MidValleySports.Com

Is Humboldt a little different? After every Lumberjacks score these guys fired up their chainsaws. Welcome to D2—Photo by Duane Barker

(Mid Valley Sports is covering APU football and its inaugural season in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. This will include exposure to members of the conference and the many small schools they play across America from D-I to D-III. Some of the names will be very familiar.)

GNAC Standings

Week Two

Humboldt State 42 Azusa Pacific 17

Central Washington 46 Simon Fraser 28

Dixie State 24 Western Oregon 10

Week Three (Saturday)

Dixie State at Azusa Pacific (6:PM)

Central Washington at Western Oregon

Simon Fraser at Humboldt State

GNAC PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK

Offense –  Demetrius Sumler, Central Washington (RB, 5-10, 220, Sr., San Diego, CA – Cathedral Catholic) rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a GNAC record setting rushing performance in a 56-28 win at Simon Fraser. CWU, which finished with 316 rushing yards, scored six touchdowns on the ground equaling the GNAC single-game record.  Sumler’s performance earned him GNAC Red Lion Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Defense – Jeremiah Maluia, Humboldt State (DB, 5-11, 202, Jr., Compton, CA) forced two fumbles and also intercepted a pass leading to three touchdowns as the defending GNAC champions  opened their conference season with a 42-17 home win over Azusa Pacific.  Maluia claimed GNAC Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week honors with the performance.  In the first quarter, he forced a fumble to set up Humboldt’s first touchdown, a 26-yard pass from Alex Rump to Victor Spencer.  Later in the period he had a 25-yard interception to set up a two-yard touchdown run by Nick Ricciardulli.  Early in the third quarter he forced a fumble, which he returned  62 yards for a touchdown.   He and the rest of the Jacks’ secondary held Azusa Pacific to 132 net passing yards, and now rank No. 5 nationally in pass efficiency defense. Maluia also had two tackles.

Special Teams – Alexander Bradt, Western Oregon (LB, 6-1, 210, Fr., Salem, OR – West Salem) averaged 47.4 yards on five punts, including a long of 73 that was just one yard shy of the GNAC record.

North end of Redwood Stadium—Photo by Duane Barker

Faces From Week Two

It was former Muir standout Marcus Graves who interecepted APU’s Tyler Tuiasosopo near the end of the Cougars contest at Humboldt State. Graves joins the Lumberjacks this season after transfering in from Idaho.

For local fans, no. GNAC offensive player of the week Demetrius Sumler (running back/Central Washington) is not a relation of the former Rosemead trio of brothers DeSean, Deon, and Tra Sumler…Seems to play like them though.

APU strong safety Tyler Thornton (Centennial/Bakersfield) leads the Cougars in tackles, has the team’s lone interception, and is the leading kick-off and punt returner.

South end of Redwood Stadium—Photo by Duane Barker

Fast Facts

APU beat Dixie State last season, 48-19, in St. George. Quarterback John van den Raadt’s rushed for (145yds) two touchdowns and threw for two more in the win. Freshman running back Terrell Watson picked 85 yards on nine carries. Watson also contributed 2.5 of the team’s nine sacks from his linebacker position.

The Cougars lead the all-time series between the school 3-2.

Dixie State last came to Azusa on October 25, 2008 and won 30-23. The homecoming game was played at Cougars Stadium.

In the D2Football.com Top 25 poll Humboldt moved up from 25 to 21 this week:

Game Recaps for Sept. 8  (Provided by Bob Guptill & the GNAC)

Dixie State 24, Western Oregon 10 (at St. George):  Dixie State scored a pair of third quarter touchdowns to snap a 10-10 tie and defeat Western Oregon before 3,855 fans at Hansen Stadium. . . .Quarterback Griff Robles scored on a 22-yard run to cap off a seven-play, 77-yard touchdown  drive with 8:38 left in the period.  Later Zack Fox caught a 23-yard pass from backup QB Kaleo Nawahine to finish off a 32-yard six-play drive following a fumble recovery by Tana Woodard at the 32-yard line. That was one of six takeways – three fumble recoveries and three intercepetions – by the Red Storm. Six different players accounted for the six. . ..Running back A.J. Johnson rushed for 119 yards to lead the Dixie offense which produced 352 yards.  Robles completed just 11 of 33 for 110 yards.  One of the completions was a 16-yard first-quarter touchdown pass to Conor Sklarsky.  . .Western Oregon’s lone touchdown was a 29-yard pass from QB Cody VonAppen to Joe Harris that tied the game at 10-10 with 3:31 left in the first half.  . .Dixie’s defense held the Wolves to just 239 yards, 64 on the ground.  Kenneth Haynes netted 53 yards on 14 carries, while VonAppen completed six of 18 passes for 105. . .Defense dominated as the two teams completed just 33 percent of their passes.  WOU was 11 of 35, while Dixie was 14 of 40. . .Cache Morgan, Daniel Moffett and Nick Porazzo all had interceptions for Dixie.  In addition to his fumble recovery, Woodard also had four tackles, including two for losses of 18  yards.  Cameron Greene led the Red Storm with six tackles. K.J. Boyer and Nick Largent also had recoveries…Sipili Tuigamalala had a game-high nine tackles for Western Oregon.  Bryce Peila had Western Oregon’s lone takeaway, a 14-yard interception return.  Peila now has 16 career receptions for 365 yards and ranks second in GNAC history in both categories. .WOU’s Alexander Bradt averaged 47.4 yards on five punts, including a 73-yarder, a yard shy of the GNAC record.

Central Washington 56, Simon Fraser 28 (at Burnaby): Running backs Demetrius Sumler and Johri Fogerson combined for 257 yards and a GNAC-record tying six rushing touchdowns as Central Washington won its conference opener against Simon Fraser. . .Fogerson scored four touchdowns on runs of 11, 3, 22 and 10 netting 103 yards on just 13 carries, while Sumler finished with 154 yards on 22 totes.   He scored on runs of 30 and five yards. . .The six touchdowns enabled the Wildcats to tie the GNAC single-game record for rushing touchdowns set by Western Washington against Montana Western in 2001 and equaled by Humboldt State against Simon Fraser in 2010. . .Fogerson’s four TDs was one short of the conference record of five set by Humboldt’s Lyndon Rowells against Simon Fraser in 2010.  . .CWU also became just the third team in conference history not to punt in a game.  Simon Fraser’s Earl Anderson, meanwhile, matched the conference record for most kickoff returns, bringing back eight for a total of 145 yards. . .Central finished the contest with 529 yards of total offense, rushing for 316 and adding 213 yards through the air as quarterback Ryan Robertson completed 16 of 23 for 208 yards, including a 18-yard TD pass to Tavoy Moore on CWU’s first possession of the game. . .Simon Fraser had 426 yards as Trey Wheeler completed 28 of 36 passes for 285 yards.  Bobby Pospischil had 11 receptions for 108 yards and Lemar Durant had 10 for 114. . .Defensively, Stan Langlow and Kevin Puckett paced Central with 13 tackles.  Casey Chin led Simon Fraser with 15, including 10 solos.

Joe T. working hard.