Cal Gets Shanghaied by Navy Reserve

Ben Fay wanted to create some confusion, and he certainly did.

The reserve quarterback, relegated to a backup role with the installation of the spread option offense, was inserted into the lineup in the fourth quarter Wednesday and scored two touchdowns that lifted Navy to a 42-38 victory over California in the Aloha Bowl.

The Midshipmen’s co-captain scored on runs of two and 10 yards--the latter with 1:41 left--but it was his passing that set the stage for the dramatic comeback victory.

Fay completed five of eight passes for 118 yards. Fay’s second rushing touchdown was set up by his biggest pass play of the game, a 52-yarder to Cory Schemm with two minutes left. Schemm wound up with five receptions for 194 yards.

“It’s nothing fancy,” Fay said of the triple-stack. “We run our basic plays off it. It’s a different look.

“If we confuse them a little, that’s good. That’s what we wanted to do.”

With Navy trailing, 38-28, and struggling after a fumble and interception, Fay replaced Chris McCoy and led drives of 80 and 84 yards.

“At the time, we needed a spark,” Coach Charlie Weatherbie said. “We were bogged down. Ben’s been in that situation before, so it wasn’t anything new to him.”

The Midshipmen (9-3) had 646 yards of offense, 395 through the air. McCoy was nine of 13 for 277 yards before being replaced.

“They came at us with the weird offense and they made a couple of big plays off it and got a couple of scores,” Cal Coach Steve Mariucci said.

The teams combined for 63 points in the first half with California (6-6) holding a 35-28 lead.

Cal totaled 434 yards of offense. Pat Barnes completed 27 of 37 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns. But Barnes’ fumble led to the winning score.

“I was going for the first down and I was stretching out,” he said. “I thought my knee was down, and the ball squirmed out shortly after that. But you can’t second-guess the officials’ call. That’s how the game goes.”

Cal’s Deltha O’Neal returned the opening kickoff a bowl-record 100 yards. It bettered the mark of 94 yards set by Hema Heimuli of Brigham Young in 1992.