KUTZTOWN, Pa. – No. 11 Kutztown erased a 27-point first half deficit, but a 39-yard touchdown pass from Peter Lalich to Kowan Smith with 1:02 to play lifted No. 10 California to a 48-45 win.
 
KU's Kevin Morton (Abington, PA/Abington) continued his strong play, throwing for 359 yards and four touchdowns in the game.  His counterpart, Lalich threw for 398 yards and two scores. 
 
A two-yard run by Curtis Wortham (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) had put the Golden Bears ahead 45-41 with 1:51 to play, but the Vulcans went 67 yards in the next 49 seconds for the game-winner.
 
California (Pa.) had scored the game's first 27 points, before the Golden Bears reeled of 38 straight points to take the lead, 38-27, after the third quarter after a 10-yard scoring strike from Morton to Colby Tuell (Columbia, PA/Columbia).
 
After that, Jeff Knox scored a pair of rushing touchdowns for the Vulcans to put them on top 41-38 with 4:10 remaining in the game.
 
Wortham put KU back on top before Lalich and Smith capped the scoring. 
 
Kutztown turned the ball over on downs on its final possession, allowing the Vulcans to run out the clock.
 
During the early going, the game did not look like the barn burner it turned into.  Lamont Smith scored the first of three first quarter Cal touchdowns with a nine-yard run with 9:04 to go in the quarter.  Lalich threw a three-yard pass to Nadir Brown for a 13-0 lead and a seven-yard Cody Cook run put the Vulcans up 20-0 after the opening period.
 
A sneak by Lalich from one-yard out gave California a 27-0 lead with 11:59 to go in the opening half.
 
KU got on the scoreboard less than two minutes later, going 73 yards in four plays, with Morton throwing the first of his four touchdowns passes with a 19-yard toss to Brett Fox (Laureldale, Pa./Muhlenburg).
 
Sam Dixon-Dougan forced a fumble late in the second and Morton hit Mastromatto for a 16-yard touchdown with 2:26 left in the opening half to make it 27-14. 
 
The Vulcans quickly moved down the field, but a 33-yard field sailed wide, giving the Golden Bears the ball with 41 seconds left and 80 yards to go.  KU went into hurry up mode and a personal foul after an 18-yard pass from Morton to Zach Snyder (Lititz, PA/Warwick) allowed Jack Ruggieri (West Grove, PA/Avon Grove) to kick a 31-yard field to bring KU within 27-17 at the half.
 
KU took the opening kick in the second half and went 75 yards in seven plays to pull to within three after a 29-yard pass from Morton to Tuell made it 27-24. 
 
Later in the period, Lalich was intercepted by Matt Connors (Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity), who returned the pick to the Vulcan six yard line.  On the next play, Mastromatto found the end zone for a 31-27 KU lead.
 
On the next California possession, a second bad punt snap forced punter Andrew Cerett to throw the ball away and he was called for intentional grounding, allowing KU to take over at two.  A holding penalty pushed the Golden Bears back to the 12, but after a two-yard rush by Wortham, Morton found Tuell for the 11-point lead, 38-27, before California used a big fourth quarter to pick up the win.
 
Morton finished went 29-of-52 for his second consecutive day over 350 yards passing.  Tuell was his main target as the senior finished with 10 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.  Mastromatto had six catches for 59 yards and a score and also rushed for a touchdown in the game.  Fox caught five passes cover 86 yards. 
 
English Peay (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington) led the defense with 15 tackles including one for a loss.  Dixon-Dougan also reached double digits with a dozen stops. 
 
In addition to the interceptions by Connors and Ian Smith (Spring Grove, PA/Spring Grove), Greg Carroll (Unionville, PA/Unionville) also picked off a pass in the game.  Alex DiNolfi (Norristown, PA/Norristown) had nine tackles and recovered a fumble. 
 
California tallied 577 yards of offense in the game, led by Lalich's 398 yards passing on 30-of-59 passing.  Mike Williams caught nine passes for 138 yards in the game.  Lamont Smith topped 100 yards on the ground with 109 yards on 19 rushes.
 
Rodney Gillin had seven tackles to lead the Vulcans.  Darnell Harding had 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in the game. 
 
KU will look to bounce back next weekend with a road trip to Bloomsburg for a 2:30 p.m. kick off on September 15 in the Golden Bears' road opener.