THE GAME
The OUAZ football team will bring its inaugural season to a close on Friday night when they host Olivet Nazarene in the Haydon Building Corp NCCAA Victory Bowl Invitational. The 21st edition for the Victory Bowl will kickoff at 7 p.m. from Spirit Field on the OUAZ campus in Surprise, Ariz.
 
The NCCAA Football Committee approved the inclusion of Associate Members due to OUAZ being the only Full Member to meet their institutional declaration and have a record of .500 or above. ONU was extended the bid as the top Associate Member per the most recent Massey Football Ratings, also meeting the record requirement.
 
The game will be broadcast live on the NCCAA Network with James Poovey (play-by-play) and Vince D'Aliesio (analyst) calling the action. Live stats will also be available during the action. The NCCAA Network is available at the web address thenccaa.org/network and on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku devices by downloading the NCCAA app. Links to the video and stats are available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.
 
SPIRIT NOTES
OUAZ will make its postseason debut after recording a 7-3 overall record during the regular season. The Spirit finished 5-1 at home and are riding a five-game winning streak overall. They finished third in the Sooner Athletic Conference by posting a 5-3 record in conference games.
 
In their last game played, OUAZ recorded the first road win in school history by defeating Texas Wesleyan 35-29 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Spirit scored the game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds to play when Austin McCullough found Brandon McLaughlin on a 21-yard pass to cap a seven play, 70 yard drive.
 
Following the final game, the SAC named McLaughlin and Kenneth Steele Jr. as the conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. It was the second player of the week award for McLaughlin and the first for Steele.
 
Head Coach Mike Nesbitt will enter the Victory Bowl with a 32-20 all-time record in five season as a head coach. He has a 7-3 record in his first season at OUAZ.
 
ABOUT OLIVET NAZARENE
Olivet Nazarene completed its season with a 5-5 overall record. The Tigers finished second in the Midwest League of the Mid-States Football Association by going 4-1 in conference games. Three of their five losses came against teams that were ranked in the NAIA Top 25.
 
ONU will be making its fourth Victory Bowl appearance with a 3-0 all-time record in the game. They won the inaugural game in 1997 and then won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.
 
The Tigers will come to Surprise averaging 34.3 points and 398.0 yards per game. They are 15th in the NAIA by rushing for 217.5 yards per game and they ran for 200-plus yards on seven occasions this season.
 
Jayvion Daniels averages 112.2 rushing yards per game to rank 18th in the NAIA and he is 16th by totaling 139.9 all-purpose yards per game. Caleb Coe makes 12.2 tackles per game to rank fifth in the country while Jalon Simpson is seventh at 11.1 tackles per game.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
OUAZ ended the regular season as the SAC leaders in scoring offense – 52.6 points per game – and passing offense – 363.1 passing yards per game. That was good for third in the NAIA in scoring and second in passing.
 
Spirit opponents average 30.2 points per game while gaining 368.0 yards of total offense. OUAZ led the SAC in allowing just 204.8 passing yards per game and by holding the opposition to a 115.0 passing efficiency. The Spirit are second in the conference at 3.8 sacks per game and with 34 total sacks.
 
The OUAZ offense has taken the field for 136 drives this season and scored a touchdown on 41.9 percent of those possessions. They have punted on just 26.5 percent and gone three-and-out 19.9 percent of the time. Defensively, the Spirit have allowed a touchdown on 25.7 percent of the opposition's 140 possessions and forced a three-and-out on 28.6 percent.
 
On the season, OUAZ has recorded three safeties and blocked four kicks.
 
UNDER CENTER
Austin McCullough has thrown for 2,652 yards and 30 touchdowns this season. He completes 55.9 percent of his attempts with eight interceptions and a 175.3 efficiency rating.
 
McCullough leads the SAC and ranks second in the NAIA by averaging 331.5 passing yards per game. He is third in the nation with his 320.5 total offense yards per game. His passer rating ranks second in the SAC and fifth in the NAIA.
 
McCullough has thrown for multiple touchdowns in every game he has played this season, including six against Arizona Christian on October 6. He recorded five touchdown passes in each of the last two games played.
 
ALL PURPOSE MACHINE
Shamar Moreland enters the Victory Bowl leading the NAIA by averaging 227.1 all-purpose yards per game while his 2,044 total all-purpose yards is third in the country.
 
Moreland ended the regular season third in the SAC in rushing at 74.7 yards per game while placing second with 672 total rushing yards. He averages 9.5 yards per carry and has scored 10 rushing touchdowns.
 
Moreland is the NAIA leader in punt return average at 21.4 yards per return and he is fifth nationally by averaging 28.2 yards per kickoff return. In total, Moreland has scored 14 touchdowns to lead the SAC with 84 points scored.
 
DEEP THREAT
After making nine catches for 207 yards and three touchdowns against Texas Wesleyan, Brandon McLaughlin ended the regular season fourth in the SAC at 94.4 receiving yards per game. His 755 total yards was good for fifth in the conference.
 
McLaughlin has four 100-yard games receiving this season and he scored 13 touchdowns to lead the conference by averaging 9.8 points per game.
 
IN THE BACKFIELD
Kenneth Steele Jr. is second in the NAIA with 16 total sacks and he leads the nation by getting 1.8 sacks per game. His 25.5 tackles-for-loss rank third in the nation while leading the country by averaging  2.8 TFLs per game.
 
Steele has recorded at least one-half sack in seven straight games and has multiple TFLs in seven of the team's nine games played. He is second on the team by making 66 total tackles while adding two forced fumbles and a safety.
 
MAKING THE STOP
Da'Shawn Holcombe leads the Spirit with 68 total tackles and 39 solo tackles. Holcombe has three games this season with 10-plus tackles and is coming off a 13 tackle outing at Texas Wesleyan.
 
Holcombe finished third in the SAC with three interceptions and he was fourth in the league by averaging 1.1 pass breakups per game. He has recorded three tackles-for-loss and blocked a kick.
 
BOHNS AWAY
Austin Bohn is currently the NAIA's leader by averaging 43.8 yards per punt this season. He has punted 29 times with a long of 78 and has eight kicks of 50-plus yards. Bohn has dropped eight punts inside the 20-yardline and has three touchbacks.
 
PUT IT ON THE BOARD
John Williams has hit 59 of 64 PAT attempts this season and had a run of 34 straight makes snapped against Texas College. He has made his last eight field goal attempts after missing the first two attempts of the season. His long field goal this year is from 41 yards.
 
Williams has scored 10-plus points in a game four times this season, including a pair of games with 15 points scored. He leads the SAC with 83 kicking points and by averaging 9.2 points kicking per game. His 9.2 per game leads the NAIA.
 
AWARD WINNERS
The SAC awarded eight OUAZ players with all-conference honors when the first-ever all-conference teams and award winners were announced by the league on November 20. Steele was named the conference Defensive and Newcomer of the Year while also being named First Team All-Conference. Moreland was named the Special Teams Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference at both punt returner and kick returner.
 
Also making the first team from OUAZ was offensive lineman Tristan Shehorn and punter Bohn. McLaughlin and Williams were named to the second team with offensive lineman Austin Lloyd and defensive back Amare Burks.