Football
Release
Coast Guard grind out 3-0 win against Mariners
Castine, Maine - On a windswept and rainy Ritchie Field, it was the Coast Guard Academy Bears who prevailed over the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners in this highly anticipated NEFC Bogan Division match up. With the kickoff temperature at 45 degrees, the sometimes heavy rain and winds in excess of 25 miles per hour made for difficult playing conditions for both teams throughout the game.
With their seventh straight win, the Bears up their season record to 7-1 (6-0 in the Bogan Division of the NEFC), and the Mariners’ season record falls to (5-3, 4-2 Bogan).
Despite maintaining possession of the ball for 33:45, the Mariner 4 game win streak came to an end when they were held scoreless for the first time this season. Leading the way defensively for the Coast Guard Bears were Jack Gill (Slatington, PA), with 11.5 tackles and one sack, and senior captain Tim Leber (Lake Winola, PA) with 11 tackles and two sacks.
Defensively for the Mariners in the loss, Joe Blier (Bangor, ME) and Wayne Withers (South Portland, ME) had 7.5 and 7.0 tackles respectively.
The only scoring play of the game came at the 6:09 mark of the second quarter when David Lieberman (Virginia Beach, VA) topped off a 15 play, 58 yard drive by kicking a field goal from 18 yards.
The one-two punch of quarterback Brandon Hamilton (Skowhegan, ME), and fullback Jim Bower (South Paris, ME) tried to get the Mariners back into the game, rushing a combined 50 times for 200 yards on the ground. The closest MMA got to scoring was when they got to the Coast Guard 33 yard line on an 11 play drive that covered 62 yards but ended with the Mariners turning the ball over on downs with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter.
Leading the way for the Bears was senior Josh Williams (Austin, TX) who ran 11 times for 77 yards, including a game long 64 yard rush on the Bears’ first play from scrimmage. Lance Lynch (Long Valley, NJ) added another 69 yards on 11 carries. Quarterback Niles Pierson (Cheshire, CT) threw the ball 18 times, completing 6 passes for a total of 73 yards in the air.
Next up for the Mariners is a home game against Fitchburg State College on Saturday, November 4th at noon, and next up for the Coast Guard Bears is 1:00pm home game against Framingham State College.
