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Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele throws a pass during the first half of Friday's game against North Carolina at Memorial Stadium. (Thien-An Truong/Getty Images)
Cal probably won't put its game against North Carolina at Memorial Stadium on Friday night into the proverbial time capsule, but the Bears won't have to bury it, either.
They did just enough to hold off Bill Belichick's Tar Heels 21-18.
The Bears improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC. That's Cal's best overall record through seven games of a season and best record through three conference games of a season in Justin Wilcox's nine-season tenure in Berkeley, but the Cal head coach clearly wasn't overjoyed by his team's performance Friday evening.
He said wins "are hard to come by, so we will celebrate a victory. Don't ever want to miss the opportunity to celebrate a victory, (but) we have to play much better football moving forward in every phase of the game. That's obvious."
Part of Wilcox's disappointment even with the win stemmed from the Bears committing nine penalties for 79 yards. They also had 294 yards of total offense, the second game in a row and third time in four games in which they failed to reach the 300-yard plateau.
Cal 21, North Carolina 18
| North Carolina | 7 | 3 | 0 | 8 | - | 18 |
| Cal | 14 | 0 | 7 | 0 | - | 21 |
First Quarter
CAL_Sagapolutele 3 run (Meyer kick), 12:48.
UNC_B.Hall 18 run (Verhoff kick), 4:48.
CAL_De Jesus 7 pass from Sagapolutele (Meyer kick), :42.
Second Quarter
UNC_FG Verhoff 41, 6:14.
Third Quarter
CAL_Raphael 2 run (Meyer kick), 9:22.
Fourth Quarter
UNC_Gause 4 run (B.Hall pass from Lopez), 12:14.
___
| UNC | CAL | |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 18 | 19 |
| Total Net Yards | 294 | 294 |
| Rushes-yards | 29-120 | 31-80 |
| Passing | 174 | 214 |
| Punt Returns | 3-19 | 2-2 |
| Kickoff Returns | 4-83 | 1-19 |
| Interceptions Ret. | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 19-35-0 | 22-40-0 |
| Sacked-Yards Lost | 1-1 | 2-16 |
| Punts | 6-42.0 | 8-36.75 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 2-2 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-46 | 9-80 |
| Time of Possession | 31:10 | 28:50 |
___
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING_North Carolina, B.Hall 14-68, Gause 6-31, Lopez 5-11, June 4-10. Cal, Raphael 22-81, L.Johnson 3-10, De Jesus 1-(minus 3), Sagapolutele 5-(minus 8).
PASSING_North Carolina, Lopez 19-35-0-174. Cal, Sagapolutele 21-39-0-209, Brown 1-1-0-5.
RECEIVING_North Carolina, Paysour 6-101, Shipp 4-14, Clower 3-33, Leacock 2-18, Cox 2-8, B.Hall 2-0. Cal, De Jesus 13-105, King 3-54, Raphael 2-15, Adams 1-18, Hamper 1-12, Mini 1-8, L.Johnson 1-2.
MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.
UNC, which had lost its previous three games against Power 4 schools by a combined score of 120-33, looked as if it would take its first lead of the night with less than four minutes remaining.
On 2nd-and-8 from the Cal 13, quarterback Gio Lopez connected with Nathan Leacock over the middle. Just before Leacock got to the goal line, defensive back Brent "Paco" Austin stripped the ball and recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.
The Bears were still up 21-18 with 3:48 remaining.
"That is an elite play," Wilcox said. "That's as good of an individual play as we've had this season."
Austin said, "I think that's the biggest play I've made in my whole career." He's a senior who spent last season at South Florida after two seasons at James Madison.
Longtime Cal fans will remember Marcus Ezeff making a similar play in the final minute of the Bears' 31-24 win at Oregon in 2007 when he stripped Cameron Colvin of the ball, which rolled through the end zone for a game-saving touchback.
After Austin's fumble recovery, Cal picked up two first downs and was able to run out all but the final six seconds. North Carolina (2-4, 0-2) took possession at its 19, and its last play - a multilateral effort - ended with a fumble recovered by Cal defensive back Dru Polidore Jr.
A fumble on the first play from scrimmage also benefited the benefited the Bears. Defensive back Cam Sidney forced and recovered a Clower fumble after a 7-yard completion. The Bears were in business at the UNC 25.
It took Cal four plays - all runs - to reach the end zone. Kendrick Raphael's three carries set up the Bears with a 1st-and-goal at the 3. From there, QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele rolled left and scored his second rushing touchdown of the season. Cal was up 7-0 barely two minutes into the game.
Sagapolutele was not as sharp as he had been in most of the Bears' previous games, but the freshman did complete 21 of 39 passes for 209 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers.
Senior wide receiver Jacob De Jesus was Sagapolutele's favorite target. De Jesus had 13 receptions for 105 yards, including a 7-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Carolina clearly played better than it had in its previous two games - losses to UCF (34-9) and Clemson (38-10) - but it still left Berkeley on a three-game skid.
"I thought we played with confidence, we competed hard and we showed toughness," Belichick said. "We just have to do some things fundamentally better, obviously."
That's a similar message to what Wilcox and his players were stating postgame - albeit after a victory.
"That wasn't a complete game by us by any means, far from it," De Jesus said. He added that the Bears would enjoy their win, but then would be looking back "at the mistakes we made, trying to (eradicate) those … so we can be a better team."
Luckhurst returns: Michael Luckhurst returned to the Cal roster for kickoffs Friday night. He had four kickoffs and only once did North Carolina begin the ensuing possession past its 21-yard line. With Abram Murray sidelined the previous three games, the Bears had issues on opponent kick returns.
Luckhurst struggled on field-goal attempts (3-for-9) as a freshman in 2023 and was not on the roster in 2024. He was on the soccer team last year. His father, Mick, was a kicker for Cal (1979-80) and the Atlanta Falcons (1981-87).
Briefly: The Bears play at Virginia Tech next Friday. The Hokies (2-5, 1-2) had a bye this weekend. … Raphael had 22 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. … The Bears have won all three meetings with the Tar Heels.
Steve Kroner is a freelance writer. Email: [email protected]; X: @SteveKronerSF
This article originally published at Cal, with key fumble recovery, survives scare from North Carolina at Memorial Stadium.
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