GLENDORA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific stepped up to a second-half challenge against Western Oregon with conviction, answering a Wolves score that tied the game at 17-17 midway through the third quarter with 31 straight points to post a convincing 48-17 victory Saturday night at Citrus Stadium.

Kurt Scoby capped an 8-play, 78-yard scoring drive with his second of three touchdown runs, a 1-yard plunge into the heart of Western Oregon's defensive line, to answer the WOU score. The Cougar defense produced a quick three-and-out stop, and Andrew Elffers connected with Weston Carr for a 35-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter to give Azusa Pacific a two-score lead at 31-17.

On the next Cougar possession, Scoby effectively put the game away with a punishing 47-yard touchdown rumble. After breaking two tackles at the line of scrimmage, Scoby danced to the outside past two more Western Oregon defenders before carrying a linebacker the final 10 yards across the goal line for the game-defining score, which made it a 38-17 lead.

Scoby finished the game with 161 yards rushing on only 14 carries, and he added a 20-yard pass reception, which helped set up his final scoring play. Elffers completed 18-of-32 passes for 262 yards, with Carr providing 11 of those catches for 174 yards and both of Elffers' 2 touchdown passes. The Cougar defense produced three turnovers, all on interceptions, stopping the Wolves on six consecutive possessions to end the game.

How It Happened: Azusa Pacific's offensive patience rewarded the Cougars with five second-half scores. When Western Oregon scored to tie the game, Elffers had thrown five consecutive incompletions, but he finished the game completing 9 of his final 12 passes for 168 yards.

After WOU struck first with a touchdown in the first five minutes of the game, Azusa Pacific settled in and responded with a 15-play, 54-yard scoring drive which Jacob Hall finished with a 38-yard field goal that cut the lead to 7-3. On the next offensive possession, Scoby scampered 59 yards for a go-ahead touchdown on a third-and-four handoff from the Cougars' 41-yard line, finding a huge hole created by his offensive line up the middle, where he made one defender miss at the 50-yard line and outran the WOU secondary to the end zone.

A balanced defensive effort was led by Adrian Shocks (9 tackles) and Aaron Berry (8 tackles), and all three turnovers were interceptions, the first of the year for Darryl Smith, Drew Kaufusi, and Quentin Frazier.

Turning Point: Scoby powered his way through contact behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, capping an 8-play, 78-yard drive with a touchdown that broke a 17-17 tie with 2:21 left in the third quarter. That score opened the floodgates for the Cougar offense, which added four more fourth-quarter scores to put the game out of reach. Included in that flurry was Scoby's 47-yard exclamation point score, as well as a 10-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Tyrone Williams Jr. to Darrell Adams Jr..

Another Record: A week after setting both the school and conference single-game scoring record in an 83-7 road win over Simon Fraser, Azusa Pacific added a 48-point outburst to produce the highest two-game scoring total (131 points) in program history. The previous high was 126 points, set in 2004 when the Cougars followed a 58-6 win over Crown (Minn.) with a 68-6 win over Valley City State (N.D.), which was the previous single-game scoring record before last week's explosion.

Azusa Pacific Standouts: Elffers added 47 yards rushing to his 262-yard passing effort, and he spread the ball around in the passing game with completions to seven other receivers besides Carr, who had 11 catches for 174 yards for his third 100-yard receiving game this year.

Shocks led the defense with 9 tackles, including a sack and forced fumble late in the second quarter to help hold Western Oregon to a field goal on its final possession of the first half. Conrado Simpson and Robert Bohanna each had a sack, and Willie Fair had a pair of pass breakups to help hold the Wolves to just 175 passing yards on 17-of-39 passing.

Western Oregon Standouts: All-purpose threat Paul Revis finished with 9 catches for 101 yards, and he added 93 more yards in the return game to finish with a game-high 194 all-purpose yards. The Wolves produced 159 yards rushing, led by Taylor Poyadue's 46 yards on 9 carries. Kicker Adrian Saldana nailed a 49-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare to cut Azusa Pacific's lead to 17-10 heading into halftime. Bo Highburger produced a game-high 13 tackles to lead the defense.

What's Next: Azusa Pacific hosts Colorado School of Mines in non-conference action on Saturday, Oct. 7, before kicking off the second half of the eight-game GNAC schedule with an Oct. 14 visit to No. 19-ranked Humboldt State.

Quotable:"We've been challenging our team over and over about holding a standard to how we play, and I think today we really grew up. I saw young guys start to take more leadership, and I saw a hunger in their eyes that assured me they were ready to go. GNAC football is very tough, and our guys are beginning to understand that they need to want this thing on every single play, and that's where we're beginning to grow."
--Head Coach Victor Santa Cruz

"The linemen did everything for me; without them, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. The defense was also great, and we came together and played a four-quarter game. I owe my team a lot. I worked a lot this summer on my attitude and trying to get better, but this is a team game, and we're coming together as a team. If this was a one-man effort, we would lose every single week."
--Junior RB Kurt Scoby

"Opening up with two losses at home this year didn't sit well with us. We knew we had to turn things around this game. We are constantly practicing for consistency and dominance. The first few games showed that we needed to be better with our consistency throughout the game, not just at the beginning, and we were able to make some corrections and get it rolling."
--Sophomore WR Weston Carr

"When the defense gives the ball back to the offense and the offense scores, it just makes us want to go get the ball back even more. We knew that if we worked together as one, something special was going to happen. When the second half of the conference schedule starts, we have to stay together and know our culture. We have to push through each week and keep turning it up every single day."
--Junior LB Aaron Berry