Occidental Victim of Late Drive

Azusa Pacific quarterback Brian Hunt, a sophomore transfer, had to be discouraged with his situation. His position on the team was reminiscent of his role as BYU bench warmer.

But when starting quarterback Fitz Wilson turned in a dismal first-half performance, Hunt had his opportunity.

Hunt completed seven consecutive passes in a dramatic last-ditch drive as Azusa Pacific beat Occidental, 17-13, in a nonconference game at Patterson Field on Saturday night.

Hunt capped a 75-yard, 8-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to wingback Brent Hamm with 30 seconds to play.

“It was a class-A drive,” said Hunt, who completed 9 of 14 passes for 96 yards. “A team effort. It was chip, chip, chip and more chip.”

Earlier in the quarter, Hunt hit receiver Jeff Westra in the left corner of the end zone for a 32-yard score to close Occidental’s lead to 13-10.

Occidental could not sustain a drive, however, and a 42-yard field goal attempt by Mark Collinsworth was blocked with a little more than three minutes remaining. Azusa began the winning drive on its ensuing possession.

“We played really well in the first half,” Occidental Coach Dale Widolff said. “We just didn’t sustain.”

Occidental led, 13-0, and had driven to the Azusa 15-yard line when time expired in the first half.

Wilson, Azusa’s starting quarterback, was harried by an aggressive Occidental defense in the first half. Wilson, a junior, completed just 1 of 4 passes for 12 yards. Two of his passes were picked off.

The Cougars made their only scoring threat of the half when they drove to the Occidental 24 midway through the second quarter.

But the drive fizzled when Wilson’s pass was intercepted by cornerback Ronnie Cunningham--his second interception of the half--at the Occidental 10-yard line and returned 11 yards.

Occidental proceeded to march to the Azusa five on 14 plays. The drive stalled, but Collinsworth made a field goal of 22 yards to make the score, 13-0.

The Tigers, who controlled the ball most of the first half, opened the second quarter with a 31-yard Collinsworth field goal. The kick followed a 13-play, 9-minute drive and gave the Tigers a 10-0 lead. Cunningham intercepted Wilson’s first pass at the Azusa 49-yard line and returned the ball 11 yards to the 38.

Three plays later, Tony Werbelow hit Rick Freeman over the middle with a pass for a 33-yard touchdown. Collinsworth added the extra point to make it 7-0.

Before leaving the game because of a twisted ankle late in the fourth quarter, Werbelow completed 4 of 7 passes for 83 yards.

Paul Gamberdella replaced Werbelow after Azusa’s winning score and threw four consecutive incomplete passes.