Wednesday, October 15, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – A 55-21 win over previous unbeaten Humboldt State has earned Azusa Pacific a return to the AFCA Top 25 national poll.

The Cougars (5-1, 2-0), who were ranked 14th earlier this season, climbed to No. 25.  The loss dropped Humboldt State (5-1, 1-1) from No. 24 to the “among others receiving votes” category.  They are 30th overall.

Azusa Pacific hosts winless Dixie State (0-6, 0-2) this Saturday at 6 p.m., while the Lumberjacks have a bye.

Elsewhere Saturday, Central Washington (3-3, 2-1) will host Western Oregon (3-3, 1-0) and Simon Fraser (1-5, 1-1) will entertain South Dakota Mines (1-5, 0-2).

The WOU-CWU game is the second of the season between those two schools. 

In the earlier non-conference contest, CWU scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes to rally from a 33-21 deficit.  But, WOU’s Jesse Correa kicked a 32-yard field goal with 42 seconds left to give the Wolves’ a 36-34 victory.

Watson Ranked In Top 10 in Three Categories

Azusa Pacific running back Terrell Watson rushed for 200 yards in the Cougars win over Humboldt State to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the third year in a row.

He is the first player in college football this season to reach 1,000 yards and currently leads NCAA Division II with a 181.5 per game average.

Watson also ranks fifth nationally in all-purpose running (196.8) and is sixth in scoring (12.0).

Watson passed the 5,000 yard career all-purpose mark in Thursday’s game and is closing in on 5,000 yards for total offense (currently at 4,710) and rushing (4,684).

Paul Revis of Western Oregon ranks third nationally in all-purpose running after recording his third 200-yard game of the season.  Revis is averaging 203.5 yards per contest.

Also in the Top 10 this week are Alex Markarian, Gianni Olivas and Ja’Quan Gardner of Humboldt State;  Tovar Sanchez of Central Washington and Jake Miller of Dixie State.

Markarian and Sanchez rank fourth (1.25) and seventh (1.17), respectively, in sacks and Miller ranks sixth (1.9) in tackles for losses.  Olivas ranks eighth in punt returns (16.8) and Gardner is seventh in kickoff returns (32.2).

In team categories, Humboldt State is second in team sacks (4.33). sixth in third down defense (.231) and seventh in punt returns (19.5). 

Azusa Pacific ranks third in fourth down efficiency (.833) and 10th in team sacks (3.50).  Simon Fraser is second in punt returns (28.8) and Central Washington is sixth in sacks (3.67).

The Watson File

Watson recorded his sixth career 200-yard rushing game and his  20th career 100-yard game (as a member of the GNAC) in Thursday’s win over Humboldt State.

Both are GNAC records.  His 200-game total equals the APU record for 200 yards games held by Christian Okoye.

Watson leads the GNAC this season with five 100-yard rushing games.   

100 Yard Rushing Games (200): 5 – Terrell Watson, HSU (3). 3 – JaQuan Gardner, HSU.  2 – Trent Mckinney, SDM (1); Nick Ricciardulli, HSU.  1 – Myles Burton, DSU; Nathaniel Penaranda, WOU; Colton Peterson, DSU; Ishmael Stinson, CWU; Kevin Thompson, SDM; Jordan Todd, CWU; Cole Tudor, SFU.

300 Yard Passing Performances (400): 2 – Ryan Bergman, WOU (1); Trent McKinney, SDM; Jake Nelson, CWU. 1 – Hayden Gavett, DSU; Ben Longshore, DSU; Trey Shimabukuro, WOU; Ryan Stanford, SFU.

100 Yard Receiving Performances: 3 – Paul Revis, WOU. 2 – Greg Logan, CWU; Kent McKinney, CWU; Tyrell Williams, WOU. 1 – Kamakana Apelu, WOU; Lemar Durant, SFU; Bobby Pospischil, SFU; Marcus Sanchez, SDM; Nate Stephens, DSU; Cass White, HSU; Jesse Zalk, CWU; Daniel Ziegler, SDM.

Game Recaps For Oct. 9-11:

Azusa Pacific 55, Humboldt State 21 (at Glendora): Humboldt State won a game between the two teams  in September 30-10 and jumped to a 14-0 lead in this one, but the rest of the game belonged to the Cougars as Terrell Watson scored on touchdown runs of 2, 1 and 77 and rushed for 200 yards on 28 carries.  Watson also had 53 yards on two receptions (54 and minus 1) ...  In all, Azusa Pacific had 534 yards in total offense, rushing for 344 yards and six touchdowns against a team that came into the game ranked No. 1 in the GNAC five of the six major team categories ... Quarterback Chad Jeffries had 250 yards, rushing for 60 yards and one touchdown and passing for 190 yards as he completed 13 of 24 and wasn’t intercepted.    Tanner Henry had four receptions for 32 yards and Blake Robertson had three catches for 77 yards ... Nick Ricciardulli rushed for 80 yards as Humboldt State finished with 401 yards, 317 passing.  Quarterback Robert Webber completed 19 of 40 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns.  Chase Krivashei, who gave HSU the early lead with a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown, had seven catches for 47 yards and Cass White had five for 88 including a 26-yard catch to make it 14-0 with 2:32 left in the first quarter ... Azusa Pacific’s defense had three takeaways including interceptions by defensive backs Jonathan Thropay and  C.J. Broussard and a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Talaiasi Taueli.  Linebacker Na’im Colbert had seven tackles and a forced fumble ... Linebacker Travis Hansen led the ‘Jacks with 12 tackles, one for a 20-yard loss after a bad center snap ... APU’s Jamie Cacciatore had a  perfect kicking night converting on seven extra points and on field goals from 40 and 26 yards.  He booted the ball for distance  17 times averaging 39.6 yards on seven punts and 655 yards on 10 kickoffs, four times producing touchbacks.

Western Oregon 16, Dixie State 14 (at Monmouth, OR): The Wolves built a 16-0 second-quarter lead before holding on for a two-point win using key takeaways near the end of each half ...   In the first half, Jesse Correa kicked a 21-yard field goal and Paul Revis (28 yards) and Tyrell Williams (3 yards) caught TD passes from Trey Shimabukuro ... Midway through the second quarter, Nathan Perry recovered a fumble and ran 11 yards for a Dixie touchdown.  The Red Storm had a chance for another touchdown  in the final minute of the half with a first-and-goal from the WOU 10, but WOU defensive end Kraig Akins forced and recovered a fumble on a short completed pass ... Dixie did score in the third quarter on an seven-yard pass from Ben Longshore to Conor Sklarsky to climb to within two points.  WOU then went ahead by five in the fourth period on a 24-yard field goal by Correa ... Later DSU drove to WOU’s 24 before Breeon Moreno sealed the win with an interception.  Moreno also had a fumble recovery in the first quarter which eventually led to the game’s first touchdown ...  Western Oregon finished the game with 436 yards of offense as Shimabukuro completed 24 of 37 passes for 303 yards.  Revis had nine catches for 121 yards.  He also had 12 yards on one catch, 61 yards on two kickoffs and 12 yards on three punt returns to finish with 206 all-purpose yards.  Running back Nathaniel Penaranda  rushed for 110 yards ... Longshore passed for 216 yards (15-27-1) to lead Dixie, which netted just 37 yards on the ground ...Dixie had three double-figure tacklers – defensive back Zac Christian with 11, defensive end Jake Miller with 10 and defensive tackle Pauli Latu with 10.  Miller also had 3 ½ tackles for losses of 19 yards. 

Central Washington 61, South Dakota Mines 34 (at Rapid City, SD): The Wildcats and Hardrockers played a game of ping-pong for the first 20 minutes trading the lead six different times before quarterback Jake Nelson’s 55-yard run with 10:02 left in the second quarter gave CWU the first double-digit lead of the game at 31-21 ... Central finished the second quarter with 28 points going ahead 38-21 at the break ... The teams combined for nearly 1006 yards, 529 by CWU and 477 by South Dakota Mines, and 57 first downs ... CWU quarterback Jake Nelson had 348 yards and five touchdowns, running for 38 net yards and two scores and passing for 310 yards and three six-pointers.  He completed 21 of 29 passes and wasn’t intercepted.  Jesse Zalk had 116 yards and one touchdown on six catches and finished with 210 all-purpose yards, returning two kickoffs 94 yards.  Running back Jordan Todd had 76 yards on 18 rushes, three of which ended in the end zone ... South Dakota Mines running back Kevin Thompson and quarterback Trent McKinney rushed for 140 and 134 yards, respectively.  The Hardrocker QB also passed for 142 yards and three TDs ... Though neither punter was used often, they were effective – South Dakota Mines’ John Keating averaged 47.2 yards on four boots; CWU’s Jonathan Kuhn had 88 yards on two kicks ... CWU place-kicker Sean McDonald scored 11 points, but just nine kicking.  The most accurate kicker in GNAC history making 60 of 61 career attempts (98.4) including his last 58, McDonald was six of six on one-point tries and also  had a field goal from 45 yards.  He also ran in the ball for a two-point conversion .. The game’s leading tacklers were CWU linebacker Kevin Haynes and linebacker Jake Hepp who paced Mines with 10 tackles .. CWU recovered two fumbles (by linebacker Mitch Haldane and defensive back Isaiah Davis), its first two defensive recoveries of the season.

Idaho State 66, Simon Fraser 14 (at Pocatello, ID):  Idaho State had 780 yards, averaging 9.4 yards per snap, in defeating the Clan before 4,422 fans at the Holt Arena ...Quarterback Justin Arias completed 28 of 39 passes for 383 yards and five touchdowns and two players – Jakori Ford (144 yards) and Xavier Finney (110 yards) had 100 or more rushing yards and two touchdowns apiece ...  KW Williams had seven receptions for 123 yards as the Bengals finished with 474 yards through the air. throwing the ball 50 times without an interception, completing 34. ... The Clan had 300 yards, all but four through the air.  Ryan Stanford completed 16 of 22 passes for 190 yards and Tyler Nickel passed for 120 yards with nine receptions in 25 attempts ... Lemar Durant and Justin Buren were the main receptors – Duran caught eight for 91 yards and Buren had six catches for 86.  Bobby Pospischil had four for 36; his first catch was the 200^th of his career.  He’s the fourth player in GNAC history to accomplish that feat ...Linebacker Jordan Herdman led the Clan defense with 17 tackles, while linebacker Mitchell Barnett had 12.

GNAC Football Players of the Week

Offense -  Terrell Watson, Azusa Pacific (RB, 6-2, 240, Sr., Oxnard, CA) rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns and also caught two passes for 53 yards as the Cougars rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to defeat previously unbeaten and 24th ranked Humboldt State 55-21 and take over first-place in the GNAC.  Watson surpassed the 1,000-yard mark, reaching that figure for the third year in a row.  With five regular-season games remaining he already has 1,081 yards this season.

Defense -  Breeon Moreno, Western Oregon (CB, 5-10, 190, Jr., Clarksville, TN) had two key defensive stops in the Wolves’ 19-14 win over Dixie State.   He recovered a fumble at the WOU 38 to end a Dixie first-quarter drive and jump-start a 62-yard TD march by the Wolves that produced points on a 28-yard pass from Trey Shimabukuro to Paul Reeves.  He later sealed the win for WOU with a interception at the four-yard line on a fourth-and-five play on the Red Storm’s final possession of the game.  He was also credited with one pass breakup in the game.

Special Teams - Jesse Zalk, Central Washington (WR, 5-8, 160, So., Battle Ground, WA - Prairie) and Jamie Cacciatore, Azusa Pacific (K, 5-8, 175, Jr., Orange, CA) ... Zalk had 210 all-purpose yards including 94 on two kickoffs (62 and 32) in CWU's 61-34 win at South Dakota Mines.  He also caught six passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.  Cacciatore kicked field goals of 40 and 26 yards, converted on 7-of-7 extra points, averaged 39.6 yards on seven punts (including three inside the 20) and had four touchbacks among his 10 kickoffs in APU's home win over Humboldt State.