Keeler: Ed McCaffrey must have angels on his side in Greeley. Because his first home win with UNC Bears felt Heaven-sent.

GREELEY — Maybe the angels had Ed McCaffrey’s back. The parents of erstwhile UNC adjunct manager Zach Hoffpauir, who’d passed distant successful May 2020, were honored astatine Nottingham Field connected Saturday earlier the Bears took connected Northern Arizona successful their Big Sky opener.

Maybe it was stardust. UFC lightweight rubric contender Justin Gaethje, a erstwhile Bears wrestler, was recognized astatine halftime on with his chap diversion section Hall of Fame inductees.

Maybe it was karma. About a 4th of the UNC roster and coaching unit had been unavailable against Lamar the play before, a crippled the Bears went connected to suffer successful overtime.

Mind you, Dylan McCaffrey has different mentation for the mode his dad’s archetypal location triumph arsenic the shot manager astatine UNC ended up:

Divine intervention.

“When I was connected the crushed and heard our assemblage cheering, I saw that the shot benignant of bounced disconnected that defender,” the younger McCaffrey said of his game-winning touchdown walk successful overtime, a tipped dart that clinched the Bears’ 17-10 victory.

“(I) heard our assemblage cheering and I conscionable thought, ‘Wow, convey you, God.’ That was successful God’s hands. And I convey the Lord. He was connected the broadside of the Bears (Saturday).”

Hey, somebody happened to beryllium smiling connected the McCaffreys. How other bash you explicate Dylan’s 25th completion of the day, connected his 40th attempt?

On 2nd-and-10 successful the other play and his pouch collapsing astatine the 15-yard line, Dylan, the erstwhile Valor Christian quarterback, fired a laser to UNC wideout Dylan Thomas, who was cutting close from the near hashmark adjacent the 10.

While the younger McCaffrey deed the turf, the stone appeared to scrape disconnected Thomas’ hands arsenic helium tried to clasp the shot and kept traveling down him. Only alternatively of being picked, it recovered its mode into the waiting mitts of different Bears wideout, Jaren Mitchell, who happened to beryllium cutting from close to near astir straight down Thomas.

“I was conscionable successful the close spot astatine the close time,” Mitchell, who snared 4 balls connected the day for 40 yards, said with a grin. “I’ll enactment it similar that.”

Mitchell someway caught the happening successful stride, turned, and crossed the level earlier being tackled successful the extremity zone.

“That’s the benignant of (win) that our programme perfectly needed,” said the elder McCaffrey, the erstwhile Broncos prima who moved to 2-2, 1-0 successful the Big Sky successful his debut play astatine UNC. “We needed to find to find a mode to crook the corner. And find a mode to triumph adjacent games.”

For Dylan, meanwhile, getting knocked connected your backside ne'er felt truthful good. The younger McCaffrey had contemplated not playing against NAU due to the fact that of lingering symptom from injuries suffered implicit the archetypal 2 weeks of the season. He’d near the 2nd fractional of the Bears’ triumph astatine Houston Baptist backmost connected Sept. 11 and didn’t play against Lamar.

“We benignant of went into (Saturday’s) crippled questionable, to beryllium honorable with you,” Dylan told The Post. “I’m truly blessed we made it, though.”

So were the UNC lifers. Folks specified arsenic Tom Barbour, a ’69 UNC grad who was the Bears’ sports accusation manager from 1977-83.

“You’re talking astir (this) being a process alternatively than conscionable flipping a airy switch,” Barbour said. “It volition instrumentality time. And I’ll archer you wherefore it volition instrumentality clip — successful my opinion, the Big Sky is nary portion of cake, OK?”

He besides watched the Bears, arsenic a Division I program, negociate lone 2.6 wins per play from 2006-2019. After 4 tilts, the archetypal roster of the McCaffrey Era is much than halfway there. UNC conscionable enactment a bow connected its archetypal September with aggregate victories since 2017.

“I didn’t spot him dancing (in the locker room), though,” Dylan McCaffrey said of Ed, smiling astatine the thought. “I don’t cognize if he’s that benignant of guy.”

Maybe it was destiny. When you’re trying to crook an aged battleship around, ne'er marque apologies for a small luck on the way. Or angels.