Small Colleges : Azusa Pacific Is Making Its Losses Count

Has Azusa Pacific University become the Boston Red Sox of college football?

The powerful Cougars have lost only two games in two years, but each of the losses knocked them out of the NAIA playoffs. Last season, it was Cal Lutheran beating the Cougars in the final game. This time, it was UC Santa Barbara, returning to intercollegiate football this season after having a club team the past several years, toppling them, 17-14, in the next-to-last game.

That gave Azusa Pacific a loss and two ties, all but eliminating the Cougars from playoff contention going into the final game at Cal Lutheran. The Cougars were ranked 10th going into the game. Only the top eight are invited to the playoffs.

What made Saturday’s loss even tougher was that the Cougars (5-1-2) outgained Santa Barbara, had 9 more first downs and 70 fewer penalty yards. And tailback Christian Okoye rushed for 218 yards, his third straight game over 200. But on the game’s key play, Okoye fumbled on fourth and goal at the one. Santa Barbara took over and drove 99 yards for a score.

“I’m not sure this is more of a letdown than losing on the last day last year,” Coach Jim Milhon said. “If someone had told me our tailback would rush for 220 yards and we would lose I wouldn’t have believed them. But that’s what happened.”

Milhon is curious to see if his team can get motivated for Cal Lutheran, the school’s biggest rival. Azusa Pacific will be without quarterback Aaron Eames, who dislocated a shoulder in the first half against Santa Barbara, and defensive back Andre Cheeks, the team’s leader in interceptions, who suffered a shoulder separation.

Cal Lutheran (2-6) is also coming off a tough loss, 34-31, at Southern Utah, in which the Kingsmen allowed the winning touchdown with 30 seconds left. Even so, quarterback Tom Bonds had the best game of his career with 31 completions for 353 yards. The junior became the school’s all-time passing leader with 4,920 yards. Cal Lutheran will be without star tight end Darren Gottschalk, who has a separated shoulder.

“We have a good program, and our kids are very prideful,” Milhon said. “We think we’ll present ourselves well. The kids will be down a little bit, but it’s Cal Lutheran--it’s always been a big game for us. We’ll have to see if the kids carry the (Santa Barbara) game with them, or if they can put it behind them.”

This season may have been Azusa Pacific’s best chance to make some noise in the playoffs, with a strong senior-dominated unit led by Okoye that lost only two home games in three years. Fifteen starters will graduate.

Does Milhon see this as a last--failed--hurrah?

“I refuse to have people say to our kids they can’t win the big one, because they’ve done a lot of good things,” he said.

Okoye, who leads the NAIA with 1,432 yards, 18 touchdowns and a 179-yard average, hopes to play at least one more game after the season. The 250-pound tailback has been contacted by the Senior Bowl, though an invitation has not been tendered.

Milhon and intrigued National Football League scouts would like to see Okoye tested against big-time athletes. Okoye is a “dinner table topic” among NFL scouts, who consider him one of the best athletes in the country but are aware that he only began playing two years ago and has only played on the small-college level.

Twenty-four teams have sent scouts to the Azusa Pacific campus this season. There were scouts at practices four days last week. There was a scout in Milhon’s office when a reporter called Monday.

Scouts say that Okoye, who came to America from Nigeria as a track star and combines his size with 4.4 speed in the 40, could be a high draft choice or could be a middle-round sleeper. An all-star game appearance might help clear up some questions.

“We hope something like that (the Senior Bowl) would happen for him,” Milhon said. “We’ve talked to people, but we’re not sure.”

Former U.S. Olympic volleyball player Pete Velasco has coached Cal State Los Angeles to its most successful season with 23 victories and a top 20 rating. Last week, the Lady Eagles extended top-ranked Cal State Northridge to five games, but Velasco was not particularly happy.

“They played all right but they didn’t remember how to win,” he said. “They wanted to overthrow the No. 1 team, they all wanted to play good, but not good enough to win. They didn’t remember how. They have to learn how to remember to win.”

Small College Notes One basketball season opener is scheduled Saturday--The Master’s College at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix. . . . Biola won the District III women’s volleyball championship, working its way through the losers’ bracket to defeat Fresno Pacific in the final. Biola (25-9),will travel to Grand Junction, Colo., to face Mesa College (38-6) Saturday. The winner will advance to the NAIA national tournament in Fort Worth. Biola hitter Barb Rozendal was the District III tournament MVP. . . . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won both the men’s and women’s Division II cross-country regionals. Cal State Northridge was second in the women’s race and third in the men’s event. Individual winners were Northridge’s Dave Walsh and Cal Poly SLO’s Gladees Prieur. Cal Poly Pomona’s men will find out today if they get an at-large invitation to the national meet. . . . Among runners earning individual berths in the national competition are Cal State Bakersfield’s Mandla Kunene and Pomona’s Eddie Toro, and Cal State L.A.’s Sylvia Mosqueda. . . . Receiver Lance Martin of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo set a Western Football Conference record with 10 kickoff returns for 203 yards against Portland State, with a long return of 46 yards. Portland scored 66 points to make the record possible. . . . The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team became a 10-game winner for the first time. Part of its success is a 2-0-3 mark in overtime games. Goalie Mia Gail recorded her 10th shutout and fifth in six games last week.