Shepherd pulls away in second half to hand Cal first loss
California scored on its opening possession at Shepherd Saturday, but couldn’t find its footing on offense the rest of the day.
The Rams (3-0) discovered their scoring touch late and pulled away for a 28-7 win over the Vulcans (2-1) in a PSAC crossover game.
Shepherd took the lead for good with 33 seconds in the third quarter when Daryl Harper caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Michael Hardyway. The pair also connected on a 45-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
A special teams mishap cost the Vulcans. They had a punt blocked and Corey Lawrence returned it 11 yards for a touchdown with 9:36 remaining.
Noah Mitchell added a 2-yard touchdown with 2:14 remaining to close the scoring.
Bobbie Boyd scored on a five-yard run for Cal three minutes into the contest, which capped a four-play 65 yard drive.
After that the Vulcans were limited to 205 yards the rest of the game and turned the ball over three times.
Two of those turnovers were interceptions by Eric Gibson Jr., who was 25 of 38 passing for 165 yards.
Allegheny 38, Waynesburg 20
Waynesburg held the lead in the third quarter against Allegheny, but the Gators scored three touchdowns on defense in the second half to secure a 38-20 win in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener Saturday night in Meadville.
Coltin Colucci had a 37-yard interception return, Cortlon Campbell recovered a fumble in the end zone and Ashton Chambers returned an interception 41 yards for Allegheny.
The game was tied 7-7 at halftime and a Luke Hudson 12-yard touchdown pass to Landown Cawley gave the Yellow Jackets a 14-7 lead four-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter.
A 20-yard field goal cut the deficit to 14-10 before Colucci’s interception gave the Gators the lead.
Waynesburg (0-1, 0-3) retook the lead when Cawley scored on a six-yard run early in the fourth quarter, but Allegheny (1-0, 3-0) scored the game’s final 21 points.
D’ante Washington had what proved to be the game-winning score on a 1-yard run with 7:27 remaining. Campbell’s fumble recovery and Chambers’ interception return followed.
Both teams finished with negative yards rushing. Waynesburg had -4 yards on 27 attempts, while Allegheny finished at -10 yards on 24 attempts.