AZUSA, Calif. – Wisconsin-LaCrosse took a knee-buckling punch early on, but gathered its collective feet and then spent the next 3 quarters pounding the NAIA’s No. 19-ranked Azusa Pacific into submission for an impressive 27-10 intersectional victory before over 3,000 people basking in the California sunset late Saturday afternoon.

UW-L, which is ranked No. 9 in NCAA Division III, used 3 lengthy drives, capping each of them with TDs, to methodically put away an opportunistic set of Cougars, who early on parlayed a pair of turnovers into a lead that clearly frustrated LaCrosse.

However, the Eagles scored 14 points on its final 3 drives of the first half to collect itself and take control of the game. Quarterback John Schumann, who on the night completed 18-of-30 passes for 225 yards, highlighted the outburst with a 29-yard over-the-middle TD strike to a wide open Jason Wagner. Ryan Corneiller sandwiched the TD with a pair of field goals, the last being a 36-yarder that gave the Eagles a 20-10 advantage as time expired on the first half.

Any chance of Azusa Pacific mounting a second-half comeback was smothered, first by its own mistakes and secondly by UW-L offense that physically blew away the Cougars with a time-consuming, 10-play, 80-yard drive of which the last 41 yards came on 6 consecutive rushes, capped by Mike Schmidt’s first TD of the season, a 3-yard run off left tackle.

As has been the case in the early stages of this season, the Eagle defense was outstanding in its performance. UW-L allowed Azusa Pacific just 211 yards in total offense, 80 of which came in the fourth quarter. The Eagles sidestepped a pair of potential Cougar scores, first with a Steve Teeples interception in the end zone, his fifth pick in just 3 games this year, and again when Ken Halvorson stripped the ball from Azusa Pacific’s Jeremy Lugbill on a near-completed fourth-down TD pass.

“When you have few opportunities, you have to take advantage of them against a quality football team like LaCrosse,” said Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz.

The Teeples interception of an ill-advised Rudy Carlton pass seemed be the knockout punch. Azusa Pacific used a 43-yard Carlton-to-Jordan Farrell pass to move well into LaCrosse territory. Three plays later, though, Teeples got position and snared a lofty pass into the end zone. UW-L ended all suspense on the ensuing drive with a 4-minute drive that resulted in Schmidt’s score.

Azusa Pacific didn’t help itself with 8 penalties, including 4 pass interference calls, 3 of which came on LaCrosse’s 3 successive scoring drives late in the second quarter.

The Cougars assumed a 10-6 lead and significant momentum after the first quarter. One play after LaCrosse’s Dan Hall muffed Andrew Lutton’s booming 54-yard punt, Marcus Lampkin raced 5 yards around right-end to put the Cougars up 7-6 with 4 minutes left in the first quarter. On LaCrosse’s first play from scrimmage on the next drive, Cougar DE Casey Roel blindsided Schumann, forcing a fumble that Roel recovered himself at the Eagle 11-yard line. The Cougars couldn’t push the ball in, but freshman PK Ben Hansen made good on the opportunity with a 26-yard field with 56 seconds left in the first quarter.

That was the end of the Cougar scoring.

Azusa Pacific needed just 8 yards of offense to tally its 10 points. Even though Mike Perez picked off Schumann for another takeaway on a third straight Eagle possession, the Cougars this time were 71 yards away from the end zone, and they couldn’t move the ball. In fact, Azusa Pacific finished the first half with just 2 first downs and 50 yards of total offense on 24 plays.

“We have to take care of our technique issues,” said Santa Cruz, “the little things in blocking that we need to clean up in our execution. They understand the system, but they are not taking care of the little things.”

Carlton finished the game 12-for-26 passing for 125 yards. He was hindered by a quartet of dropped passes. Lampkin rushed for 79 yards on 23 carries and was the Cougars’ top receiver with 3 catches for 18 yards. Perez tallied a career-high 13 tackles to pace the Cougar defense.

Azusa Pacific, which has advanced to the NAIA playoffs 6 of the past 8 years, falls into uncharted waters. For the first time since 1997, the Cougars are 1-3. However, all 3 setbacks were to Top-10 ranked teams. Santa Cruz offered a calming voice.

“I would not say the ship is not sinking,” said Santa Cruz, “it’s just going through rough waters. The state we’re at in our program, every week we’re going to play a good physical football team. I still have great optimism for the whole season. The challenge for our players is to master their craft.”

The Cougars, who drop a home opener for the first time in 9 years, return to the road, where it doesn’t get much easier. Next week, Azusa Pacific travels for the first time ever to Spokane, Wash., to take on NCAA DIII No. 17 Whitworth College in a 1 p.m. contest.