AZUSA, Calif. – The Cougars scored the ultimate treat for their fans on Halloween, coming up with a 39-yard touchdown pass on the final play to defeat La Verne in a thriller, 23-20, on a rainy Saturday night at Cougar Stadium. The crowd that stayed through the bad weather would reap the reward of seeing four lead changes in the final five minutes of the contest, including three after the two-minute timeout.
The Cougars struck first, taking advantage of a muffed punt by the Leopards that set them up at the La Verne 29 yard line. Demarion Wright took a handoff around left end and went 15 yards to the end zone for the team's first touchdown in four games and a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars' next drive covered 12 plays and over six and a half minutes, capped off with a Tyler Nolan field goal to make it 10-0 on the first play of the second quarter. Hoping to catch the Leopards off guard, the Cougars attempted an onside kick, but La Verne recovered and quickly turned that into a touchdown of their own to cut the lead to 10-7.
That score would hold into the fourth quarter. A strip sack resulted in Azusa Pacific's only turnover of the game, setting the Leopards up just outside the Cougar 40 and starting a furious final seven minutes. The Leopards went no-huddle, driving the 41 yards to paydirt in just five plays to take their first lead of the game with under five minutes to play.
OJ Jones ran the ensuing kickoff all the way back to the Leopards' 20, putting Azusa Pacific back in business. On the fifth play of the drive, Brandon Valencia threw a fade route to the left corner of the end zone where Victor Rodriguez hauled it in for the Cougars' first touchdown pass of the season and a 17-14 lead with 1:56 remaining.
La Verne received the kickoff and immediately found itself in a 4th and 5. La Verne converted with a pass into Cougar territory, and five plays after that, quarterback Brian Rudden scrambled in for what appeared to be the winning score. The extra point was missed, leaving the Leopards up by three with just 31 seconds left.
Valencia was able to complete two medium-range passes to move the ball to the Leopards 39. With five seconds left, there was no time to try to get closer for a field goal attempt. So the Cougars put three receivers on the left side of the formation and Valencia lobbed a ball to the goal line, where Robert Taylor was able to secure the ball in for the walk-off touchdown and send the crowd into a frenzy.
As a team, the Cougars gained 182 yards on the ground, their most since their previous win over Whittier back in Week 3. Wright was the Cougars' leading rusher with 47 yards and the first Cougar touchdown on campus in 15 years. Taylor's 39-yard touchdown was his first catch of the game. Tyler McCown had a fantastic day for La Verne, as the conference's leading rusher put up 181 yards and two scores on the ground.
With the win, Azusa Pacific (2-5, 2-4 SCIAC) avenged a 30-3 loss to the Leopards in the season opener. They also clinched a spot in the 5th-place game on championship weekend on November 14th, likely on the road. They will finish off the scheduled games of the conference round robin next Saturday when they visit Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
