Playoff-bound Cal rolls to PSAC title
California’s John Franklin III scores a touchdown Saturday against Kutztown in the PSAC State Game.
California’s Michael Keir throws a pass Saturday against Kutztown in the PSAC State Game.
California’s Garry Brown tries to evade the tackle of Kutztown’s Jake Perry Saturday during the PSAC State Game.
California’s Tom Greene and Kutztown’s Lance Deane Jr. battle for a pass Saturday during the PSAC State Game.
CALIFORNIA – Ten games ago, California University’s football team took the field at Cheyney with a plan of attack for the rugged PSAC Conference.
On a chilly Saturday afternoon, some of the players were planning another attack: dousing coaches with Gatorade to celebrate a wildly successful regular season.
Leading up to the drenching, Michael Keir tossed five touchdowns passes, including two to wide receiver Garry Brown, and the Vulcans defense, led by inside linebacker Luke Hrapchak, dominated as Cal routed Kutztown, 49-7, in the PSAC State Game at Adamson Stadium.
The victory pushed the Vulcans to 10-0 and probably locked up the No. 1 spot in the region, which means a bye week then a home game in the second round. It was the first undefeated regular season for Cal since 2007 and the first State Game championship appearance since 2009, a 42-35 loss to Shippensburg. Cal won back-to-back titles in 2008 and ’09.
“We don’t control it so we’ll go line up wherever they want us to play,” said Cal head coach Gary Dunn of the pairings. “We’re excited to be in the field, so we’ll see where they send us.”
Heading into the game, Cal was ranked No. 6 in the AFCA Top 25 poll. In the preseason divisional polls, Cal was picked to finish third in the PSAC West and Kutztown was chosen fourth in the PSAC East. The Vulcans will find out where they fall in the postseason when the NCAA Division II pairings are released at 5 p.m. today on the NCAA website. Indiana, at 9-1, and Edinboro, at 9-2, could make respective cases to be included in the playoffs before 7-4 Kutztown.
Disposing of Kutztown became an easier-than-expected objective when Cal scored the first 49 points of the game. Keir completed 21 of 32 passes for 251 yards and the five TDs. That raised his season total to 39.
“To have Garry, he’s always pulling (defenders) over to him. On the one touchdown to Tommy (Greene), they rolled over to Garry. The rest of our athletes are so good. We have so many good athletes on the field, I don’t have to do anything. They make it easy. They are wide open.”
Brown, meanwhile, had another outstanding game, catching nine passes for 103 yards and touchdowns of 12 yards in the first quarter that made it 14-0 and nine yards in the third that made it 35-0.
“This is our seniors last season so we wanted to work very hard and put everything out on the table. And that’s what we did,” said Brown. “We do a lot of plays where we can either run or pass. So any play can be a pass. I know they were going to (double-cover) me so other players had to make some plays and they did.”
Chad Livingston got his first collegiate touchdown reception 23 seconds before halftime to make it 28-0. Luke Smorey’s first catch of the game was a 23-yard TD in the second quarter and Tom Greene made a nice over-the-shoulder catch at the front corner of the end zone in the fourth quarter too make it 42-0.
Cal, which entered the game the leading scoring offense and scoring defense in the PSAC, lost the shutout in the final minute of the game when Kellen Williams caught a 19-yard pass from quarterback Collin DiGalbo with 48 seconds to go.
Cal’s offense ran up 421 yards and the defense held Kutztown to 270. Hrapchak was named the games MVP after making 15 tackles, sacking the quarterback once and forcing and recovering a fumble.
“We have such a high standard, not only as a defense but as a tea. We want to be great on every play, every snap,” said Hrapchak. “Our defense put me in positions to make those plays. Our D-line and two outside linebackers are dogs. They open everything up for all of us.”
John Franklin opened the scoring with a one-yard run with 3:27 left in the first quarter. Jimmy Wheeler would score on a 20-yard run with 4:19 to play.
Kutztown head coach Jim Clements could not be reached for comment.