INDIANA, Pa. – IUP sophomore receiver Duane Brown caught two touchdowns to help the 19th-ranked Crimson Hawks outscore Cal U by 14 points in the second half as they defeated their rivals 17-6 in the 11th annual Coal Bowl at George P. Miller Stadium Saturday afternoon.
 
Brown was part of a passing attack that totaled 313 yards as he caught four passes for 126 yards. Senior receiver JoJo Gause was named the Coal Bowl MVP after catching six passes for career-high 129 yards, with all six snags going for first downs.
 
The IUP defense gave up just 95 passing yards and sacked Cal U quarterback Noah Mitchell four times, pressuring him on several other drop backs. The Vulcans totaled 175 yards in the first half but the Crimson Hawks limited Cal U to just 55 second half yards, including 15 on 11 plays in the fourth quarter.
 
The Crimson Hawks begin the season 5-0 with their rivalry victory while Cal U dropped to 3-2.
 
The Vulcans were first on the board with a 28-yard field goal by Keaton Hier with just over three minutes left in the first.
 
IUP's first three drives of the game showed some promise but a rough start by quarterback Quinton Maxwell and the pass game resulted in just 75 yards.
 
The Vulcans possessed the ball for most of the first half with a run game that had 132 yards and averaged 6.6 per carry. Cal U owned the ball for 18:01 in the first half compared to IUP's 11:59.
 
The Crimson Hawks put together a nine-play drive at the end of the second quarter that advanced the ball to the Cal U 7-yard line but a 24-yard field goal attempt by Dillon Sarka was blocked to keep IUP off the board.
 
IUP picked up the pace early in the third quarter as Maxwell hit Brown for a 60-yard touchdown as the receiver flew past a double team for his second longest catch of the season.
 
A sack by Dondrea Tillman on Cal U's next possession seemed to turn the momentum even more in favor of the Crimson Hawks, but an 29-yard interception return by the Vulcans' Julian Cox set them up deep in IUP territory.
 
The IUP defense responded and a third down sack by Ernest Shockley forced a 37-yard field goal by Hier to make it a 7-6 game.
 
Scores came on the next two IUP possessions as the Crimson Hawks took control in the fourth. Sarka capped an 8-play, 69-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal before Maxwell and Brown hooked up for a 34-yard catch and run on a third-and-long with four minutes to play.
 
With the game already in hand, IUP's Drake Puffenbarger put the finishing touches on a win with the Crimson Hawks' fourth sack of Mitchell on the final play of the game.
 
Junior corner Nazir Streater helped limit Cal U's production through the air coming up for a season-high 11 tackles. Freshman defensive back Javonte Haynes had five tackles and broke up three passes while senior linebacker Nick Amendola and senior defensive back Shaq Jones also broke up passes.
 
Senior Damon Lloyd also had 11 stops, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble. He went over 300 tackles for his career.
 
Maxwell finished his day 15-of-31 for 313 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Although he completed under half of his passes, he averaged 20.9 yards per completion including six passes that went for more than 20 yards.
 
Notes
The Crimson Hawks are No. 19 in the AFCA Coaches' and No. 21 in the D2Football Media Top 25 polls … Cal U leads the all-time Coal Bowl series 7-4, with the Crimson Hawks winning four straight home games dating back to 2013 … The home team has won each game in this rivalry since 2012 … This is the first time since 2014 that two IUP players have tallied 100 receiving yards in a game (Drew Carswell and Walt Pegues vs. Slippery Rock) … Brown now has nine touchdown receptions (on 19 catches) in five games this season, the most since Drew Carswell had nine in 11 games in 2014 … Sarka tied Josh Telenko (2000-03) for fourth in IUP history with 29 made field goals … This is the first time Cal U has been held without a touchdown since a 17-3 loss to Slippery Rock on Oct. 15, 2011.
 
Up next
Today's win sets up an undefeated top-20 matchup at No. 10 Slippery Rock next week. The winner will be in the driver's seat for a PSAC West title and trip to the conference championship game. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
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