Big Plays Take Down Cougars

ARCATA, Calif. –  Humboldt State's vaunted passing game was everything it was said to be and then some.  The Azusa Pacific Cougars know from first hand experience.

The Lumberjacks scorched the Cougar secondary for 3 touchdown bombs, including an 83-yarder with 9 minutes left in the game, to hold off yet another Azusa Pacific fourth-quarter flurry and beat the Cougars, 31-28, in the Redwood Bowl, handing Azusa Pacific its first back-to-back losses since September of 1998.

Lumberjack QB Jacob Kadle completed just 17-of-33 passes but he accounted for a whopping 388 aerial yards (second best in HSU history) by toss TD passes of 58, 44 and the aforementioned 83-yarder to Brent Adkins that gave the Jacks an insurmountable 31-14 lead with 9:02 left in the game.

HSU scored its first TD late in the first quarter on its third possession of the game.  Kadle connected with freshman Dustin Creagar on a 58-yard bomb.  On their next possession, Kadle found Antoine Smith for a 44-yard TD strike to cap a 5-play, 73-yard drive that put the Jacks up 14-0 at the half.

After a David Waltzman 21-yard FG pushed the HSU lead to 17-0 early in the third quarter, the Cougar offense finally came alive.  Senior TB Lathian Tyler highlighted an 82-yard drive by going the final 24 yards on 3 rushes, the last being a 3-yard TD scamper that pulled the Cougars to within 10 at 17-7 with 4:24 left in the third quarter.

The Lumberjacks answered with a 2-play, 51-yard scoring drive that ended with Mitch Jone's 10-yard dash to pay-dirt.  On the play before, Kadle hit Smith for 30-yard pass play that got bonus 11 yards tacked on when the Cougars were whistled for roughing the passer, their third such call in the past 2 games.

The Cougars answered on the ensuing drive when junior QB Luke Winslow found senior WR Houn Hib for an 18-yard TD to get the Cougars to within 24-14 with 10:35 left in the game.  The drive appeared to have stalled out on the Cougar 33-yard line.  However, HSU was penalized for roughing Cougar punter B.J. Litchfield, which allowed Azusa Pacific to retain possession.  Another HSU penalty (interference) aided the drive as well, and after Winslow scampered 17 yards on his own, he found Hib for the score.

However, it was on the ensuing drive when Kadle converted a first-and-35 situation by hitting Adkins for the 83-yard TD strike to put HSU out of a reach.

Azusa Pacific added a pair of Tyler 1-yard TD scores in the final 5:23 of the game but was unable to recover an onsides kick after Tyler's final score with 1:14 left in the game.

Tyler finished the game with 115 rushing yards on a career-high 33 carries.  Winslow was 24-for-40 passing for a season-high 300 yards but was sacked a whopping 6 times (loss of 49 yards) and picked off twice, both coming on the Cougars' first 2 series of the second half, one leading to the Jacks' FG and the other coming inside the HSU 30-yard line.  Winslow's favorite target was junior WR Frankie Tapia who had 9 grabs for 116 yards.

The Cougars amassed 418 yards in total offense that produced 28 first downs (as comparied to HSU's 15).  Additionally, Azusa Pacific owned the ball all night, amassing 37 minutes and 24 second of possession time, which resulted in 87 plays for the Cougars.  HSU needed just 55 to tally its 31 points.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 2-3 on the season. Meanwhile, Humboldt snaps a 4-game losing streak and improves to 2-4.

Print Friendly Version