Transfers Kevin McCabe and Marcel Pestano put on a dazzling display of their Division I talents in their Division II debuts to lead fifth-ranked California to a 44-32 victory against visiting No. 15 West Chester yesterday before 5,200 at Adamson Stadium.

McCabe, who played sporadically the past four years while earning an undergraduate degree at Virginia, completed 30 of 36 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

Pestano, a senior who had 44 receptions at Pitt but decided to leave school when the coaches went to a youth movement and cut his playing time after a loss to Navy last season, had 11 catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns.

"Football is football no matter who you're playing against," Pestano said.

"I try to go full-speed in practice and on every play and try not to bring myself down to this level ... play like I did at Pitt. Pitt has great athletes. California has great athletes."

McCabe and Pestano are among 13 transfers from Division I programs playing for the Vulcans, who are picked to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title.

Pestano was asked to describe McCabe's passes.

"He throws a hard ball," Pestano said with a smile as he showed a crooked baby finger on his right hand that was broken by a McCabe pass in practice.

"He throws a Division I ball."

McCabe, a highly rated quarterback out of Pine-Richland High School, didn't play football last season as Virginia.

In three seasons he completed 30 of 46 passes for 276 yards and one touchdown and three interceptions in seven games.

"It doesn't matter the location. It doesn't matter how many fans are there. It's nice to go out and play football again," said McCabe, whose touchdown passes to Pestano were 4 and 6 yards.

"I'm still learning on the fly and there still are a lot of plays to make. It's pretty easy to throw to that guy [Pestano]. He floats on air.

"No matter who we play against, he's going to be a mismatch.

"Personnel-wise, I like our 11 [on offense] better than anybody else, but we still have to perform in our system."

California's game plan was simple: Use the pass to set up the run.

The Vulcans went to a no-huddle offense and threw on almost every down to open the second half and scored on their first four possessions to erase a 19-16 halftime deficit.

"We wanted to change the tempo," California coach John Luckhardt said.

"Obviously we wore them down."

Once the Vulcans established their passing, Daine Williams (102 yards rushing, 2 TDs), Brandon Lombardy (93 yards, 1 TD) and Windell Brown (31 yards, 1 TD) took over.

"We're pretty dynamic on offense," Luckhardt said.

"We can put pressure on a defense."

California's defense, which had three new linebackers because Darren Burns is out with a knee injury, allowed West Chester quarterback Joe Wright to throw for 311 yards and four touchdowns in his first collegiate start.

"I still think we're pretty talented in the secondary," Luckhardt said.

"We probably didn't play as well as I'd thought, but Wright threw as well as any quarterback we've faced the past three or four years."

He just couldn't keep pace with McCabe and Pestano.

• Edinboro 35, West Liberty State 10: Edinboro's Trevor Harris completed 18 of 23 passes for 296 yards and touchdowns of 49 yards to Josh Brown, 19 yards to Ryan Rybicki and 50 yards to Jeremy Burr and ran 2 yards for a score in a victory at West Liberty State.

Branden Ore carried 13 times for 112 yards for West Liberty State.

Edinboro accumulated 431 yards of offense, while West Liberty State had 298.

• Seton Hill 27, Slippery Rock 20: Host Seton Hill outgained The Rock by a 378-291 margin in total offense behind a balanced attack (198 yards rushing, 180 passing). In the loss, Slippery Rock quarterback Brandon Frohnapple threw two touchdown passes to Terry Grossetti.

• Mercyhurst 14, Wayne State 10: Mercyhurst's Chris Ryan kicked a 33-yard field goal and Richard Stokes ran 1 yard for a touchdown in a loss at Wayne State.

• Southern Connecticut State 26, West Virginia Wesleyan 21: No. 24 Southern Connecticut State went on the road and defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, which got a 45-yard touchdown reception from Pine-Richland High School graduate Bryan Overton.