GLENDORA, Calif. -- Some might consider Azusa Pacific's 49-27 Homecoming win over Dixie State a bit repetitive. After all, senior tailback Terrell Watson's five rushing touchdowns merely matched his Homecoming scoring performance last year, when he tied for the program's single-game rushing touchdown record.

That wasn't the only familiar element of the game, as the NCAA Division II No. 25-ranked Cougars went into halftime leading by the exact same score (21-20) they held at halftime against the same Dixie State team it beat three weeks earlier in St. George, Utah.

However, the Homecoming crowd of 5,302 was treated to the coronation of Watson as a legitimate Harlon Hill Trophy candidate (awarded to the best player in NCAA Division II) as the 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior seized college football's all-divisions national rushing lead with 198 yards and five scores on 28 carries. Watson, who scored in all four quarters Saturday, now has 1,279 rushing yards in 2014, and he holds a 37-yard advantage over fellow Division II running back Anthony Bilal, who has 1,242 yards for Lake Erie College (Ohio).

"The offensive line is really working well together with Terrell," Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz said. "There aren't any more rookies on this team. We are getting into a good flow offensively and I think that's making us a hard team to prepare for."

In a 42-23 road win over Dixie State on Sept. 27, Azusa Pacific scored 21 consecutive points in the second half, and after taking a one-point lead into halftime again the Cougars stormed out of the locker room for 28 in a row on three Watson scores and an 11-yard keeper for redshirt freshman QB Chad Jeffries. That wrapped up another Great Northwest Athletic Conference win for Azusa Pacific, which improved to 6-1 overall (3-0 GNAC) with its 10th straight win in conference play and its fifth consecutive overall victory this season.

The defense, which Dixie State drove against for three consecutive touchdown drives of at least 74 yards in the first half, halted two of the first three Red Storm possessions of the second half with interceptions. Azusa Pacific limited Dixie State to just 72 yards until the Red Storm went 59 yards to score a touchdown with just 35 seconds left in the game.

"We had some breakdowns, but everyone on this team is all-in," Santa Cruz said. "That's how you are able to come out of the locker room and play a second half like we did. I feel very privileged to be able to coach this team."

Senior LB Steven Fanua led the way with a career-high 19 tackles, including two tackles for loss, and sophomore CB C.J. Broussard and senior safety Andre Myles registered second-half interceptions which both led to points for the Cougar offense.

"We went into the locker room at halftime already knowing the mistakes we had made, so we just had to fix them and keep doing our job," Broussard said. "We were a new team in the second half. The fearless atmosphere we had in the locker room made it easy for us to come out and fix our mistakes."

Azusa Pacific scored touchdowns on all seven of its trips into the red zone, averaging 5.5 yards per rushing attempt and piling up 286 team rushing yards for the game while Jeffries kept the Red Storm defense honest by completing 12-of-17 passes for 159 yards. Junior WR Tanner Henry was the team leader in receptions and yards, catching five throws from Jeffries for 56 yards. Azusa Pacific led the time of possession in all four quarters, finishing the game with an edge of 34:39 to 25:21 in total time of possession.

"All of our offensive linemen are on the same page right now," said senior right tackle Cody Clay, who is the only Cougar lineman to start in every game the past two seasons. "We made some good holes for the running backs to get through, and we learned from losing early on this year that we can't afford to be lethargic. We have to be focused each time we step on the field."

After both teams went three-and-out and traded punts to start the game, Watson broke a 23-yard gain into Dixie State territory on the Cougars' second possession, and four plays later he powered into the end zone from 11 yards out for his first TD. When the Red Storm answered with back-to-back TDs to take a 14-7 second-quarter lead, Watson rushed six times for 51 yards on Azusa Pacific's nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 14-14.

When the Red Storm went back in front on Ben Longshore's 12-yard TD pass to Jamal Smith midway through the second quarter, Azusa Pacific answered by marching 75 yards on eight plays to regain the lead, 21-20, on a six-yard scoring run from redshirt freshman QB Andrew Elffers. That started a run of 35 consecutive points scored by the Cougars until the Red Storm scored in the final minute of the game. Watson added two scoring runs in the third quarter, from four yards and one yard, and he punched in another one-yard score to cap a nine-play, 53-yard drive that extended the lead to 42-20 early in the fourth quarter.

He didn't register another rushing attempt after that, as Jeffries completed the Cougars' scoring with a short two-play scoring drive which included a 14-yard completion to Henry before his 11-yard keeper that made it 49-20 with 9:20 to play.