CHEYNEY, Pa. (Sept. 10) – In the initial game under first-year head coach Gary Dunn, the Vulcans scored their most points in over a decade with nine players scoring at least one touchdown in a dominating 79-3 victory at Cheyney on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the California University of Pennsylvania football team opens the year with a 1-0 mark. Meanwhile, Cheyney falls to 1-1 overall after starting the season with an overtime victory last week, which snapped a 43-game losing streak.

Junior quarterback Michael Keir (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) finished with five touchdown passes and 215 passing yards in his first career start. He completed 10-of-12 attempts against the Wolves after entering the game with only eight career pass attempts. Keir led the offense to a touchdown on each of his seven drives while playing only two-plus quarters.

Senior wide receiver Garry Brown (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) totaled 99 receiving yards on just three receptions with two touchdowns. He moved past both Vic Shandor (1989-92) and Chedrick Cherry (2008-11) for second place in school history with 23 career receiving touchdowns. Additionally, Brown also surpassed Shandor for fourth all-time in school history with 2,385 receiving yards.

Defensively, the Vulcans limited the Wolves to 168 yards of total offense with just 11 rushing yards on 34 attempts. Linebackers Luke Hrapchak (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont Senior) and Brendan Blair (McKees Rocks, Pa./Sto-Rox) returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back drives early in the third quarter. Senior linebacker Jordan Lardani (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) registered with 3.5 TFL and 2.0 sacks, while sophomore defensive back Vincent Alimenti (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock South) and junior linebacker Corey Bopp (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) tied for the team lead with five tackles.

Cal U utilized a balanced rushing offense with four players accounting for at least 40 rushing yards, as the team finished with 291 yards on 31 attempts – a staggering average of 9.4 yards per attempt. Junior Nick Grissom (Cincinnati, Ohio/Winton Woods), who missed all of last season due to injury, finished with a game-high 109 yards and one touchdown on only six carries. Sophomore Jalen Bell (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) rushed for 64 yards and one touchdown on eight attempts in his college debut, while junior Aaron Bailey (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) finished with 55 rushing yards and one score on nine carries. Sophomore Jimmy Wheeler (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) posted 44 rushing yards on just three carries in the victory.

Keir connected with Brown for touchdowns on the opening two drives of the game for the Vulcans before Bell capped a drive late in the first quarter to give Cal U a 21-0 lead. Early in the second quarter, Keir found senior running back Ryan McCauley (Seven Fields, Pa./Seneca Valley) for an 18-yard touchdown before completing a 29-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tom Greene (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) with 5:33 left before halftime. The Vulcans closed the scoring in the first half when Keir threw a four-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jordan Dandridge (Duluth, Ga./Duluth) with only 56 seconds left in the second quarter.

Bell returned the opening kickoff of the second half to the Cheyney 1-yard line before Grissom scored on the next play. Hrapchak halted the ensuing Wolves possession with a 15-yard interception return for a touchdown on the first play of the drive. Just three plays from later, Blair registered a 20-yard interception return for touchdown with 12:35 left in the third quarter. On the next possession, Cheyney took a safety on a poor snap on a punt attempt to give the Vulcans a 65-3 lead. The Vulcans then moved the ball to the Cheyney 1-yard line on a 20-plus yard rush before a fumble on the play was recovered in the end zone by Dandridge. Cal U scored 30 points in the third quarter, all within a span of 5 minutes, 18 seconds.

The Vulcans scored their final touchdown of the game on a 29-yard run by Bailey with 2:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Cal U returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, when it hosts Millersville at Adamson Stadium with kickoff at 1 p.m.

Notes:
The 79 points are the most in a game since an 88-12 win at Mansfield on Sept. 10, 2005 … The 76-point margin of victory on Saturday matches the largest margin in program history (Mansfield, 2005) … Dunn becomes the ninth head coach since 1950 to win his debut as head coach of the Vulcans … Cheyney finished with over a 17-minute advantage in time of possession in the loss