Cougars Overpower West Texas A&M in Opener

Big night for the Cougar defense holding West Texas A&M to ten points. (Photo by Duane Barker)

Big night for the Cougar defense holding West Texas A&M to ten points. (Photo by Duane Barker)

By Tim Peterson

(Glendora) – Kurt Scoby scored two touchdowns and the defense did the the rest as Azusa Pacific beat West Texas A&M 28-10 Thursday Night to open the 2016 campaign at Citrus College. 

Scoby finished with 122 yards overall on 17 carries with the pair of scores. The sophomore did all of this behind a y0ung offensive line that impressed Cougar head coach Victor Santa Cruz .

“It’s great to see. That’s a young O-line, they’re big and they were able to wear guys out. Obviously Scoby and Fanua ran extremely hard,” Santa Cruz said. “It’s a younger but athletic offense and they’re getting better.”

The Cougars opened the scoring with a stop in the end zone for a safety in the first quarter. Five minutes later Scoby scored on a 12-yard run for an 8-0 lead.

Connor Hollabaugh booted a 39-yard field goal for West Texas A&M in the second quarter to make it 8-3 but Jaime Cacciatore countered with a 39-yard kick of his own.

Kurt Scoby found paydirt twice in APU's victory. (Photo by Duane Barker)

Kurt Scoby found paydirt twice in APU’s victory. (Photo by Duane Barker)

The Cougars took an 11-3 lead into the break at halftime.

Scoby had 49 yards on 10 carries at the half while Andrew Elffers, who earned the start at quarterback was just 3 for 6 for 16 yards through the air and rushed for 25 yards on 8 carries.

In the second half Scoby capped a Cougs drive with a 21-yard TD run breaking several tackles along the way for an 18-3 lead at the 11:41 mark of the third.

The Buffaloes answered with a drive on the ensuing series that Devon Paye finished with a 15-yard run to cut the Cougar lead to 18-10.

Cacciatore drilled the uprights again with a 45-yarder to put APU up 21-10 late in the third quarter.

In the fourth Samuela Fanua iced it with an 11-yard run with just over three minutes left for a 28-10 advantage.

During the drive capped by Fanua the APU O-Line that Santa Cruz mentioned just overpowered the West Texas A&M front as the Cougars ate up the clock.

For the Buffaloes Ethan Brinkley completed 29 of 46 for 233 yards but he was intercepted twice by the APU defense. The Cougars held West Texas to just 56 total rushing yards.

For Azusa Pacific Fanua added 61 yards and the fourth quarter touchdown and Elffers finished with 32 on 10 carries. The Maranatha product managed the game efficiently with no turnovers while completing 10 of 17 for 68 yards. Ethan Zeidler had three catches for 36 yards.

Mykai Walker and Aaron Berry led the APU D with 10 tackles each. Jonathan Thropay had eight and Hunter Malberg added six.

“It was good to see them (the defense) flying around and create turnovers. That’s what we want,” added Santa Cruz.

Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Humboldt State on Saturday September 10.

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