GLENDORA, Calif. -- For the third time in four years, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference football championship came home to Azusa Pacific, as the No. 15-ranked Cougars celebrated a conference title for Homecoming with a knockout punch against its only remaining contender in a 44-7 victory over Central Washington. The victory also bolstered Azusa Pacific's case for a potential playoff bid with its latest impressive all-around performance.

Junior quarterback Andrew Elffers completed 21-of-32 passes for career-highs of 321 yards and four touchdowns, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Weston Carr was his favorite target, collecting nine receptions for 189 yards and four touchdowns.

The Cougar defense posted three quarters of shutout football, turning four turnovers into 21 points before surrendering the lone Wildcat score with less than four minutes to play. Senior cornerback C.J. Broussard registered a pair of interceptions, and senior linebacker Sam Flemming added another for Azusa Pacific.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 8-1 overall and 7-0 in GNAC play, while Central Washington remains in second but unable to catch the Cougars after dropping to 5-3 overall, 4-2 GNAC.

The Cougars got on the board with the opening possession, driving 66 yards in 12 plays before sophomore kicker Jacob Hall drilled a 30-yard field goal less than five minutes into the game. Broussard's first interception of the game set up a short 12-yard touchdown pass from Elffers to Carr, extending the lead to 10-0 with 4:39 to play in the first quarter, and a fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Azusa Pacific to set up another short field and an eventual one-yard scoring run for Aaron Baltazar.

Elffers tossed another pair of touchdown passes in the final five minutes of the second quarter to send the Cougars into halftime with a commanding 31-0 lead. After forcing a three-and-out on Central Washington's opening second-half possession, Elffers engineered a 10-play, 81-yard drive with another scoring toss to Carr, this time from 23 yards out, to extend the lead to 38-0.

After Central Washington completed an 11-play, 72-yard drive for a touchdown with 3:56 left, the Cougars finished off the scoring with Carr's fourth scoring reception of the game, a 45-yard haul from Chad Jeffries.

The late Central Washington touchdown represented the first points allowed by the Cougars over a span of 119 minutes, 11 seconds of game action, going back to late in the fourth quarter of Azusa Pacific's 45-13 win over Humboldt State two weeks earlier.

WHAT'S NEXT: Azusa Pacific remains home to wrap up its GNAC schedule, hosting Western Oregon, which will be the Cougars' third consecutive opponent coming off a bye week, on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 6:00 p.m. When the teams met in early October, Azusa Pacific posted a 31-2 win over the Wolves. The Cougars wrap up the regular season with a non-conference visit to Colorado Mesa, which improved to 7-2 overall after rolling up 933 yards of total offense, including 708 rushing, in an 87-14 win over New Mexico Highlands Saturday.

POSTGAME INTERVIEWS:

Head Coach Victor Santa Cruz

Senior cornerback C.J. Broussard


Junior quarterback Andrew Elffers


Redshirt freshman wide receiver Weston Carr