Wisconsin-LaCrosse at Azusa Pacific

Saturday (Sept. 23)

Cougar Stadium, 5:30 p.m. (PDT, note time change)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 1-2

Wisconsin-LaCrosse – 2-0

THIS WEEK: A month into the season and Azusa Pacific is finally home. The Cougars drop in on Cougar Stadium for the first time in 2006 when they host Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Saturday (Sept. 23) at 5:30 p.m. (PDT, note game time change).

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Wisconsin-LaCross game can be heard live on Internet radio on Azusa Pacific’s student station KAPU. Listen to Matt Sperreaza, Rob Schwandt and Casey Robeson call all the action live, beginning at 5:15 p.m.

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

WISCONSIN, ONCE AGAIN: Heading into the season, Azusa Pacific had never played a school from the state of Wisconsin, and now within successive weeks the Cougars play a pair of schools from the University of Wisconsin system, and they didn’t pick any lightweights either. First it was reining NCAA Division III runner-up Wisconsin-Whitewater last week and now it is Wisconsin-LaCrosse, which was picked to finish a close second this season to Whitewater in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

WILL YOU PLAY?: In 41 seasons of football, Azusa Pacific had never been to Wisconsin or played a team from the Dairy State. So why now do they play in 2 in 2 weeks? Azusa Pacific, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Wisconsin-LaCrosse share one commonality – because of their football prowess, the neighbors won’t play with them anymore. The Wisconsin schools have a difficult time finding 2 nonconference foes to complete their 9-game regular-season schedule. Whitewater is headed to Texas later this season to pick up a game, and besides coming to California this week, LaCrosse played a I-AA team to open the season (UW-L beat South Dakota State, 17-3). Azusa Pacific is 1 of only 2 NAIA schools west of the Rockies to sponsor football, and none of the 8 local NCAA Division III schools will play the Cougars. Thus, the 3 schools go where the can find games.

WEEKEND GETAWAY: In Southern California, there are 9 non-Division I football teams. To understand the length at which the other 8 (all NCAA DIII) will go to avoid playing Azusa Pacific, and thus forcing Azusa Pacific to travel out of the area, 6 schools, including Azusa Pacific, traveled a combined 16,300 miles to their respective games this past weekend (Sept. 23), and in 5 of the contests the Southern California school lost (Whittier at Carthage in Kenosha, Wis.; Redlands at Trinity in San Antonio, Texas; Chapman at Menlo in Atherton, Calif., La Verne at Whitworth in Spokane, Wash., and Azusa Pacific at Wisconsin-Whitewater).

SERIES HISTORY: This is the first meeting ever between Azusa Pacific and Wisconsin-LaCrosse, but the 2 have a tantalizing history ... off the gridiron. And it’s a history that sticks in Azusa Pacific’s crawl.

In 1985, the Christian Okoye-led Cougars appeared to be headed toward their first-ever NAIA playoff berth, employing a dominating defense and the most potent offense in program history. Undefeated with 2 weeks left in the season, the Cougars were ranked No. 3 in the NAIA (the top 8 made the playoffs). However, Cougars tied NCAA DII San Francisco State (38-38) to fall to No. 5 and then lost to NAIA power Cal Lutheran (30-27) in the final minute of the regular-season finale. The following day, the final NAIA poll was released, and Azusa Pacific fell to No. 9, missing the playoffs by a gut-wrenching one spot. It was Wisconsin-LaCrosse that leapfrogged the Cougars and snuck into the postseason. Rumors of less than ethical voting in the final poll circulated throughout the nation, but nothing was ever substantiated or confirmed by the NAIA national office. Four weeks later, Wisconsin-LaCrosse vindicated the pollsters by winning its first and only NAIA championship, beating Pacific Lutheran, 24-7.

vs. NCAA DIII: Azusa Pacific had a 13-game winning streak over NCAA Division III foes snapped in last week’s loss at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Still, since 1996, Azusa Pacific is 40-8 vs. NCAA Division III teams and has won 15 of the past 17.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific was ranked No. 8 in last week's NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. A new poll will be released Tuesday (Sept. 19) afternoon and can be obtained through the NAIA website. The Cougars have appeared in 49 consecutive NAIA Coaches’ Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Wisconsin-LaCrosse is ranked No. 9 in this week’s D3Football.com Poll.

HOME OPENER: Azusa Pacific is 27-12-2 all time in home openers. The Cougars have won 8 straight home openers and 10 of the past 11 dating back to 1995.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Azusa Pacific is 19-2 in Cougar Stadium since 2002 with the only setbacks coming at the hands of nationally-ranked teams (No. 1- ranked and 4-time defending NAIA champ Carroll College in 2004 and No. 11 Montana Tech in 2005). Over the past 21 home games, the Cougars are out-scoring the foe by an average score of 29-12. The Cougar defense is holding opponents to just 248 yards of total offense for each home game and have produced 40 takeaways in those 21 contests. And for whatever reason, over the past 3 seasons at home, Azusa Pacific has allowed just 26 points scored in the second quarter, outscoring the foe 118-26 in the second quarter since 2003 (16 games)

ABOUT THE COACHES: A sixth-year Cougar staff member and former defensive coordinator, Victor 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.

Larry Terry is his seventh season as head coach of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and his 13th as a head coach on the collegiate level. He has led UW-L to 3 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) titles (2002, 2003, 2004) and guided the Eagles to 3 NCAA DIII playoff appearances. A former bellboy for the Eagles when his dad was an assistant coach, Terry returned to the LaCrosse campus as the offensive coordinator in 1988. He was named the head coach in 2000. From 1981 to 1986, Terry was the head coach at Ripon College in Wisconsin where he was 25-29-1. Overall, he is 65-52-1 for his career.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific lost on the road to the No. 2-ranked NCAA DIII Wisconsin-Whitewater, 27-7. Jordan Wells 92-yard kickoff return for a TD to open the second half jettisoned the Warhawks to the victory. The Cougars seemingly evened play with a Nathaniel Nasca 17-yard end-around TD late in the second quarter to pull the Cougars to within 3 at halftime at 10-7. However, Wells’ quick-strike TD turned the momentum back in UW-W’s favor, and Azusa Pacific could never answer, collecting just 184 yards of total offense on 58 plays while converting just 4-of-16 third downs.

Wisconsin-LaCrosse moved to 2-0 on the season with a conference-opening 36-14 victory at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Quarterback John Schumann completed 17-of-27 passes for 235 yards and 2 TDs, the second, a 5-yard toss to Chris Johnson, put the Eagles up 36-7 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter. The Eagles forced 4 turnovers, 2 of which they turned into game-opening TDs and a quick 14-0 lead. Their offense, which tallied 397 yards, was dominating and methodical, engineering 4 drives of 60 yards or longer, 3 of which ended with TDs.

FEELING DEFENSIVE: In recent years Azusa Pacific has forged a reputation as one of the best defensive units in the NAIA, and while statistically the numbers may not stand out yet this season, this year’s squad certainly has been noble in its effort so far. In losses to San Diego and Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Cougars held potent offenses to 27 points (San Diego is averaging 42 points a game since it played Azusa Pacific, and Whitewater returned nearly everyone from an offense that averaged 41 points a game last year and scored 75 in its season-opener this year). The Cougars are surrendering just 264 yards of offense this season, but what has hurt them so far is that they’ve been on the field for 24 more plays than opposing defenses, and they have had to deal with numerous short-field situations. Opponents have needed just 172 yards of offense this season to score 27 points on Azusa Pacific, accounting for nearly half of what the Cougars have given up.

BY THE NUMBER: Senior RB Marcus Lampkin is tenth on Azusa Pacific’s all-time rushing chart with 1,487 yards. The former 29 Palms High School standout needs 162 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 on nearly 60 plass plays ... Azusa Pacific’s 29 pass completions this season have been scattered among 8 different players.

ABOUT THE EAGLES: Wisconsin-LaCrosse is off to a good start in rebounding from a sub-par 2005 when the Eagles went 5-4. Already this season, UW-L has posted an impressive 17-3 road victory over I-AA South Dakota State. Senior QB John Schumann capped a pair of second-half drives with TD passes of 6 and 25 yards to snap a 3-3 tie and lead the Eagles to the improbable victory. UW-L came back this past week to beat Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a rather convincing 36-14 verdict. Through 2 games, Schumann has been quite effective, completing 55-percent (33-of-60) of his passes for 421 yards (210.5 avg./game) and 4 TDs. Junior RB Dan Hall is an efficient back, averaging 5 yards over the course of 23 carries while scoring 3 TDs.

LaCrosse, though, has staked it success thus far on a stingy and opportunistic defense. The Eagles have already collected 8 takeaways in 2 games, including a whopping 7 interceptions. It was 4 picks that led to upset at South Dakota State. Senior CB Steve Teeples has 4 interceptions, including 3 that he snagged at South Dakota State. The first-unit Eagle defense has allowed just 3 drives of 40-yards or longer and has yet to give up a second-half TD (UWSP scored on the Eagle reserves).

EAGLE HISTORY: Wisconsin-LaCrosse was a longtime NAIA member before moving to DIII in the 1990s. Along with the aforementioned 1985 NAIA title, UW-L made 2 other NAIA championship game appearances, falling to Westminster College of Pennsylvania in the 1988 (21-14) and 1989 (51-30) title games. All told, La Crosse made 7 NAIA postseason appearances, the last one coming in 1990.

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, with a come-from-behind 17-14 victory over Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) while finishing with a program-best 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 66-26 (.717) 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: “This is an upbeat time,” said Cougar coach Victor Santa Cruz. “I’m looking forward to this week. It’s great that we’re playing another talented team like LaCrosse. We have to be playing these good teams so that in time we will become a great football team from week in to week out.

“I’m completely excited about out defense. I believe whole-heartedly that defense wins championships. I think that if you play consistent defense, you have a chance to win the game, and if you look at our USD and Whitewater games, we had chances in those games because of our defense. Now penalties, poor special teams and miscues on offense eventually killed us.

“Our defensive effort has been phenomenal. The guys are running to the ball like their hair is on fire.

“LaCrosse has proven that it is a team that can travel and play good football, as evidenced by what they did at South Dakota State. Defensively, they are very similar to what we saw in Whitewater. They are 2 birds of the same feather. Offensively, though, they don’t hide the fact that they like to throw the ball. They’ll spread your defense and play with no backs. They’ll be a great test for our defense.

It’ll be great to be home this week, to not wake up and leave the school before 4 a.m. this Friday like we have the past 2 weekends. We have great fans, and I’m excited to have a home game and to enjoy what college football brings to a campus.”