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EAST STROUDSBURG – All-America wide receiver Thomas Mayo caught a 75-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-10 from the 25-yard line with 3:12 left in the fourth quarter as No. 21-ranked California overcame a valiant effort by East Stroudsburg University to escape Eiler-Martin Stadium with a 22-19 win on Saturday night.

Mayo, a transfer from Concord (WV), had 12 catches for 201 yards, but none bigger than the last-ditch effort after quarterback Peter Lalich threw three straight incompletions following an interception by Erik Harris deep in Vulcans territory. Lalich hit Mayo for the two-point conversion and a 22-19 lead.

Darnell Harding ended ESU's next possession with an interception, but the Warriors came up with their second goal-line stand of the fourth quarter with 38 seconds left. ESU gained one first down before turning the ball over on downs at its 25, and Lalich kneeled down to end the game.

The Warriors came within inches of upsetting the six-time PSAC West champions thanks to an opportunistic offense and a defense that held Cal to 1-for-7 on red zone opportunities. Cal kicker Cody Nuzzo missed three field goals in the first half and ESU had a forced fumble at the goal line, a fourth-down stand at the 18 and the final goal line stand at the end.

ESU trailed 14-3 at halftime before scoring 16 straight points in the third quarter to take a 19-14 lead. Redshirt senior quarterback Ray Wagner hit sophomore wide receiver Dusty Reed for a four-yard TD pass, redshirt sophomore John Schubert made a 35-yard field goal, and sophomore fullback Darius Jackson plunged in from one yard out to complete a 7-play, 61-yard drive to give the Warriors their first lead of the game with 2:19 left in the third quarter.

The Warriors defense forced turnovers on three of California's first eight plays of the second half. Redshirt senior linebacker Taylor Cave had an interception to set up the 8-play, 45-yard drive that led to Reed's TD catch, Cave recovered a fumble after a bad snap which led to the field goal, and Mayo fumbled after a 25-yard reception to give the Warriors the ball back for the go-ahead drive.

Wagner was 24-for-44 for 263 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions to give him 961 yards through the first three games – the third-most passing yards by a quarterback in school history. Reed caught seven passes for 106 yards, junior tailback Kendrick Williams had five catches for 36 yards and freshman Ray Dominguez had four catches for 70 yards in his career debut. Redshirt sophomore Robert Bleiler, the No. 6 receiver in the PSAC, missed the game due to injury.

Williams ran for 94 yards on 20 carries and returned the opening kickoff 20 yards, giving him 150 all-purpose yards and more than 2,000 in his career.

Lalich was 29-for-45 for 384 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for Cal, which improves to 2-1 after a 41-13 win over C.W. Post last week and a 26-3 loss to nationally-ranked St. Cloud State (Minn.) in its season opener. ESU limited the Cal running game to 97 yards on 36 carries. Lamont Smith ran for 107 yards on 24 carries.

The Warriors fall to 1-2 going into their PSAC East opener next Saturday at West Chester at 6 p.m. ESU won its opener, 56-14 over Pace on Sept. 1, before falling 28-13 at IUP in its first PSAC crossover last weekend.

GAME NOTES
* ESU head coach Denny Douds coached his 389th career game, moving within four games of tying the Division II record for most games coached. He will tie the record on Oct. 15 vs. C.W. Post and set it on Oct. 22 vs. Millersville. He entered the game tied for 19th on the all-division list with Lou Holtz.
* Douds will coach his 200th career road game next week at West Chester. The Warriors are 108-88-3 on the road since 1974.
* Douds has a career record of 230-156-3. California head coach John Luckhardt improves to 217-68-2, including 80-31 in his 10th season at Cal. The Vulcans are 41-6 in regular season games since 2007, including three wins over ESU.
* The all-time series is tied 3-3-1. The two schools tied, 28-28, in the 1968 state game. The Warriors won the next three meetings, most recently 41-34 over No. 25 California in 2006, but have dropped the last three.
* ESU falls to 5-3 in night games at Eiler-Martin Stadium. The Warriors won their previous night game over a top 25 program, beating No. 25 Virginia Union, 14-11, in the 2008 season opener.
* ESU is 1-7 in its last eight games vs. ranked opponents, and 10-14 vs. ranked teams since the AFCA poll began in 2000.
* Both teams attempted 45 passes, just the 3rd time in 389 games under Douds that both teams have reached that mark in a game. The other two came in 1996 when the Warriors beat West Chester and Cheyney within three weeks.

* The Warriors lost despite forcing 5 turnovers for the second time since 2002. ESU forced 5 turnovers in a 42-24 loss vs. C.W. Post in 2009.
* Cal's first four possessions of the second half ended in turnovers. Two of the next three were turnovers on downs. The Vulcans' only scoring drive of the second half was the 75-yard TD to Mayo.
* Mayo had the sixth 200-yard receiving game against the Warriors under Douds (since 1974). He is the 10th player with at least 12 catches. Lalich's 384 passing yards are fifth-most by an ESU opponent.
* Culbreath had his second interception of the season and Cave had the fifth interception of his career.
* ESU has held opponents to 5-for-13 on red zone opportunities through the first three games this season.
* Fr. FS Kevin Antol had 12 tackles and a forced fumble. Sr. LB Mike Bergey added 11 tackles and the forced fumble at the goal line in the 4th quarter. So. OLB Derek Brown, tied for 3rd in the PSAC with 10.0 tackles per game, had 6 tackles, 2.0 for a loss and a sack. R-Fr. DT Bryan Thomson also had his first career sack.

* Two true freshmen made their first career start on offense. Pete Wolmart started at left tackle, the third true freshman to start on the offensive line since 2005, replacing R-So. LG Greg Blue (injury). Ray Dominguez started at wide receiver, replacing the injured R-So. Robert Bleiler (10 catches, 217 yards, 2 TD in 2 games). R-So. WR David Radziak also did not play due to injury.
* R-Sr. Zach Sarginger started at left guard, his fourth different starting position on the offensive line. Sarginger made his 25th career start and has made 11 starts at RG, 8 at LT and 5 at RT.
* R-Sr. Dan Caffrey made his 37th straight start at center, R-Jr. Wrenton Wright made his 25th career start and R-Jr. Seve Rivers made his 23rd career start.

* R-Sr. QB Ray Wagner has continued his record-setting start to his only year as a starter. His 961 passing yards are the third-most through three games in school history behind two legendary seasons. Jimmy Terwilliger threw for 1,188 yards through three games in 2005, when he won the Harlon Hill Award, and Damian Poalucci threw for 1,178 yards in 1996, when he was third in the Harlon Hill voting and set multiple ESU, PSAC and NCAA Division II records.
* Wagner threw for 375 and 323 yards in the first two games before throwing for 263 on Saturday night. Terwilliger remains the only ESU QB to throw for 300 yards in three straight games, with a run of eight straight spanning the 2004-05 seasons and separate streaks of three straight in 2003 and 2005.
* Wagner has not been sacked in 115 pass attempts this season. He has 63 completions for a rate of 54.3 percent, 7 TDs and 5 interceptions.
* Wagner led Division II with 349.0 passing yards per game entering the game, one yard (698 to 697) ahead of Mercyhurst QB Travis Rearick.

* Jr. TB Kendrick Williams (20 carries, 94 yards) nearly had his second 100-yard game of the season and the fourth of his career. He also caught 5 passes for 36 yards, becoming the fifth ESU player in Douds' 389 career games with 20 carries and 5 catches in a game. Zach Krise did it in 2009 at Gannon (29 carries, 5 catches), the first three were Pete Radocha (1975 at Cheyney), Harold Strunk (1977 at Bloomsburg) and Joe Pawloski (1996 at Bloomsburg).
* Williams has 1,316 yards rushing, 414 yards receiving and 278 yards on kick returns for 2,008 all-purpose yards (in his 21st career game), becoming the 29th player in Douds' 38th season to reach the milestone. He can become the 16th player under Douds to run for 1,500 yards in the next few weeks.
* Williams has 212 yards rushing, 91 receiving and 194 on kick returns for an average of 165.7 all-purpose yards per game this season. He was 3rd in the PSAC at 173.5 yards per game last week.

* So. WR Dusty Reed (7 catches, 106 yards, TD) had his second 100-yard game in three games this season. He had 5 catches for 136 yards and 2 TDs vs. Pace and 4 catches for 86 yards last week at IUP. He leads the Warriors with 16 catches for 328 yards and 3 TDs this season. His yardage is the most in the first three games of a season since Jeff Giglio (20 catches, 357 yards, 2 TDs) in 2008.

* R-So. K John Schubert made field goals of 37 yards in the 2nd quarter and 35 yards in the 3rd quarter to improve to 4-for-6 on the season. He is 10-for-10 on extra points.
* Schubert is 4-for-5 from inside 40 yards, missing from 34 yards on the first drive of the season vs. Pace, after So. K Taylor Groff was 12-for-12 inside 40 on his way to a school-record 16 field goals as a freshman last season. Groff has missed the first three games due to an injury in preseason camp.
* Fr. P Jordan Bair averaged 39.2 yards on four punts with a long of 45. He is averaging 38.9 yards on 10 punts this season.