SEATTLE – This one was worth the wait.

At 1:22 a.m. Sunday morning, the Cal football team culminated a wild late night and early morning with a 20-19 victory over No. 14 Washington at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium.

It marked the second consecutive season the Bears edged the Huskies in a defensive-minded battle of wills, but this one was far from conventional.

With 9:46 remaining in the first quarter and the game scoreless, both teams jogged back to their locker rooms after a lightning warning was issued. The delay took 2 hours, 39 minutes, and it was 10:30 p.m. by the time play resumed.

What followed was an expected showdown of two of the top defenses in the country, and Cal came out on top after senior Greg Thomas booted a 17-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining.
 
"We don't really have any control over the elements off the field so we're rolling with the punches there," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. "It's a little unique. I'm just really proud of the guys and how they battled. That was a gritty win. It wasn't the cleanest, but they just keep fighting. They are really a tough bunch of guys, and I really appreciate them for that."

After amassing just 90 total yards in the first half, the Bears (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) began to figure some things out in the third quarter, especially on the ground. The combination of Christopher Brown Jr's bruising style and Marcel Dancy's quick feet helped Cal total 134 yards rushing in the second half, and Dancy reached the end zone twice. His second score from 8 yards out gave the Bears their first lead at 17-13 with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Washington's Peyton Henry connected on a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter – including a career-long 49-yarder with 2:05 to play – to put the Huskies back on top. But Cal quarterback Chase Garbers, who finished with modest numbers but also played a turnover-free game, engineered a late comeback. He completed a 19-yard pass to Jordan Duncan to move into Husky territory and later in the drive found Kekoa Crawford on a 27-yard catch-and-run to move the ball to the Washington 3-yard line with 1:25 left.

Thomas' second field goal of the night sent the Cal sideline into a frenzy, and the Bears were able to close it out.

"Everybody here handled it great," Wilcox said about the delay. "Everyone is in the same situation. It is what it is. Guys did a nice job of refocusing and coming back out and playing."

Brown Jr. rushed for 80 yards on the ground on 16 carries and Dancy added 72 yards and the two touchdowns on seven rushes..

The Huskies moved the ball at times, but Cal's defense flexed its muscle when it needed to most, allowing just a single touchdown in the second quarter. Henry made four field goals for Washington.

Cal All-America candidate Evan Weaver was arguably the best player on the field on either side, tying a career-high with 18 tackles while recording two tackles for loss. He also forced the first fumble that was recovered by the Bears' Ben Hawk Schrider.

Weaver did a number on the Huskies last year as well, returning an interception 37 yards for a touchdown to lift the Bears to a 12-10 victory.  It marks the first time the Bears have registered back-to-back victories of the Huskies since winning five in a row from 2006.

Cal will return home next Saturday to host North Texas at 1:15 p.m. The game will be televised live on Pac-12 Bay Area and can also be heard on KGO 810 AM and the Cal Bears Sports Network powered by Learfield IMG College.