Fulmer, Frazier upset California
CALIFORNIA – Chase Fulmer caught three first-half touchdown passes from Brady Secrest and 11th-seed Frazier stunned sixth-seeded California 27-12 Friday night in a penalty-filled WPIAL Class A first-round playoff football game.
It was Frazier’s first playoff victory in more than a decade.
Fulmer hauled in scoring passes of 6, 33 and 64 yards in the first half as Frazier (7-4) forged a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.
Malachi Peak, California’s 1,000-yard running back, was injured on the fifth play of the game and never returned to action. Things only got worse for the Trojans from that point.
Frazier, aided by two California penalties, drove 73 yards in 12 plays for the game’s first score. Fulmer caught a six-yard toss from Secrest, and after California (9-2), the Tri-County South Conference champion, was penalized on the extra-point kick, Frazier opted to try for two points. Derek Diamond ran in the conversion to give Frazier an 8-0 lead.
After draining more than seven minutes off the clock on its opening possession, Frazier surprised California with an onside kick and the Commodores recovered. The surprise offering didn’t lead to points, however, as the teams exchanged pass interceptions, Eli Carpenter for California and Fulmer for Frazier. The latter set up a 33-yard TD pass to Fuller that put Frazier up 15-0 in the second quarter.
On Frazier’s next possession, Fuller got behind the California secondary down the left sideline for a 64-yard TD pass and 21-0 lead.
California finally scored when Alan Dennis broke off a 67-yard touchdown run with only 19 seconds left in the first half, cutting Frazier’s lead to 21-6.
Frazier took the second-half kickoff and just as they did in the first half, the Commodores forged a long 12-play touchdown drive. Diamond capped it with a three-yard plunge that made the score 27-6.
California cut the deficit to 15 points in the fourth quarter when Logan Hartley threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Landon Abercrombie.
California was penalized 13 times for 95 yards.