Azusa Pacific at Whitworth

Saturday (Sept. 30)

Pine Bowl, 1 p.m. (PDT)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 1-3

Whitworth – 3-0

THIS WEEK: Azusa Pacific makes its first-ever visit to Spokane, Wash., when the Cougars drop in on Whitworth College, Saturday (Sept. 30) for a 1 p.m. kickoff in the 2,200-seat Pine Bowl.

RADIO: The Azusa Pacific-Whitworth game can be heard live on Internet radio on KSBN of Spokane, Wash. Listen to Bob Castle call all the action live from the Pine Bowl on the campus of Whitworth College. The game can also be viewed on a live Datacast.

TICKETS/DIRECTIONS: Tickets for the Azusa Pacific/Whitworth game are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, students and children. Driving directions to the game can be obtained on the Whitworth web site.

SERIES NOTES: Azusa Pacific won the only other previous meeting with Whitworth, knocking off the Pirates, 41-20, Oct. 23, 1999, during Azusa Pacific’s 100th anniversary celebration weekend.

Azusa Pacific has never lost to a Northwest Conference member in 7 previous meetings. Along with the aforementioned victory over Whitworth, the Cougars are 3-0 vs. Pacific Lutheran, 2-0 vs. George Fox, which no longer sponsors football, and last year knocked off Willamette in Azusa.

ANOTHER UNDEFEATED TEAM: Five weeks into the season and Azusa Pacific has yet to face a foe with a loss. All 4 previous Cougar opponents were undefeated when they took on Azusa Pacific, and Whitworth is no different. In fact, to date thus far, Azusa Pacific’s 5 opponents, including Whitworth, are 15-1 on the season, and the 1 loss was Malone’s 31-6 setback to the Cougars back on Sept. 9.

Azusa Pacific Foe’s Thus Far in 2006

RANKED FOES, TOO: Along with being undefeated, each of Azusa Pacific’s first 5 opponents are nationally-ranked. Granted, Malone wasn’t ranked when the Cougars beat the Pioneers 3 weeks ago, but the following week Malone turned around and knocked off the NAIA’s No. 5-ranked Saint Xavier on the road catapulting the Pioneers into the NAIA Top 25. San Diego (No. 1), Wisconsin-Whitewater (No. 2) and Wisconsin-LaCrosse (No. 8) are all ranked in the Top 10 of their respective polls this week. Whitworth is currently ranked No. 17, and Malone is ranked No. 23.

vs. NCAA DIII: Azusa Pacific had a 13-game winning streak over NCAA Division III foes snapped in the loss at Wisconsin-Whitewater (Sept. 16). Still, since 1996, Azusa Pacific is 40-9 vs. NCAA Division III teams and has won 15 of the past 18.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is not ranked in this week’s NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, snapping a streak of 50 consecutive NAIA Coaches’ Poll appearances for the Cougars dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Whitworth is ranked No. 17 in this week’s D3Football.com Poll.

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. 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.

Whitworth head coach John Tully was a record-setting quarterback at Azusa Pacific during his playing days of the 1970s. A 4-year signal-caller, Tully graduated in 1973 having set Cougar career records for passing yards (4,436), completions (318) and touchdown tosses (32), records all since broken. He was a 2-time team MVP and in 1991 he was inducted into the Cougar Spots Hall of Fame. As a head coach, Tully is in his 12th season at Whitworth where he has fashioned 53-52 record to date, but more impressively he is 39-19 over the past 6-plus seasons. Prior to arriving on the Spokane campus, Tully was the head coach for 5 seasons at Eureka (Ill.) College where he was 31-21.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific lost its second straight game to an NCAA Division III Top 10-ranked team from Wisconsin, losing 27-10 to No. 9 Wisconsin-LaCrosse. The Cougars parlayed a pair of early Eagle turnovers into a quick 10-6 lead after 1 quarter of play. However, the Cougars never found the end zone again, and the Eagles cashed in on lengthy drives of 82, 63 and 80 yards with TD scores to regain the lead and pull away from Azusa Pacific.

Whitworth rallied in dramatic fashion to post a 14-13 victory on the road at Wisconsin-Stout. The Pirates drove 76 yards in the final 1:06 of regulation to tie the game at 7-7 on Joel Clark’s 4-yard pass to Jay Tully and force overtime. In the second OT, Shane Stonemetz barrowed in from 2 yards out and Cam Collings converted the PAT to give Whitworth the improbable come-from-behind victory.

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, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Wisconsin-LaCrosse, 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 258 yards of offense this season, but what has hurt them so far is that they’ve been on the field for 39 more plays than opposing defenses, and they have had to deal with numerous short-field situations.

BY THE NUMBER: With 79 more rushing yards in the game against Wisconsin-LaCrosse, senior RB Marcus Lampkin moved into ninth place on Azusa Pacific’s all-time rushing chart with 1,566 yards. The former 29 Palms High School standout needs 139 more yards to move past Joe Schulter (1,750) and into eight 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 85 pass plays ... Meanwhile, Cougar defenders Josh Zeno, Travis Bengard, Casey Roel and Jason Macciola have registered 8 sacks for Azusa Pacific

ABOUT THE PIRATES: Before the season ever began, Whitworth coach John Tully called this a special group of players, and so far they are living up to the billing. Sixteen starters are back from last year’s 5-3 team, including 10 on a defense that has surrendered just 32 points in 3 games this season. The Pirates opened the 2006 season by dumping Redlands, 28-3, in Southern California. They returned home to beat up La Verne, 37-16, before posting last week’s impressive road win at Wisconsin-Stout.

Senior QB Joel Clark, who a year ago threw for over 2,200 yards and 29 TDs in just 8 games, spearheads a wide-open Pirate offense. Through 3 games this year, Clark is completing 68-percent of his passes, averaging 201 yards a game, and is the Pirates top rusher as well, averaging 76 yards a game and a hefty 6.5 yards a carry. In the victory over La Verne, he completed 15-of-19 passes for 199 yards and rushed 132 yards on just 6 carries. His favorite aerial targets are Michael Allen and Steve Silva, who of whom have 15 grabs thus far.

Whitworth, which is averaging 400 yards of offense per outing, appears to be a team that gets stronger as the game goes on. The Pirates have out-scored their foes 44-19 after halftime this season.

During the 2006 campaign, Whitworth is celebrating its 100th season of intercollegiate football at the college.

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 66-27 (.710) 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.

CONNECTIONS: Azusa Pacific’s 104-player features 4 Cougars from the state of Washington, and none is more familiar with Whitworth than junior LB Mac Gebbers, who before transferring to Azusa Pacific this year played 2 years for Northwest Conference rival University of Puget Sound. In 2 games against Whitworth, Gebbers registered 18 tackles, including 12 in the game in Spokane during his 2004 freshman season. Gebbers prepped at Brewster (Wash.) High, midway point between Seattle and Spokane. Other Apple State natives on the Cougar roster are freshman punter Andrew Lutton, out of King’s High in Seattle, sophomore punter Matt Brannon and sophomore WR Beau Leaman of Tacoma Baptist High.

Among Whitworth’s quartet of California natives is Pirate DB Peter Ghilardi, who prepped with Azusa Pacific DE Josh Zeno at Burroughs High in Ridgecrest, Calif.

SANTA CRUZ SAYS: “I have great respect for John Tully and the entire Whitworth team. They are very good and are playing some excellent football right now. They force us to play sound football, particularly on defense. However, as we’re teaching the guys, it’s not who we play but rather how we play. Against Whitworth, we’ll have to have all 11 guys playing together and playing well in all 3 phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams.

“I don’t believe this is a ‘must win’ game any more than any other game. For us, every game is a ‘must win.’ That’s how we prepare every week. Is it ever proper to say ‘this game is more important than another?’ What we believe and what we teach about life is that everything is important. We want our guys to be winners as husbands, as dads, as employees. We don’t teach them that it’s okay to be good in one but not the other. The same is true in football. We want our guys to be winners in every game, and thus every game is equally important.

“I’m proud of our guys. We have a team that wants to do it right. They are stand up men. They took criticism well during our film session of the La Crosse game. They are mature enough to know that life isn’t easy and neither is football.

“We’re still looking for the perfect game, which means we’re successful in all 3 phases of the game. There have been highlights in each area, but we haven’t been consistent.”