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Azusa Pacific University Athletics

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20261stPractice
Craig Pruitt

Football

The First of Many

Cougar football is Back

 AZUSA, Calif. – And so it begins.

With 103 players and a coaching staff of 13, Azusa Pacific football returned to the gridiron tonight, the Cougars' first appearance on a football field since 2020 when the program was shuddered in the midst of the COVID pandemic.  Now, however, those 6 long years are well in the past as the Cougars conducted a 2-hour practice under the lights at Citrus College while their home – Cougar Stadium – is being revamped for the Sept. 19 home opener, the first home game it has staged since 2011.

First-year head coach A.J. Parnell faces the challenge of molding a roster of 103 players and a 13-member coaching staff. Many of the players met only days ago and are learning a new system while building chemistry from the ground up.

Parnell, however, embraces the task. The opening practice represented the culmination of more than a year of work to revive a program with a rich history.
When he was hired in June 2025, Parnell was tasked with building a 65-player roster for the 2026 season. He surpassed that goal by a wide margin while assembling a coaching staff that blends Azusa Pacific tradition with local experience.

He hired Cougar football alums from the 1970s (Mark Speckman), 1980s (Duane Russell), 1990s (Beatty), 2000s (Craig Robbins), and 2010s (Dakota Ridgeway).  He brought in a distinguished and retired local high school coach (Mark Pascarella), a junior college coach (Jericho Silvernail), and a recent APU graduate (Isaiah Harris).  Early in his search, Parnell tabbed an up-and-coming and highly regarded young coach to be his defensive coordinator (Thomas Webb).  Toss in a kicking coach (Steve Zenner) already working on the APU campus, and a couple of student-coaches (Tony Woolsey, Marko Luera), and Parnell has his first staff, ready for the 2026 season, APU's first as an NCAA Division III member.
The Cougars' entire 9-game schedule for this year is against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic (SCIAC) teams.  The opener is Sept. 5 at the University of La Verne.  After a bye week, Azusa Pacific makes its much-anticipated debut in the renovated Cougar Stadium on Sept. 19 in a 6 p.m. homecoming game against Whittier, another Southern California school rejuvenating its football program after a 5-year layoff from the sport.

Tickets for the Whittier game are currently on sale and available online.

Tonight's practice is a first step of what will be many this year.  But it is a very significant step – a step in the right direction, a step long waited for by many who have gone before.
 
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Players Mentioned

Dakota Ridgeway

#18 Dakota Ridgeway

WR
6' 3"
Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

Dakota Ridgeway

#18 Dakota Ridgeway

6' 3"
Redshirt Junior
WR