Sep 12, 2013 5 min read

Making the game-winning catch in any scenario is a thrilling accomplishment, but Mike Williams had one that was much sweeter than usual.

He made the game-clinching touchdown catch even though the cornerback defending him knew the play.

“The cornerback was saying, ‘Here it comes. Here it comes,'” said Williams. “He knew that play, but there was no way I was coming down without the football.”

Williams’ leaping catch in the end zone with 50 seconds to play secured California University’s 22-19 come-from-behind victory over Hillsdale Saturday.

The play covered only five yards, but it could set the tone for the season.

“We’ve called that play before, and it’s been a money-maker for us,” said Williams, a senior who finished with six catches for 48 yards.

“That was the play I scored my second touchdown on them last year.”

Cal trailed 13-0 at halftime but outscored Hillsdale, 22-6, over the final 30 minutes. Hillsdale did march down the field in the final 50 seconds and got within field goal range. But a 48-yarder by Steven Mette, who made two in the first half, was wide left.

Williams finished last season with 73 receptions for 1,006 yards and 10 touchdowns. His presence in the lineup is critical for the Vulcans, who lost quarterback Peter Lalich, tailback Lamont Smith and tight end Blake Williamson to graduation.

“I’ve had leadership thrown upon me this year,” Williams said. “I tried to be a leader last year, but I’m not vocal. I don’t talk much, but I showed it at practice and in games.”

Williams TD catch capped a strong first game for Schroeder, who replaced an injured Lalich last season and started four times. Schroeder completed 26 of 37 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns against Hillsdale. He was picked off twice.

“It was big to win on the road,” Williams said. “This a whole new team with a lot of new faces. We’ve been going against our own guys, and that gets old. The Hillsdale crowd didn’t faze use. We showed what we’re capable of.”

Next up is the home-opener against Kutztown, a team that has dominated Cal in the nine-game series (7-1-1) but dropped a 48-45 decision to the Vulcans last season. Kutztown lost to Clarion, 39-38, in overtime last week. The Bears are quarterbacked by a true freshman, Alec Werner, who threw for 394 yards on 40 completions against Clarion.

The sick feeling left from last year’s 28-24 loss to St. John Fisher probably remains for the players at Washington & Jefferson.

The Presidents turned the ball over four times and gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

“They are a big, strong football team,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “They are a playoff team, and they will be much bigger than us.”

St. John Fisher – which has had 11 consecutive winning seasons, including last year’s 8-3 mark – gave up 445 total yards but made the big plays when it counted against W&J.

Sirianni was cautiously optimistic with the play of quarterback Matt Bliss in the season-opening 58-21 victory over Wooster. Bliss completed 27 of 33 passes for 312 yards and a touchdown. That was better than 27-of-42 effort that produced 227 yards and three interceptions against SJF last year.

“He was very accurate,” Sirianni said of Bliss in the Wooster game. “But it’s not going to matter if it’s just one game. He needs to do that over a consistent period of time.”

W&J’s running game was off and, well, running against Wooster with Dion Wiegand rambling for 128 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Ryan Ruffing contributed 77 yards on 12 attempts as W&J put up 222 rushing yards.

“It was a good start for them,” Sirianni said.

“It was a good first game. I don’t know about the defense. We gave up a lot of points and yards (387). But the good things are we got the win, we stayed healthy, and we played lots of kids.”

Wide receiver Alex Baroffio needs six receptions to become W&J’s career leader. He would pass David Ravida, who has 192. Baroffio is 902 yards away from the school’s career reception yardage record held by Ryan Silvis (2,249).

Waynesburg is heading into this game with momentum, thanks to the dramatic 23-yard touchdown reception of Bernie Thompson with 22 seconds to play in a 21-17 victory over Muskingum.

The Yellow Jackets have now won two in a row since W&J snapped a nine-game winning streak in the regular-season finale.

One problem area that popped up in the win over Muskingum was the running game, which produced just 76 yards on 26 carries, a 2.9-yard average. Jake Forsythe had a team-high 62 yards on 13 carries. Three others combined for 14 yards on 10 carries.

“We’re going to continue to try to find out who we are in the running game,” said Waynesburg head coach Rick Shepas. “We wanted to keep guys fresh. Our goal was to come through healthy, and our goal is to come back (in Week 2) with a better idea of our rotation.”

Frostburg State opened with a 47-3 loss to Geneva. The Bobcats were outscored 40-0 during the middle two quarters.

Waynesburg’s defense was sparked by safety Bryan Gary’s game-high 12 tackles and end Brandon Fedorka, who had two quarterback sacks and four tackles for losses.