Nov 8, 2014 5 min read

ERIE – A season full of promise for California University’s football team was swept into the shadows Saturday afternoon.

The Vulcans, coming off a week in which they were forced to forfeit a game after a group of their players alledgedly attacked a man outside a California restaurant, took another hit on a wind-crossed field at Mercyhurst University.

Brendan Boylan, a junior from Independence, Ohio, completed 37 of 49 passes and set school records with six touchdowns and 544 yards, as Mercyhurst beat Cal for the third straight time, 59-49, at Tullio Field.

Boylan overshadowed the play of Cal quarterback James Harris, who completed 21 of 42 passes for a school-record 473 yards. Garry Brown set a record with 282 receiving yards, the mark previously held by Pete Gialames in 1968. Harris broke Kevin McCabe’s mark of 433 passing yards in the 2008 PSAC championship game.

The loss cost Cal a chance to play Bloomsburg in the State Game next week for the PSAC championship. Slippery Rock, which finished tied with Gannon for first place in the West Division, gets that honor. Cal (6-3, 7-3) will host Lock Haven in the regular-season finale next week.

The Vulcans are not expected to be invited to play in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Lakers (6-3, 6-4) took advantage of the Vulcans missing three of their top cornerbacks: Rodney Gillin and Corey Ford, who were involved in the fight with four other players and were suspended from the team, and Aaron Terry, who was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected from a win over Clarion two weeks ago.

“There was no one in America who thought we had a chance in that game today because of (the forfeit),” said Cal head coach Mike Kellar. “We haven’t played well here, we hadn’t played in two weeks, we were out of our routine, out of rhythm. I knew the character of these kids. I knew when we were down (45-28) that we would make a run. I knew they wouldn’t quit.”

Not only were the Vulcans forced to forfeit the game to Gannon, but the program was put under review by the administration and a zero-tolerance policy was put in place by interim president Geraldine Jones.

The university would not allow Kellar to talk specifically about the attack or make players available for interviews after the game.

“The kids in that (locker) room, it’s not their fault for some of the actions of a few a week ago,” he said. “This group showed their character. They came off a week where they didn’t play, were under all that scrutiny and were down all those points in the second half. If that doesn’t show their character, nothing did.”

Cal held a 17-14 halftime lead but was outscored by Mercyhurst 21-0 in the third quarter. At one point, Cal trailed by 17 points in the fourth quarter but rallied to cut the Lakers’ lead to 52-49 before running out of time and chances.

“We told (our players) to focus on football because they couldn’t solve any of the problems of the past week,” Kellar said. “That wasn’t their job. Their job was to live right, go to class, do their weightlifting and think about playing football. Getting them to think like that takes a lot of preaching, but that’s all you can do. There is nothing they can do about the past; they can’t change it.”

The two teams combined for 1,017 passing yards and 1,235 total yards. They also combined for seven fourth-quarter touchdowns as neither defense was able to make stops.

“Obviously, the game was not a distraction but leading up to it, everything was different,” Kellar said. “But that’s not why we lost. (Mercyhurst was) smart enough to see that our top three cornerbacks were not here today. We got two good kids there but they hadn’t (started) all season long. (Boylan) is a tough kid. We hit him a few times, but he stood in there and made plays.”

Stephen Yarbrough had 12 receptions for a school-record 238 yards and three touchdowns. He and Boylan helped Mercyhurst to a school-record 640 total yards.

“He made so many plays for us from the beginning,” said Mercyhurst head coach Marty Schaetzle. “You could tell he was in a zone from the start.”

Brown had three touchdowns in the fourth quarter for Cal, hooking up with Harris from 76, 75 and 47 yards. His last TD came with 6:16 to play. But Mercyhurst drove down the field and reached the Cal 3-yard line with just over a minute to play and holding a 52-49 lead. Cal’s defense allowed Alex Misterman to score because it was out of timeouts and needed the ball back.

But Colin Kimball intercepted Harris with 54 seconds to play to end it.

“Our job from here is go home, play Lock Haven and get eight victories,” Kellar said. “We have 90 percent of the team returning. I feel bad for the handful of seniors who will be playing their last game. It’s not fair to them. We would have like to come out of here with a league championship but it wasn’t meant to be for whatever reason.”

Tailback Terrell Roberson had 42 rushing yards and three touchdowns. … Mercyhurst’s top two running backs – Brandon Brown-Dukes and Drew Robinson – were injured during the game and did not return. … Kowan Scott had five receptions for 99 yards and a TD. … Patrick Frey, a freshman from McGuffey High School, was on the sidelines but did not play.