MONMOUTH, Ore. – Western Oregon had 424 yards of total offense, but went with a touchdown in four trips to the red zone in a 31-2 loss to No. 14 Azusa Pacific on Saturday at McArthur Field.
 
With the loss, Western Oregon falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Great Northwest Athletics Conference. Azusa Pacific is now 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the GNAC.
 
The Wolves rushed for 117 yards and passed for 307. APU had 369 total yards, with 284 coming through the air while converting on 7 of 14 chances on third down.
 
The teams played a scoreless first quarter with Azusa Pacific punting on a pair of possessions while the Wolves punted once and had a drive stall on a missed field goal.
 
APU drove 74 yards early in the second quarter to get a yard from the goal line. Quarterback Andrew Elffers called his own number but was stripped of the ball by Tafatolu Tafai and Michael Kluge recovered the loose ball. Western Oregon moved the ball only a yard on the ensuring drive and allowed a very short field after a 34-yard punt saw a 27-yard return to the WOU 10 by Tyree Davis. The WOU defense stepped up and held the Cougars to a 29-yard field goal for a 3-0 advantage.
 
After forcing a WOU three-and-out, drove 49 yards on seven to find the end zone. Tanner Henry scored on a 13-yard pass from Chad Jeffries and Jamie Cacciatore added the PAT to give the Cougars a 10-0 lead.
 
Azusa Pacific had a chance to add to the lead, but Cacciatore's field goal attempt from 29 yards with a blustering wind at his back missed wide right.
 
The Wolves took the momentum of the missed kick to drive 65 yards at the end of the first half. Phillip Fenumiai moved the chains with a 15-yard pass to Keoni Piceno, a run of four yards on fourth down and a strike to Paul Revis for 15 yards. With less than 10 ticks on the clock, Fenumiai tried to fire a pass near the goal line that found the intercepting hands of Hunter Malberg to stymie the drive and keep the score at 10-0 at halftime.
 
Opening the second half, Western Oregon used a Steven Long kickoff return to set up at their own 40-yard line. A pair of first downs moved the Wolves inside the APU 30. A false start penalty pushed a Jacob Bannister field goal attempt to 48 yards which he had the distance for, but not the direction.
 
The drives later, a 60-yard drive put the Cougars back into the end zone. Elffers had the final two rushes of 17 yards and a scoring run of three yards to extend its lead to 17-0. Mykal Walker intercepted a Fenumiai pass and returned 48 yards for a touchdown on the next drive to give APU a 24-0 advantage.
 
In the fourth quarter, Western Oregon moved inside the 10-yard line on a big pass play from Fenumiai to Paul Revis for 36 yards. The quarterback rushed for five yards to put the ball at the one yard line. The Cougars' defense stepped up and stopped a pair of rushes, setting up fourth down. On the snap, Fenumiai rolled right and fired toward Revis at the goal line, but the ball dropped to the grass.
 
Despite turning the ball over on downs, WOU's defense put the team on the board after George Swartzlender and Austin Spencer tackles APU running back Chris Soloman in the end zone for a safety.
 
Any offensive momentum stalled out after a pair of fumbles. Azusa Pacific added a late touchdown on a reception from Josiah Thropay to set the final score at 31-2.
 
Fenumiai threw for 307 yards on 26 of 48 passing and added 72 rushing yards on 20 attempts. Revis notched his second game of the year with over 100 yards receiving posting 106 yards on nine grabs. Piceno had seven grabs for 97 yards. Malik Braxton accounted for 32 rushing yards and 35 yards through the air. On the defensive side of the ball, Tyler Johnson had a game-high 10 tackles including one sack. Danny Hankins had nine total tackles. Swartzlender had three tackles for loss in his game total of five.
 
Western Oregon hosts Simon Fraser on October 8 at 1 p.m. at McArthur Field.