Late FG sinks Storm on Senior Day

Azusa Pacific edges DSC with comeback win

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ST. GEORGE – Technically, the Cougars of Azusa Pacific are the newcomers to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. But the regular visitors to Southern Utah exacted a bit of revenge for Dixie State's road victory in week three by coming back from seven points down in the fourth quarter for a 23-21 win at Hansen Stadium.

Jamie Cacciatore booted a 24-yard field goal with eight seconds left to complete the APU rally.

The loss knocks the Red Storm to 3-7 overall, and 3-6 in the GNAC, while the Cougars won their third straight to improve to the same records.

Azusa Pacific struck first on their second drive of the game. Nick Owens rushed the ball down to the three and surrendered the reins of the offense to wildcat quarterback JoJo Bones. On second down, Bones completed a pass to the back of the end zone to tight end Paul Florez.

The Red Storm drove into APU territory two drives later bringing the first quarter to a close. On the second play of the following quarter, Griff Robles (Spanish Fork, UT/Spanish Fork) connected with Mitch Frei (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) for a 12-yard score. The score was Frei's fifth of the year within the span of the last four contests.

On the ensuing drive, the Cougars marched down to the DSC six-yard line. Cacciatore was called on fourth down to nail a chip shot from 18 yards, but Sean Gibson (Herriman, UT/Riverton) caught a piece of the kick.

Dixie State responded with a rush heavy drive of 12 plays capped by the second Robles passing TD of the day. His 14-yard throw to Randon Willard (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) put the Storm up 14-7. The lead was short lived as Terrell Watson ran for a score on a quick three-play drive.

On the next drive, DSC moved down the Azusa 22. Any momentum gained to try and take a lead into the halftime break was crushed when a Robles pass was tipped and picked off by Tyler Thorton to preserve the 14-14 stalemate.

The game remained tied until late in the third quarter. Brock Johnson (South Weber, UT/Northridge), filling in at tailback in the second half, extended to the pylon for a TD from 10 yards. Not to be outdone, Watson carried the Cougars on his back on the final four plays of a scoring drive – rushing for 40 yards total, including a scamper from 10 for the touchdown. Cacciatore hooked the point after left to keep Dixie State up 21-20.

The Red Storm thought they snatched momentum with another highlight reel worthy kickoff return from Cache Morgan (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan) for 98 yards. Only a yellow flag lying on the Hansen turf back at the 12-yard line for an illegal block took away the hysteria of the moment.

Dixie State, which held the ball for over 31 minutes and outgained APU in total yards, 440-434, missed opportunities based on turnovers and penalties. After one Robles interception and a sole false start penalty in the first half, DSC committed three more turnovers and was flagged six times in the final 30 minutes.

None loomed larger than in APU's final drive. Starting at their own 25 with 4:30 left in regulation, the Cougars used a balanced attack and Watson more as a decoy to move down toward the goal. Inside the 10, DSC was called for a personal foul giving APU fresh downs. After a keeper to the middle of the field, Cacciatore found redemption for the two earlier misses by nailing the game winner.

A final gasp from Robles was picked by Thorton at the APU 23 on the final play of the game.

Robles completed 19 of 37 passes for 205 yards and added 94 net yards on the ground. Freshman back Myles Burton (Berkeley, CA/Rodriguez) broke through with his best performance of the year – 17 carries for 76 yards.

Senior receiver Zack Fox (Spanish Fork. UT/Spanish Fork HS) made a team-high six grabs for 72 yards. Morgan led the DSC defense with 10 tackles while Nick Largent (Escalon, CA/Escalon) added eight stops, including two for loss.

Dixie State will close out the season next Saturday (Nov. 10) with a road game against Central Washington in Ellensburg. Kickoff is set locally at noon, 1 p.m. in the Mountain time zone.

Score by Quarters     1 2 3 4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Azusa Pacific....... 7 7 0 9 - 23       Record: (3-7,3-6)
Dixie State College. 0 14 7 0 - 21       Record: (3-7,3-6)

Scoring Summary:
1st 05:18 APU - Flores 3 yd pass from Bones (Cacciatore kick), 7-54 3:16, APU 7 - DSC 0
2nd 14:50 DSC - Frei,Mitch 12 yd pass from Robles,Griff (Haslam,Austin kick), 10-60 3:16, APU 7 - DSC 7
    04:58 DSC - Willard,Randon 14 yd pass from Robles,Griff (Haslam,Austin kick), 12-80 4:47, APU 7 - DSC 14
    03:35 APU - Watson 44 yd run (Cacciatore kick), 3-52 1:15, APU 14 - DSC 14
3rd 00:55 DSC - Johnson,Brock 10 yd run (Haslam,Austin kick), 7-58 3:05, APU 14 - DSC 21
4th 13:35 APU - Watson 10 yd run (Cacciatore kick failed), 6-55 1:59, APU 20 - DSC 21
    00:08 APU - Cacciatore 24 yd field goal, 12-75 4:22, APU 23 - DSC 21

                                    APU      DSC
FIRST DOWNS...................       19       29
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   46-286   46-235
PASSING YDS (NET).............      148      205
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........   17-9-0 37-19-4
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   63-434   83-440
Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............      1-3      0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     4-93     4-36
Interception Returns-Yards....      4-8      0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............   4-36.8   3-38.7
Fumbles-Lost..................      2-0      1-0
Penalties-Yards...............     9-84     7-46
Possession Time...............    28:25    31:35
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 11 8 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 2   1 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      3-4      3-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-19      1-2

RUSHING: Azusa Pacific-Watson 26-214; Owens 8-44; Douglas 6-17;
Trifeletti 5-11; Bones 1-0. Dixie State College-Robles,Griff 14-94; Burton,Myles
17-76; Alisa,Kamuela 8-26; Johnson, A.J. 5-24; Johnson,Brock 2-15.

PASSING: Azusa Pacific-Owens 8-16-0-145; Bones 1-1-0-3. Dixie State
College-Robles,Griff 19-37-4-205.

RECEIVING: Azusa Pacific-Martens 3-59; Struiksma 3-54; Trifeletti 1-26;
Johnson 1-6; Flores 1-3. Dixie State College-Fox,Zach 6-72; Frei,Mitch 5-50;
Burton,Myles 2-24; Hoskins,Beau 2-11; Johnson, A.J. 1-17; Willard,Randon 1-14;
Alisa,Kamuela 1-12; Morton,Antonio 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS: Azusa Pacific-Thornton 2-7; Wilson 1-1; Danielson,S. 1-0.
Dixie State College-None.

FUMBLES: Azusa Pacific-Thornton 1-0; Owens 1-0. Dixie State
College-Burton,Myles 1-0.

SACKS (UA-A): Azusa Pacific-Danielson,E. 0-1; Hackett 0-1; Bones 1-0.
Dixie State College-Pututau,Alvini 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): Azusa Pacific-Thornton 7-4; Danielson,S. 8-2;
Danielson,E. 4-5; Henderson 3-4; Barber 1-6; Bones 2-3; Tuifua 2-2; Goma 2-2;
Wilson 2-2; Grunsky 1-3; Adams 0-4; Taueli 2-1; Lueken 1-2; Hackett 0-3; Siwek
1-0; Moody 1-0; Hussey 1-0; Mouton 1-0; Villalobos 0-1; Willis 0-1; Foumai 0-1.
Dixie State College-Morgan,Cache 3-7; Largent,Nick 5-3; Greene,Cameron 3-4;
McCray,Caleb 3-4; Duncan,Jake 5-0; Tanuvasa,Matt 2-3; Chapman,Ray 3-1;
Porrazzo,Nick 2-2; Ence,Justin 0-3; Boyer,K.J. 0-3; Woodard,Tana 2-0;
Gibson,Sean 2-0; Tuiasosopo,Eldon 1-1; Johnson,Brock 1-1; Williams,Kris 1-1;
Richards,Austen 0-2; Pututau,Alvini 1-0; Peacock,Cameron 1-0; Curtis,B 1-0;
Aron,Andre 1-0; Willard,Randon 1-0; Witham,Jacob 0-1; Townsend,Willie 0-1;
Raethke,Levi 0-1.

Stadium: Hansen Stadium        Attendance: 3016
Kickoff time: 1:05 pm   End of Game: 4:02 pm   Total elapsed time: 2:57
Officials: Referee: Bob Rose; Umpire: Kurt Renstrom; Linesman: Terri Valenti;
Line judge: Dale Keller; Back judge: Justin Nelson; Field judge: Kent Condie;
Side judge: Chris Swank; Scorer: Jeff Cluff;
Temperature: 63        Wind: Calm      Weather: Sunny

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