ARCATA, Calif. -- A four-turnover performance from Azusa Pacific's resurgent defense sparked the No. 24-ranked Cougars to a 38-27 road win over No. 13-ranked Humboldt State Saturday night in front of a packed Redwood Bowl crowd of 7,311.
Junior strong safety Taliuaki Suliafu put the exclamation point on the victory, picking off Lumberjack QB Robert Webber and returning it 63 yards for a score with 1:19 to play, halting HSU's potential game-winning drive just after it entered Azusa Pacific territory.
Junior cornerback Lavell Thomas recorded the other two interceptions against Webber, and senior defensive tackle Billy Tanuvasa recovered a fumble deep in Lumberjack territory to set up a second-quarter TD pass from Andrew Elffers to Josiah Thropay that gave the Cougars a 21-10 lead on the first play of the second quarter.
"The turnover battle proved to make the difference in this game," Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz said. "I'm very proud of our defense and how intentional they were about getting the ball back for us. You could tell from the start of this trip that the team had a confident mindset, and that mostly had to do with the knowledge of how well they had prepared for this game."
Elffers finished the game 12-of-17 passing for 146 yards and two TDs, adding 44 yards rushing and another score to manage the Cougars' opportunistic offense. Azusa Pacific scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions, starting with a seven-play, 75-yard drive finished off by Samuela Fanua's five-yard TD run for a 7-3 lead with 3:59 left in the first quarter.
After Webber hooked up with John Todd for a 50-yard score to give HSU a 10-7 lead, senior kick returner Tyree Davis returned the kickoff 91 yards to the Humboldt State four-yard line. Elffers scored on the first play of the drive on a four-yard keeper, and Tanuvasa's fumble recovery with 30 seconds left in the first quarter led to the Elffers-to-Thropay connection for a 21-10 lead early in the second quarter.
The Cougars went into halftime with a 21-17 lead, surrendering an early second-quarter TD to Ja'Quan Gardner before halting a late drive into Cougar territory with Thomas' first interception of Webber at the Cougar 29-yard line with just 16 seconds left in the half.
The teams traded field goals on their opening possessions of the second half, and Humboldt State closed out the third quarter in impressive fashion by grabbing a 27-24 lead with an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive finished off by another Gardner score, this time from three yards out. The Cougars ended the third quarter deep in their own territory when the ensuing kickoff was fumbled and recovered at the three-yard line.
However, sophomore RB Kurt Scoby scampered 30 yards on the opening play of the fourth quarter, and Elffers finished off a seven-play, 97-yard scoring drive with a 35-yard TD strike to redshirt freshman Brandon Jackson for the wideout's first collegiate touchdown reception. That pushed the Cougars back in front, 31-27, with 11:32 remaining in the game, and neither defense budged, stopping two drives each over the next eight minutes.
Humboldt State carved its way into Azusa Pacific territory in the closing minutes, starting from its own 19-yard line with 3:07 to play and advancing to the Cougars' 39 with 1:29 left on a 14-yard screen pass to Gardner. At that point, Santa Cruz took a timeout to refocus his defensive unit, and they responded with Suliafu's victory-sealing pick-six with 1:19 left. Thomas added another red-zone interception at the goal line with 11 seconds to play to finish off the win.
"Because our league is so tough, we knew we were in for a heavyweight fight," Santa Cruz said. "It's especially tough to take on the defending league champs at their house, where they have had so much success the last few years. There's no easy way to make this trip, but every week is a season, and I'm excited that we accomplished the Week Two mission. Now it's on to another tough mission in Week Three."
Scoby was the Cougars' leading rusher, carrying 13 times for 63 yards, while Fanua added 44 yards on 10 carries. Despite being outgained by a 456-331 margin, Azusa Pacific converted all four of its red-zone trips into points and turned the 4-0 turnover margin into 14 points off turnovers.
Gardner led Humboldt State's offense with a game-high 159 rushing yards on 27 carries, and Webber was 18-of-31 passing for 281 yards with one TD and three interceptions.
WHAT'S NEXT: Azusa Pacific faces another difficult GNAC road trip, visiting Central Washington next Saturday, Sept. 17. The Wildcats also won their GNAC opener, posting an impressive 41-20 win on the road at Western Oregon earlier in the day.
