Cal finally figured out a way to win an Atlantic Coast Conference game it seemed determined to let slip away.
Ryan Coe kicked a pair of 54-yard field goals and linebacker Liam Johnson, a transfer from Princeton, intercepted a pass with 1:54 to play and the Bears held on for a 46-36 victory at Wake Forest on Friday night.
In their first year in their new league, the Bears (5-4, 1-4) had lost four straight ACC games by a total of nine points. This one seemed headed in that direction in the fourth quarter after Cal led 29-14 at halftime.
Coe kicked his second 54-yard field goal for a 39-29 lead with 6:39 left, and the Bears needed all three points.
Wake answered with a 12-play, 84-yard drive to pull within 39-36 with 3:57 to play, scoring on a 2-yard plunge by Tate Carney.
The Wake defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back at its own 17-yard line with 2:16 left. Then, just as the Demon Deacons (4-5, 2-3) seemed positioned to come back, Johnson stepped in front of a pass by Hank Bachmeier and picked it off.
The Bears tried to run the clock out and, on third-and-5 from the Wake 11-yard line, Jaivian Thomas dashed around left end into the end zone with 44 seconds left to provide some breathing room.
Fernando Mendoza completed 40 of 56 passes for a career-high 385 yards with two touchdowns.
“It wasn’t pretty, certainly in the second half,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said in an on-field TV interview. “But Im really proud of our team for finding a way at the end.”
Wake, which was outgained 350 yards to 130 in the first half, pulled within 29-21 when Bachmeier fired a 45-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Donovan Greene with 7:43 left in the third quarter.
The Demon Deacons forced Cal to punt and drove into range for a long field goal. But Cal’s TJ Bollers blocked it and Nohl Williams recovered at the Wake 28-yard line with 2:38 left in the third. Earlier, Williams secured his NCAA-leading seventh interception.
On second-and goal from the 5, Cal faked a jet sweep and Mendoza dashed up the middle untouched for the TD with 18 seconds left in the third for a 36-21 lead.
Still it wasn’t over. Wake answered with an 11-play, 84-yard drive and trailed just 36-29 when Bachmeier scored on a 4-yard keeper then passed to Harry Lodge for the two-point conversation with 11:46 left in the fourth quarter.
Cal led 29-14 at halftime of a wildly entertaining game, but the Bears settling for field goals three times kept the door open for Wake.
Mendoza completed 30 of 40 passes for 289 yards in the first half, becoming just the fourth quarterback in 10 years to complete 30 passes in a half against an FBS opponent.
He connected with 10 different receivers. Among them were the two long-awaited transfers, making their first appearances all season due to injuries.
Kyion Grayes (Ohio State) caught two passes for 22 yards and Tobias Merriweather (Notre Dame) caught five for 45 yards. Included in Merriweather’s catches was a 5-yard touchdown that made it 26-14 with 1:30 left in the half. Cal then failed on a two-point conversion try.
The Bears’ defense forced a punt and the offense started at its now 24 with 52 seconds and one timeout remaining. Mendoza completed five straight passes before Coe came on to kick a season-long 54-yard field goal — slipping it barely over the crossbar and just inside the right upright — as time expired.
Coe had lost his placekicking job to freshman Derek Morris three weeks ago but will be used on long field goals. Morris made field goals of 29 and 38 yards, giving him seven over the past two games.
The first of those provided the Bears a 3-0 lead on their first drive and that margin jumped to 10-0 when Hunter Barth wrestled the ball from kick return man Demond Claiborne and Miles Williams scooped it up and ran 15 yards into the end zone and the Bears led 10-0 at 9:54 after putting up 10 points in a span of nine seconds.
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Wake closed to 10-7 after Mendoza’s first interception in four games. The Demon Deacons went 30 yards in five plays before Claiborne piled in from the 1 with 3:49 left in the first quarter.
Mendoza’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Mikey Matthews push the Cal lead back to 17-7 with 13:26 left in the second quarter and a field goal by Morris made it 20-7 with 9:21 left.
Wake Forest used some trickery to get closer, with Bachmeier taking a lateral after a wildcat snap and delivering a 44-yard TD pass to Claiborne with 3:50 left in the half.