Vulcans reverse result in win over Charleston, 23-19
By Joe Tuscano
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
CALIFORNIA – Neither the rain nor a fired-up Charleston Golden Eagles football team were enough to stop California from celebrating a win on a drenching Thursday night.
Not that they didn’t try.
California did just enough to come away with a 23-19 victory in a non-conference game. California is now 1-0 and Charleston fell to 1-1 after a Week 1 win over Livingstone.
The game was clinched when defensive back Alexie Sangster intercepted the football on a fourth-down pass by Charleston quarterback Ean Hamric.
“I’m extremely proud of how our guys played today,” said Cal head coach Gary Dunn. “We shot ourselves in the foot in the second half. I felt like our d-line and linebackers controlled the game. (Hamric) didn’t have a lot of room to move around there.”
Last year, Charleston defeated Cal by the same score 23-19.
“I think everyone showed up to play,” said inside linebacker Grant Hopple. “We had a great summer. On that last pass, you would think I would be nervous. But I was confident in our guys.”
A key moment in the game came midway through the third quarter, when Charleston drove to the Cal 1-yard line and was stopped there on fourth down. Cal drove downfield and Radcliffe hit his third field goal of the game to give the Vulcans a 10-point lead, 23-13.
Charleston cut the lead to four points when Hamric connected with Marquauhn Herron from 33 yards out. The run for the two-point conversion was no good by Hamric, leaving Cal with a 23-19 lead.
In a rain-slogged first half, Cal did enough things right to hold a 20-13 lead at halftime. Harry Radcliffe connected on two field goals. The first covered 35 yards and opened the scoring in the game. The second was a 40-yard field that gave Cal a seven-point lead.
In between, Purcell scored on a 7-yard run with five minutes to play in the first quarter and Kenny Lewis had a scintillating 76-yard punt return with 3:42 remaining in the half for Cal.
Charleston would not quit, however, and even took a 13-10 lead after Hamric bulled over from two yards out and Caleb Barringer returned the kickoff following Purcell’s score 98 yards for a touchdown.
Keon Powell intercepted a Hamric pass near midfield and Cal drove to the 15, where Harry Radcliffe missed a field goal attempt. The football slammed into the left upright.
Purcell completed 9 of 15 passes for 93 yards. Cal tailback Bobby Boyd rushed for 94 yards on 11 carries. Zach Williams rushed for 102 yards on five carries for Charleston.