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Creighton Rabs/HERO SportsCitrus Stadium in Glendora, Calif. was the backdrop for the 500th game in Azusa Pacific football history on Oct. 15, 2016. Creighton Rabs @RabsReporter

GLENDORA, Calif. – On a clear Saturday night in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles, a cool breeze drifts in from the west and frames the picturesque backdrop of the 500th game in Azusa Pacific football history.

“Tonight was a moment, an opportunity in life to come out and display a lot of what this school represents,” Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz said after the game. “We want to take every opportunity, we want push it to the max and take this God-first attitude we have and get after it.”

By the time the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, the milestone game was already a great memory for the Cougars. They dominated a Humboldt State decimated by injuries with a 45-13 win inside Citrus Stadium to assert their standing as the leaders of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

“Once [Santa Cruz] told us that this was the 500th game, it meant so much,” sophomore linebacker Aaron Berry said after the game. “Through generations, as we talked in our chapel, coach says we all put a brick onto this wall that APU has built.”

Berry’s 62-yard scoop-and-score touchdown off a fumble recovery midway through the first quarter proved to be the spark Azusa Pacific (6-1, 5-0 GNAC) needed to remain one game ahead of Central Washington, a 35-0 winner over Western Oregon earlier that afternoon.

Here are five takeaways from the Cougars’ impressive win in Southern California.

BERRY’S GAME CHANGER

The Cougars took an early 7-0 lead following a seven-play scoring drive, capped off by Kurt Scoby’s 17-yard touchdown run. Humboldt State (3-4, 1-4) responded with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Robert Webber to Richard Doctor, only to see Cameron Southward’s PAT blocked by Bryan Weitzman, making it a 7-6 game.

After recovering a Scoby fumble at their own 40 on the ensuing possession, the Lumberjacks looked poised to take the lead after four straight runs by Ja’Quan Gardner moved the ball to the Azusa 41. On the next play, however, Gardner fumbled after catching a pass. Berry scooped up the loose ball and scored what would prove to be the turning point of the game.

“I wasn’t sure [at first], because it looked like as he was falling to the ground, I’m thinking his knee was down,” Berry said. “The ball gets popped out and I’m like, you never know, so I picked up and waited for the ref, took five yards, he didn’t say anything. So I looked inside and see a couple other dudes and I know that someone’s going to block them and I’m going to take it to the house. I just ran for dear life and by the grace of God, scored a touchdown.”

Don’t think for a second that the offense didn’t appreciate that game-changer.

“It was a momentum builder,” said Azusa quarterback Andrew Elffers said. “Aaron is one of those guys who just runs around and hits guys with everything he has and it was definitely something to help that momentum in that game.”

Humboldt State head coach Rob Smith echoed that sentiment.

“You have to hang on to footballs,” Smith told me after the game. “Good teams will capitalize. Azusa is a good team they capitalized. For us, we tended to lose our momentum and had a hard time getting it back.”

SPREADING THE WEALTH ON OFFENSE



Azusa Pacific WR Weston Carr hauls in a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter of a 45-13 win over Humboldt State in Glendora, Calif. on Oct. 15, 2016. (Creighton Rabs/HERO Sports)

Elffers and Chad Jeffries combined to throw for 345 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Cougars. With so many weapons at Azusa’s, however, it was virtually ‘pick your poison’ for a relatively young Humboldt defense.

“We had one defensive player return [from last season’s squad], so we’re playing a lot of young guys,” Smith said. “You try and live through the mistakes.”

Seven different Cougars caught at least one pass, led by Ethan Zeidler and Weston Carr with six catches each. The balance also showed in the rushing attack. While Scoby was held to 38 yards on seven carries, other players stepped up. Chris Solomon ran for 68 yards on six carries while Aaron Baltazar recorded nine carries for 55 yards and a touchdown.

“That’s what we’ve got going for us as an offense,” Ellfers said of the Cougars’ offensive depth. “All of those guys who go in and bring a different aspect to the game. When we get those guys out in space, it’s a dangerous thing. As a quarterback, it’s just my job to give them the ball and they did an awesome job.”

HOLDING THE LINE ON DEFENSE

Although Gardner, last season’s Harlon Hill Trophy runner-up, racked up 113 yards on 26 carries for the Lumberjacks, the Azusa defense held the rest of Humboldt’s rushing attack to a net of four yards. Gardner’s production was also down from the earlier meeting on Sept. 10 in Arcata, when the junior tailback rushed for 159 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 27 carries.

“Webber is one of the best competitors out there and obviously, Ja’Quon is an amazing running back – at any moment, they can explode,” Santa Cruz said. “For our defense, with the way they prepared and the way followed up on all the details, they got after it and they played with their hair’s on fire and that’s how you want to play defense.”

The Cougars not only held Humboldt to 362 yards of total offense in the rematch, compared to 453 yards in the September contest, they also clamped down on third down, an area where they struggled the week before against Colorado Mines (16-of-22), holding the ‘Jacks to 3-of-10 on third down.

“The primary focus for us this whole week was that we had to get off (the field) on third down,” Santa Cruz said. “To be successful and to make a nationwide statement, you have to be good on third down. We worked hard on that all week long; we began to scout ourselves even better and to make sure what we need to do change up things so we’re not as predictable on third down and we’ll continue to do that as a staff and a personnel group.”

BANGED UP LUMBERJACKS

It didn’t help Humboldt’s cause that several key players were battling through injuries, especially at wide receiver. Perhaps the biggest injury the team has had to battle through was to Gardner.

“He’s not 100 percent, I think we can see that,” Smith said. “He was better this week than last week and certainly probably the best since the injury. But we’ve got to have much more” from the offense.

Wide receiver has been another area where the Lumberjacks are relatively thin. Senior Chase Krivashei battled through injuries in a Sept. 24 home loss to Western Oregon and missed the previous two games.

“Losing Chase was a huge loss for us,” Smith said. “Sage Burmeister is playing a bad ankle, we lost Dylan Zuverinc, we’ve lost Marjani Ellison – that position is taking some hits.”

The injury bug on offense was so bad, defensive back Isaiah Hall was converted to running back. Yet, Humboldt’s veteran offensive line has been struggling this season; the ‘Jacks have allowed 19 tackles for loss, including seven sacks, in the last two games.

“We should be able to run the ball and protect the quarterback,” Smith said. “We’re not doing that either. We’ve got to figure out some answers quickly.”

BIG PICTURE

Azusa Pacific’s heartbreaking 27-24 loss at Colorado Mines served as a motivating tool for a team who has their sights set not only on winning a GNAC title, but also clinching the program’s first NCAA playoff berth.

“Colorado Mines is a great program,” Elffers said. “Sometimes, it’s good to take a beating and take a loss and grow from it. It was a huge growing experience for us. You never like to lose, but this whole week in practice, day in and day out, offensively we went to work. It’s just about getting better each and every day.”

For Azusa Pacific, a trip North of the Border is on tap as the Cougars take on Simon Fraser in British Columbia Saturday night. Azusa, however, is not looking past the winless Clan.

“Our new thing is that it’s on to the next team,” Berry said. “It’s only one game a week and when you come out at halftime, it’s 0-0. Coach keeps getting to us that ‘we’ve got to keep the pedal down’ – Humboldt came out strong, they played hard against us. We just keep going, and we won’t stop even if they score.”

For Humboldt, a rematch with Western Oregon in Monmouth awaits. After the Wolves’ loss to Central Washington, expect more than just a little frustration from both sides.

“You’ll have two frustrated teams taking the field next Saturday,” Smith said. “The cure for this is that you have play well, and you play well by going back to practice and correcting mistakes and that’s what we’ll do.”