Sep 10, 2023 By Joe Tuscano for The Observer-Reporter newsroom@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read

CALIFORNIA – Life without Noah Mitchell began in earnest Saturday afternoon at Adamson Stadium.

And there had to be a host of people who wanted him back. At least in the first half.

Mitchell completed his fifth and final season at quarterback last year and graduated with a basket full of school records.

Mitchell’s replacement on this Saturday was Davis Black, a transfer student from Charleston (W.Va.).

Black was bad in the first half but good in the second half, rallying Cal to a 31-20 victory over Kutztown in an East vs. West battle in the PSAC.

California had its opener with Alderson-Broaddus cancelled 10 days ago when the school decided to close. Kutztown dropped its opener 31-20 at Assumption. Cal outscored Kutztown 24-0 in the fourth quarter.

“First-half jitters,” said Cal head coach Gary Dunn. “We just didn’t play well. We had mistakes on both sides of the ball. We went in at halftime and I told the guys everything that happened we did to ourselves. I turned to the defense and said we blew a couple assignments, and we didn’t tackle well. Kutztown is a good football team, but we spotted them 30 minutes of the game.”

Anthony Beito began the comeback with a 35-yard field goal that cut Kutztown’s lead to 20-10 in the fourth quarter. Eight minutes later, Eric Willis II caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Black to pull Cal to within three points, 20-17. Black scored the game-winner on a two-yard run with 57 seconds left to play.

Black finished the game completing 19 of 26 passes for 192. He went 14 of 17 for 175 yards in the second half.

“We came out a little bit slow,” Black said. “As the offense went, we had the first-game jitters. After that we settled in, and I knew our defense would step up. Being an older guy, I still had some first-game jitters myself. We had a lot of new guys but we’re not young. It was just a matter of everyone coming together.”

Cal recovered a fumble after Black’s touchdown run and Eric McKann III scored his second touchdown of the game on a three-yard run with 20 seconds to play. Ibrahim Samogo forced one fumble, had two quarterback sacks and had 4 1/2 tackles for losses for Cal.

Kutztown dominated the first half, opening a 20-7 lead as Judd Novak hit Sincere Thomas with a 17-yard scoring pass six minutes into the game.

Novak would later find tight end Nick Lovenguth from three yards out to spread the Kutztown lead to 13 points.

“They won the game,” said Kutztown head coach Jim Clements. “They played four quarters. Did we play better in the first half? Yes. But they outscored us 24-0 in the fourth quarter. We got off the field on third down and were able to move the ball a little bit.”

Black, meanwhile, completed only five of nine attempts for 17 yards and had one intercepted in the first half.

The lone bright spot for Cal in the first 30 minutes was a 65-yard touchdown run by McKann III eight minutes into the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7.

But Kutztown positioned itself for two field goals in a span of 8:36 by Dawson Evits. The first one was from 25 yards, the second from 32.

Cal only managed three first downs in the half and just 98 total yards. Kutztown tore up the Cal defense for 248 yards, 159 through the air and 89 on the ground.

Hash marks

McKann led all rushers with 97 yards rushing. Kutztown’s Darryl Davis-McNeil rushed for 91 yards on 20 carries. Novak completed 16 of 27 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. … Kutztown linebacker Kam Wolf had a team-high eight tackles and Cal free safety Jacob Seigle had nine.