ASHLAND, Ore. – Southern Oregon parlayed 5 Azusa Pacific turnovers, including 3 inside the Cougar 30-yard line, into touchdowns to surprisingly run away for an easy 57-7 victory Saturday evening before a sparse crowd of 1,000 at Raider Stadium.

The Cougars had their bell run, both figuratively and literally, in the opening minutes and were never able to recover. A botched punt-snap on the opening drive and a fumble on the next possession hamstrung Azusa Pacific before it could get a first down. Southern Oregon took advantage of both miscues to jump out to a 9-0 lead less than 8 minutes into the game.

Already facing an uphill climb, matters became more difficult for Azusa Pacific when sophomore QB Ryan Bridges who was making his first-ever collegiate start in place of the injured Rudy Carlton, took a hard hit on the Cougars’ second possession and was unable to return to the game, forcing third-stringer Chris Lamkin into his first action ever as a Cougar. The Southern Oregon defense feasted.

Already up 16-0 in the second quarter, the ball-hawking Raiders intercepted back-to-back Lamkin passes, returning the first one to the Cougar 28 to set up the third SOU touchdown of the first half, and then returning the next one all the way to the end zone for a 37-yard score and a stunning 30-0 halftime lead.

Southern Oregon came into the game with a struggling offensive unit that had managed just 1 touchdown in the first 4 games of the season. However, Azusa Pacific’s miscues jump-started the Raider offense, which seemingly was moving downhill all night long.

Azusa Pacific was unable to regroup at halftime. Senior RB Marcus Lampkin fumbled on the Cougars’ first play of the second half, and SOU recovered the freebie at the Azusa Pacific 19-yard line. Five plays later, the Raiders were back in the end zone, owners of an insurmountable 36-0 lead.

That was the beginning of a downhill sprint for the Raiders who scored on its first 4 possessions of the second half, one of which came off another Cougar interception. In all, Southern Oregon scored 35 points on 5 Cougar turnovers, needing just 120 yards of offense to score all those points.

Azusa Pacific trailed 50-0 by the end of the third quarter, and the only question that remained was whether or not Southern Oregon could register the shutout. However, Lamkin engineered a 7-play, 73-yard drive, completing 3 passes to sophomore WR Jon Davis, the last covering 11 yards for the Cougars’ lone score of the night.

With the loss, Azusa Pacific falls to 1-5 on the season while Southern Oregon improves to 2-3.