The longest yards: Keir goes all in for Cal’s victory
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Cal’s Jalen Bell (13) will get more carries this season as the Vulcans’ most experienced running back.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter Cal U’s Chad Livingston (80) battles for yardage after making a catch against Seton Hill Saturday at Adamson Stadium.
Instead, the Vulcans (1-0, 4-0) will enter the most challenging portion of their schedule with a game at Slippery Rock Saturday and another at Indiana Oct. 7 following a bye week.
”After they scored (to take the lead), one of the things I told our guys was we’re built for this. We do it every day in practice,” said Keir of the hurry-up offense. “We just have to stay cool and run our offense. We didn’t take anything out of our back pocket. … We had 3:45 left and two timeouts. That’s perfect for us.”
Cal started its game-winning drive after Seton Hill scored two touchdowns in a span of 52 seconds. Senior quarterback Christian Strong threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Michael Elardo and a 57-yard bomb to Cinque Sweeting that gave the Griffins (0-1, 0-4) a 41-37 lead. In between those scores, Seton Hill recovered two onside kicks. The first was negated by a penalty but the Griffins lined up five yards back and executed it perfectly again.
On the game-winning play, Keir had tight end Dylan Stallings open in the back of the end zone but also had a running lane to the goal line. He chose the latter.
”So many things can go wrong when you throw the ball,” said Keir. “Coach told me a pigeon could come out of the sky and hit it and it won’t be good.”
Seton Hill rolled up 613 total yards with Strong, a 6-4, 215-pounder who has drawn interest from the New York Jets, Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins. He threw for 3,318 yards last season, tops in NCAA Division II. Strong completed 29 of 48 passes against Cal for 476 yards and five touchdowns. Elardo caught two of them with his eight catches for 188 yards.
Still, Cal was resilient.
”I have total confidence in our offense,” said Cal head coach Gary Dunn. “I know what kind of leader Mike Keir is. I went over to (the offense) and tried to pick them up (for the final drive) but they said, ‘Coach, we’re ready to play.’ … Our kids believe.”
For as good as the Griffins’ offense performed, the defense was just as porous, allowing 199 rushing yards and five touchdowns, all on the ground. Nick Grissom rambled for 129 yards on 21 carries and scored twice. Jimmy Wheeler carried four times for 15 yards and each carry came in succession when Cal had the ball at the SHU 15. His four-yard TD run up the middle gave Cal a 37-28 lead with 6:09 to play.
Jalen Bell, who left the game in the second quarter with what appeared to be a knee injury, returned and ran the ball to the 2-yard line, setting up Keir’s game-winner.
”Our defense struggled, struggled,” said Seton Hill head coach Isaac Curtis. “Giving up 17 points in the fourth quarter hurt. The table was set to knock off the No. 5 team in the country and we didn’t get it done.”
Seton Hill’s defense has struggled all year, coming into the game allowing a total of 155 points in three games and leaving Adamson Stadium with an average of 50 points allowed per game. Keir passed for 273 yards on 22 of 35 completions but all five Cal touchdowns came on running plays.
Cal built a 24-14 halftime lead on the first of three William Brazill field goals. Grissom gave Cal a 14-0 lead on a pair of 2-yard runs and Bell made it 21-7 on a 6-yard run in the second quarter.