence. All-time, the Cougars are 13-17 outside California, but they have won 9 of their past 13 contests played on “foreign” soil. Additionally, they are 5-3 all-time east of the Rockies.

RETURN TRIP: After last weekend’s successful trip to the Midwest, Azusa Pacific returns to the heartland of America this week by heading to Whitewater, Wis., which is located about 50 miles west of Milwaukee. Combined with last week’s venture to Canton, Ohio, the back-to-back road trips are the longest successive trips in program history, sending the Cougars over 8,800 miles to and from their opponents.

For the season, Azusa Pacific will be traveling over 15,000 miles for 6 road games. Still on the 2006 docket are games at Spokane, Wash. (Whitworth College) and Oklahoma City, Okla. (Southern Nazarene University).

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 8 in this week's NAIA Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll. The Cougars have appeared in 49 consecutive NAIA Coaches’ Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Wisconsin-Whitewater is ranked No. 2 in this week’s D3Football.com Poll. The Warhawks have appeared in 16 consecutive polls.

ABOUT THE COACHES: A rookie head coach locks horns with a wily veteran this week in Whitewater. Azusa Pacific’s Victor Santa Cruz is coming off his first win as a head coach, and what better place to pick it up than at the NFL Hall of Fame’s Fawcett Stadium where the Cougars beat Malone, 31-6. A sixth-year Cougar staff member and former defensive coordinator, Santa Cruz was named Azusa Pacific’s ninth head coach Dec. 14, 2005, taking over for Peter Shinnick, who resigned after 7 years at the helm. Santa Cruz, 34, is a former 4-year linebacker at the University of Hawaii who came to Azusa Pacific in 2001 after spending 5 seasons as an assistant for at El Camino High in Oceanside, Calif. Santa Cruz has been the overseer of the Cougar defense the previous 2 seasons, including the 2004 squad that ranked among the best in the NAIA that season.

Now in his 22nd and final season at Whitewater, Bob Berezowitz is a local legend who is retiring at the close of the season. He had coached and played the Warhawks into 2 national championships games, the first coming in the 1966 NAIA title game as the Warhawk quarterback (he was an All-American in both football and baseball) and the other being realized as a coach at last year’s NCAA Division III championship game. He has fashioned an impressive 145-72 (.668) record to date while guiding UW-W to 4 NCAA Division III playoff appearances. Among his personal accolades, he is a 6-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Coach of the Year honoree, a 2-time Wisconsin College Coach of the Year pick and last year was tabbed as the American Football Coaches’ Association NCAA Division III Coach of the Year. After 3 straight .500 seasons, Berezowitz and the Warhawks have rebounded to post a 29-7 record over the past 3-plus seasons.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific used its longest road trip in program history to pick up the first win of the season, a rather convincing 31-6 verdict over Malone College, in a game played on the grounds of the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The Cougars scored on 3 of their first 5 drives, including their first play from scrimmage, a 78-yard bomb from Rudy Carlton to Nathaniel Nasca. By midway through the third quarter, the Cougars were up 28-0, which was more than enough for a defense that induced Malone into 6 3-and-out drives, including 5 straight at one point in the game.

Wisconsin-Whitewater had the week off following its season-opening 75-14 victory over Lakeland College Sept. 2.

FEELING DEFENSIVE: In recent years Azusa Pacific has forged a reputation as one of the best defensive units in the NAIA, and Malone will add its testimony to a growing list of endorsements. In Saturday’s game, the Cougars limited Malone to just 157 yards of total offense, and 80 of that came on 1 drive late in the third quarter. On their 11 other possessions, the Pioneers collected just 77 yards on 43 plays and managed to pick up only 3 first downs. The Cougars held Malone without a first down for 20 consecutive plays, and didn’t allow the Pioneers to cross their own 40-yard line (never mind midfield) until midway through the third quarter. Malone QB Brad Reifsnyder, who the week before completed 17-of-20 passes, misfired on 21-of-32 passes against the Cougars and was sacked 4 times while producing just 98 passing yards. On the season, opposing QBs are completing just 43-percent of their passes against the Cougar defense and have yet to throw for a TD.

RUUUDY, RUUUDY: Junior QB Rudy Carlton put together one of the most efficient games of his 2-year Cougar career. Against Malone, Carlton completed 10-of-14 passes for 185 yards and 2 TDs. In leading Azusa Pacific to a 21-0 halftime advantage, Carlton completed 8 of his first 10 passes for 167 yards and 2 TDs, including a 78-yard bomb to Nathaniel Nasca on the Cougars’ first play from scrimmage.

BY THE NUMBER: Senior RB Marcus Lampkin, who last weekend had a chance to view the Hall of Fame bust for whom he was named, Marcus Allen, remains in tenth place on Azusa Pacific’s all-time rushing chart with 1,466 yards. The former 29 Palms High School standout needs 183 more yards to move past James Brewer (1,548) and into ninth place ... The Cougar offensive line of Cameron Nazemzedeh, Ben Winslow, Justin Magallenez,

Steve Mejia and

Keith Ornelas have not surrendered a sack this season ... Azusa Pacific’s 19 receptions this season have been scattered among 8 different players ... None of the Cougars’ 11 punts this season have been returned ... Victor Santa Cruz says he believes in a fresh defense, and that comes through ball control on offense. The numbers so far bear out his philosophy. Azusa Pacific is averaging nearly 6 minutes more of possession time than the foe.

ABOUT THE WARHAWKS: Wiscosin-Whitewater is coming off the best season in school history in which the Warhawks went 14-1, losing only to Mount Union College, 35-28, in the NCAA Division III championship game. Sixteen starters are back, including the top running back (Justin Beaver), quarterback (Justin Jacobs) and wide receiver (Derrek Stanley) along with 4 linemen who comprised an offense that last year averaged 490 yards and 41 points a game. Beaver led all of college football with 2,420 rushing yards last year, averaging 172.9 yards a game while scoring 24 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jacobs averaged 237 passing yards a contest while completing 52-percent of his passes and throwing for 35 TDs. His favorite target was Stanley, who tallied 1,328 yards and 16 TDs last year on 52 grabs.

Wisconsin-Whitewater opened the 2006 season with a 75-14 victory over Lakeland College. Jacobs threw for 5 TDs, all in the first half, while completing 12-of-18 passes for 217 yards. Stanley had 8 catches, 4 of which went for TDs, including an 81-yard bomb. Beaver rushed for 52 yards and a TD. UW-W, which led 48-7 at halftime, benched its starters for the second half and yet still scored a school-record 75 points.

Not to be outdone, the Warhawk defense shined, forcing 7 Lakeland turnovers (5 interceptions, 2 fumbles), 4 of which were turned into Warhawk TDs.

COUGAR HISTORY: Azusa Pacific has sponsored intercollegiate football for 42 years, all as a member of the NAIA. The Cougars didn’t make their first NAIA postseason appearance until 1998, and they didn’t waste that initial opportunity, running the table to capture the NAIA national championship, finishing with a 12-2 record. Azusa Pacific has qualified for the NAIA playoffs 6 of the past 8 seasons, advancing to the semifinals in 1999 and 2004. Since 1998, the Cougars are 66-25 (.725) on the gridiron.

Sixty-six Cougars have earned NAIA All-American recognition, none more famous than former Kansas City Chief running back and 1989 AFC MVP Christian Okoye, who came to Azusa Pacific in 1982 as a track & field Olympic hopeful and left as the Chief’s second-round draft choice in 1987.

SANTA CRUZ SAYS: “We have our hands full this weekend,” said Cougar coach Victor Santa Cruz. “Whitewater is an outstanding team. They are similar to (4-time defending NAIA champion) Carroll College in that they are very well-coached and don’t make mistakes. They have good athletes running around out there who are disciplined. They return so many players from last year’s team that they understand and know themselves very well.

“Offensively, they do everything well. The have a great run game with Justin Beaver. To me, he is very reminiscent of (Southern Oregon’s All-American who played with the NFL Rams) Dusty McGrorty in that he runs hard and is difficult to bring down. Justin Jacobs is an excellent quarterback, and he has Derrek Stanley, who in my opinion is a top class NCAA Division I receiver. They’re speedy, and they have great strength at the point of attack on their offensive line. By comparison, I think if they played Carroll today it would be a good shootout. On top of all their talent, their conference is strong enough to beat double-A opponents (La Crosse beat South Dakota State 2 weeks ago). I respect Whitewater as a great opponent, and we’ll need to prepare ourselves to play even better football than we did at Malone.

“Week one to two is your toughest week of coaching, because it is when you should make your biggest jump as a team, and we did make a big jump this week. We cut out a lot of our mistakes that we made the week before at San Diego. I’m pleased but don’t take that to mean I’m happy. We need to be a perfectionist about our task, professional about our craft.

“Rudy (Carlton) is beginning to understand how to manage a game. As a field general, he needs to be aware of the huddle, the formation and the clock. He becoming the leader we need him to be.

“We always want to be able to run the ball. I want us to control the ball and keep our defense off the field as much as possible. I still want us to pass the ball and throw it well, but we take those shots when we can.”