REDLANDS, Calif. -- Redlands may have had lightning in a bottle, but Azusa Pacific had a message in a bottle, because what first-year Cougar coach Peter Shinnick said at halftime sparked his No. 5-ranked Cougars to the greatest rescue in program history -- a 59-52 come-from-behind victory over the University of Redlands, Saturday night.

Behind the precision passing of senior QB Danny Ragsdale, Redlands stunned Azusa Pacific time and again to jump out to a 24-0 lead less than 13 minutes into the game, using 3 TDs passes all more than 25-yards in length (including their first play, a 77-yard TD strike) to sprint away from a shocked set of Cougars. And though a Jack Williams 23-yard TD run took the Cougars off life-support for the moment, the Bulldogs still pressed the issue, pushing their lead to a seemingly unsurmountable 38-13 cushion shortly before halftime.

"I told them at halftime we'll do whatever we need to win this game," said Shinnick. "I knew the offense would eventually roll. All we needed was a couple of stops on defense. If we had to go to 60 to win it, we would have. "

Thus "whatever they needed to do" was to get the ball into the hands of junior wide receiver Deon Jordan, who put togehter a record-setting night that was on par with the feats of Cougar legend Christian Okoye. Jordan tallied a school-record 419 all-purpose yards and scored a school-record-tying 5 TDs, including 4 in the final 31 minutes of the game to lead Azusa Pacific to the amazing comeback.

With the Cougars down 31-7, Jordan went to work. He and Cougar QB Neo Aoga hooked up for a 94-yard TD bomb that broke the former school standard of 92 yards (J.D. Fox to Darryl Nolan vs. Whittier in 1996) and pulled the Cougars to within 31-13 with 9:51 left in the second quarter. Ragsdale responded with a 33-yard TD pass to give the Bulldogs their largest cushion of the night at 38-13. But with 20 seconds left in the half, Jordan caught a 10-yard pass over the middle with to pull the Cougars to within 17 at halftime, at 38-21.

On the second play of the Cougars' opening second half drive, Aoga again went to Jordan, this time for a 45-yard TD strike that moved the Cougars off the gurney and back on their feet, now trailing just 38-28 less than 2 minutes into the second half. A Jack Williams' 2-yard TD run 6 minutes later had the Cougars to within 3 at 38-35 midway through the third quarter.
However, Ragsdale, who on the night torched the Azusa Pacific defense for 602 passing yards (the fourth best effort ever by an NCAA Division III QB), connected with Chad Hustead for a 76-yard TD on Redlands' next drive to give the Bulldogs some breathing room at 45-35 with 7:25 left in the third quarter.

Not beaten down, the Cougars continued to work, systematically moving the ball downfield until Williams plowed over again from 2 yards out to cap a 13-play, 75-yard drive to pull the Cougars back to within 3 points, at 45-42. The Cougar defense then made one of those much-needed "stops" that Shinnick was counting on.

The Cougars sacked Ragsdale and forced him into a pair of incompletions to make Redlands punt the ball from its own 39-yard line. Jordan reversed that 41-yard punt into an 80-yard TD return that gave Azusa Pacific its first lead of the game at 49-45 with 13:49 remaining. The Cougar defense picked another opportune time to stop Redlands on its next drive, catching the Bulldogs on a failed fourth-down fake punt to give Azusa Pacific the ball at its own 38-yard line.

The Cougars turned that into a Mike Spellman 36-yard FG that put them up 52-45 with 4:28 left in the game -- still plenty of time for Ragsdale. And as could be expected from him, Ragsdale engineered an 8-play, 53-yard drive that he highlighted by connecting on Hustead's fourth TD reception of the night, a perfectly thrown 5-yard fade in the corner of the endzone that knotted the game at 52-52 with 4:28 remaining.

Jordan, though, saved his best for last. He returned the ensuing kickoff a school-record 97 yards for his record-tying fifth TD of the night to put the Cougars back up at 59-52 with 4:08 still on the clock.
"Had this been the first game of the season, I don't think I would have made it to the end," said Jordan. "After that last run, I was winded. This is the best game I've played in since Pop Warner."

Husted returned Azusa Pacific's ensuing kickoff 42 yards to the Bulldog 45-yard line. Ragsdale went back to work. He hit Husted for a 17-yard completion and then went back to Husted for another 11-yard completion that had the ball near the Cougar 30-yard line. However, Williams popped Husted, who fumbled on the play, and Cougar DT Alex Pula pounced on the loose ball with 2:47 left in the game to clinch the comeback and the win.

"They never really drove on us," said Williams, who scored 3 TDs on offense and had 4 tackles and that crucial forced fumble on defense. "What hurt us was the big plays."

Redlands' 7 TDs were all scored on pass plays of 77, 56, 27, 6, 33, 76 and 5 yards. The Bulldogs had 3 scoring drives of 2 plays or less, including their opening drive of the game.
The game featured 98 pass attempts and 54 first downs. As a result, the contest lasted 3 hours and 42minutes and wasn't over until 10:50 p.m.

Aoga finished the game 23-for-38 passing for 379 yards and 3 TDs, all to Jordan. Williams rushed for 62 yards on 9 carrys to move him over 1,800 career rushing yards, sixth on Azusa Pacific's all-time chart. Senior Marvin Smith rushed for 69 yards on 17 carries. Jordan caught just 4 passes, but they covered 159 yards and 3 ended in pay dirt. Junior tight end Willie Perryman enjoyed his best game as a Cougar, catching 7 Aoga passes for 80 yards.

The Cougars racked up a 592 yards in total offense, the second-best effort in program history.

The 59 points and the combined 111 points are both school records as well.