NEW LONDON, Conn. – Senior Derek Victory threw a pair of touchdowns and ran for another while sophomore Chip Crowley returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown as Coast Guard held off Maine Maritime 36-30 in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) game on Homecoming Weekend.
Victory, who was 28 of 49 for 290 yards, tied the school record with his 38th career touchdown pass tying Jon Resch (2009-12).
Coast Guard snaps a three-game slide and improves to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the NEFC while Maine Maritime drops to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
The Bears got on the board first on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Victory to junior Cody Bain. The extra point was blocked never crossed the line of scrimmage and Coast Guard sophomore Mike McCaslin alerted picked up the ball and walked into the endzone the two point conversion and an 8-0 lead with 5:10 left in the opening quarter.
Maine Maritime ran 24 plays to Coast Guard's four, dominated total yards (74-37) and time of possession 13:24 to 1:36 in the opening quarter yet trailed 8-0.
The second quarter featured 37 points and the Mariners tied the game less than a minute in on 1-yard run by junior quarterback Corey Creege before he then also added the two-point conversion run making the score 8-8 with 14:08 left in the half.
Victory threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to junior Darius Adams, his NEFC leading sixth of the season, giving the Bears a 15-8 lead following sophomore Cole Austin's kick with 12:04 left.
The Mariners punted and the Bears marched 82 yards capped by a one-yard run by Victory for a 22-8 lead with 5:28 left in the half.
Maine Maritime fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, it was forced by senior Logan Mars and recovered by junior Ryan Robertson, but the Bears could not move the ball and turned it over on downs with a five minutes left.
Once again, the Mariners fumbled and this time senior Brendan McNeil recovered, but the Bears were forced to punt giving Maine the ball back with 2:10 left on its own 25.
Creeger threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Derek Breuning (3 receptions, 93 yards) cutting the deficit to 22-16 after the two-point run failed.
That was when Crowley gave momentum back to the home sideline with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown giving Coast Guard a 29-16 lead at halftime.
The Mariners had 248 first half yards (138 passing) while Coast Guard had 164 yards in the first half (147 passing).
The Bears scored on their first possession of the second half when Junior Camden Cecchini's 3-yard touchdown run with 11:05 left gave Coast Guard its largest lead of the game 36-16.
Maine Maritime answered as Corey Creeger threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to junior Jordan Susi (4 receptions, 136 yards, 2 TD) with 8:59 left in the third quarter and junior Jacob Doolan ran in the conversion to cut the lead to 36-24.
The Mariners pulled to within a touchdown less than one minute into the fourth quarter when Creeger threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Susi, the two point rush failed and Coast Guard led 36-30 with 14:16 left.
The defenses would take over the rest of the game. Coast Guard punted on its next possession and the Mariners threatened driving to the Coast Guard 28, but turned it over on downs when freshman Patrick Crowley, on a ball he could have intercepted, smartly knocked a fourth down pass down inside the 10 yard line with 7:20 left.
Coast Guard again punted giving the Mariners one final chance to win the game starting at their own 40 yard line. Maine Maritime after a pair of rushes netting no yards, came a yard short on 4th-and-10 with a nine yard completion, giving Coast Guard the ball back with 4:09 left on the Mariner 49.
Junior tight end Cody Bain had a huge catch in traffic, took a big hit and held on for a 15-yard gain on 3rd-and-nine which allowed the Bears to run out the clock.
The Mariners finished with 436 total yards, 207 rushing and 229 passing while Coast Guard had 339 yards, 290 of those in the air.
Doolan led the Mariners with 16 carries for 118 yards while Creeger was 7 of 15 for 229 yards and three touchdowns with one interceptions in the loss.
Adams led the Bear with eight receptions for 103 yards while Crowley had seven receptions for 54 yards and Bain added six catches for 92 yards in the win.
Robertson led the Coast Guard defense with 11 tackles, one for loss and a fumble recovery while sophomore Jake Behne finished with nine tackles, one for loss.
Patrick Crowley had an interception for the Coast Guard defense which he returned 25 yards.
The Bears are off next week and are back in action on Oct. 15th when they host Curry at 1:30 p.m.