CALIFORNIA (Oct. 12) – Behind four touchdown passes by sophomore quarterback Noah Mitchell (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid), the Vulcans earned a 35-20 victory over Clarion on Homecoming at Adamson Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West action.

With the win, the California University of Pennsylvania football team improves to 4-2 overall and sits tied for second in the PSAC West standings with a 2-1 mark in league play. The Vulcans have won 14 of their last 15 Homecoming games. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles fall to 3-3 this season and are one of five teams with a 1-2 record in divisional action.

Mitchell tied his career high of four touchdowns and finished with 331 passing yards on 24-of-34 attempts and one interception. In the first half, he posted 191 passing yards on 13-of-15 attempts with two touchdowns while leading three scoring drives. Mitchell has posted 1,479 passing yards and 15 touchdown passes in six games this season.

Senior wide receiver Jordan Dandridge (Duluth, Ga./Duluth) set a career high with 10 receptions and totaled 125 yards with one touchdown on Saturday. Sophomore receiver Derrick Caraway (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) established career highs with 47 receiving yards, six receptions and three touchdowns, while junior wide receiver Tyson Hill (New Kensington, Pa./Valley) added 72 yards on four receptions.

Cal U limited the league's top-ranked rushing offense to only 51 rushing yards on 21 attempts after the Golden Eagles entered the weekend averaging 191.0 rushing yards per game. Redshirt freshman linebacker Noah Dillow (Alum Bank, Pa./Chestnut Ridge) set a career high with 11 tackles (seven solo) and posted 1.0 TFL and one pass break-up. Senior defensive lineman Jordan Scarbrough (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) and sophomore defensive lineman Gerald Brown (Duquesne, Pa./West Mifflin) both finished with six stops and Scarbrough registered 2.5 TFL and 0.5 sack.

The Vulcans scored on the game's opening possession when Mitchell found Dandridge for a 33-yard touchdown with 12:18 left in the first quarter. Clarion countered with a touchdown on its initial drive of the game and then recovered a fumble on the first play of the next drive by the Vulcans deep in Cal U territory. The Golden Eagles converted the turnover into a 37-yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead at the 4:47-mark of the first quarter.

Cal U capped a 15-play drive with a two-yard touchdown run by senior running back Nelson Brown (Salisbury, Md./Wicomico) with 12:03 left before halftime. The Vulcans converted four third downs on the drive. Clarion pinned Cal U inside its own-10-yard line on the next drive before the Vulcans mounted a six-minute drive with Mitchell finding Caraway for a three-yard touchdown with 1:53 left in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles then looked to trim the deficit with a field goal before a 34-yard attempt missed as time expired in the first half.

Midway through the third quarter, the Golden Eagles recovered a fumble on a punt after the ball deflected off a Cal U player. Clarion then cut the deficit to 21-13 with a 30-yard field goal with 7:32 left in the quarter. The Vulcans later responded with a four-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell to Caraway on third-and-goal with 31 seconds left in the third quarter, 28-13.

Cal U forced a pair of turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter before taking a 35-13 lead with 6:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. Mitchell found Nelson Brown for a 37-yard gain on the second play of the drive before Nelson Brown later posted a five-yard carry on a fourth-and-two. Two plays later, Mitchell capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Caraway. The Golden Eagles countered with a 28-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive after starting the drive with a 38-yard pass play.

The Vulcans then worked over three minutes off the clock before turning the ball over on downs with just over 90 seconds left. Sophomore defensive back Jermal Martin, Jr. (South Philadelphia, Pa./Academy Park) halted the last Clarion drive of the game with his team-leading third interception of the season on the first play of the drive.

Cal U returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 19, when it travels to face Gannon in Erie, Pennsylvania, at 12 p.m.
 
Notes:
Caraway is the first player with three receiving touchdowns in a game since Garry Brown in Week 9 of the 2016 season … Nelson Brown finished with a season-high 144 all-purpose yards after posting 80 rushing yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and 53 receiving yards on two receptions … Cal U scored a touchdown on all four of its trips to the red zone … The longest rush of the game was a 24-yard carry by the Clarion punter midway through the second quarter … The Vulcans have made at least one interception in all six games this season … Cal U finished with over a seven-minute advantage in time of possession