Azusa Pacific Wins Championship

After the Azusa Pacific and Olivet Nazarene offenses combined to score 194 points in the first three rounds of the playoffs, defense was the story in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics football championship game Saturday.

Azusa Pacific’s defense made the two biggest plays of the game and the Cougars came from behind for a 17-14 victory before 5,000 at Jim Carroll Stadium to win their first national championship.

Azusa Pacific is the first team in 21 years to win the national championship in its first playoff appearance. Angelo State accomplished the feat in 1978. The championship game victory marked the eighth time this season that the Cougars won by seven points or less.

“I can’t imagine playing a game any other way than this,” Azusa Pacific Coach Vic Shealy said of his team’s close game. “That’s how we’ve done it all year, and that’s all right.”

Azusa Pacific (12-2), which defeated Olivet, 31-24, at Kankakee, Ill., in its second game this season, trailed, 14-7, with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter after Olivet’s John Jordan intercepted a pass by quarterback Geoff Buffum in the end zone on fourth and goal from the one.

Olivet took possession at its 20. On the first play, quarterback Brad Odgers, under pressure by linebacker Elbert Baker, scrambled and dropped the ball, kicking it out of the end zone for a safety with 10:16 left.

On the ensuing possession, Azusa drove 46 yards in five plays, helped by two acrobatic catches by wide receiver Dexter Davis. Jack Williams, who rushed for 108 yards, capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run. He also caught the two-point conversion pass, giving the Cougars their 17-14 lead.

Until the safety, Olivet (11-3) had controlled the game with its defense. The Cougars were held to only 130 yards in the first half, and committed three turnovers.

“I made a lot of bad throws earlier in the game,” Buffum said. “But the team made big plays around me.”

The biggest came in the final seconds of the first half. With one minute to play in the second quarter, Odgers passed to Jon Ross for a 42-yard scoring play on fourth-and-10 to give Olivet a 14-7 lead.

Azusa Pacific’s Adam Shelly fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Jason Hendry recovered the ball at the Azusa Pacific 31. The Tigers drove to the Azusa 15, but Mike Cory intercepted a pass by Odgers at the nine.

“That interception was the turning point of the ballgame,” Shealy said. “It would have been tough to be down by 14 at halftime.”

Olivet Coach Mike Conway agreed.

“We were looking to get another three at least,” Conway said. “But that play was huge.”

The second half belonged to Azusa’s defense and Williams. The Cougars held Odgers without a completion in the second half, and gave up only 23 yards. Odgers finished six of 29 for 107 yards.

“We exceeded my expectations defensively,” Shealy said. “Our defense, the safety and our kicking game, which gave gave them bad field position, controlled the second half until our offense eventually got on track.”

Williams, a transfer from Brigham Young, gained 42 yards in 14 carries in the second half. And he came through when his team needed him most.

“In the huddle, the team looked at me,” Williams said of the scoring play. “They said, ‘You have to get in.’ ”

He got into the end zone. But he didn’t get into the Azusa record book, falling 33 yards short of Christian Okoye’s school-record 1,680 yards in a season.