United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Football

When Coast Guard won back-to-back New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division Championships in 2006 and 2007, the Bears won all the close games. Last season, the Bears had fourth quarter leads in the final two games of the season, but couldn’t hold on finishing 3-6 overall and 3-4 in the division.

The Bears have also suffered some serious losses off the field during the offseason as junior linebacker Kyle Ennis, who led the nation in solo tackles per game last season (7.4) and was a second team All-Bogan Division selection, and sophomore Jarrod Owens, who was supposed to take over as the starting quarterback are both going to miss the season with knee injuries. Senior cornerback Pat Bennett, a NEFC Bogan Division first team and ECAC Northeast All-Star, will miss the 2009 season to concentrate on academics and return as a captain for the 2010 season.

Coast Guard does return eight offensive starters to surround the new quarterback, junior Jesse Karr, who won the job in preseason camp. Freshman Jonathan Resch will be the backup when the season starts.

“We will be counting on our veteran offensive line and our talented playmakers that surround the quarterback to help him succeed,” said head coach Bill George.

The Bears return four linemen led by senior captain Justin Brooks, a two-time first team All-division selection, at right tackle. Senior Dave Zwirblis returns at left tackle while senior Ryan Fox is back at right guard. Senior Josh Scritchfield is back at center while junior Paul Gerow won the job at left guard. Senior Pete Lewia, who has been a solid lineman for the past three years, will be a valuable member of the offensive line as he can backup at any spot.

Senior Steve Arguelles, who started seven games last year, is back at running back for the second straight season. He led the team last season with 615 yards on 113 carries (5.4 yard per carry) with three rushing touchdowns. He also caught 15 passes for 174 yards and had a team-high four touchdown receptions. He tied a school-record with three of those touchdown receptions in a loss to Maine Maritime.

Sophomore Ryan Webster (37 carries, 163 yards, two touchdowns) had a solid freshman season and ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns in his only start of the season last year against Fitchburg State.

Senior Sam England, a second team All-division selection last season, is back at wide receiver. He led the team with 53 receptions for 552 yards to go with three touchdown receptions. Seniors Cale Cooper (20 receptions, 234 yards, 1 TD), Matt Keith (16 receptions, 156 yards, 1 TD) and junior Matt Tolliver (25 receptions, 211 yards) give the Bears plenty of experienced offensive weapons.

The Bears lost a trio of talented linebackers to graduation and with the loss of Ennis and Bennett in the offseason, the defense will be very young, returning just five starters.

“We graduated three tough, old fashion linebackers in Brian Field, Brian Michka and Brian Yurovich and with Ennis out also, we are going to need some of the younger guys to step up and perform,” said George.

The Bears lost their top five tacklers from last season, the four linebackers and Bennett.

Senior defensive end Doug Piper is the top returning tackler with 55 stops, 26 solo, four for loss and 3.5 sacks. He is joined by senior and returning starter Troy Robison (30 tackles) at nose tackle while junior Ryan Schmid, who has been a solid backup the past two seasons, will start at the other defensive end spot.

Sophomores Paul Hahn-Rauch and Reese Mowrey along with junior Nick Greaver all gained valuable experience last season and are expected to contribute a great deal in 2009.

Senior Ryan Milligan and junior Ben Barrett will start at the outside linebacker spots.

Junior Mike Hart and freshman Charles Barrett won the starting jobs at inside linebacker.

Senior Kevin Novick (40 tackles) leads the inexperienced secondary this season. Novick will start at cornerback for the third straight season. Sophomore Chris Izurieta will start opposite Novick at the other cornerback spot.

Junior Chris Costello (41 tackles, 2 INT) returns at free safety spot while sophomore Nick Giancola (36 tackles), who made four starts last season, will be back at the strong safety spot.

Arguelles (8 punt returns, 103 yards), Izurieta (5 punt returns, 73 yards/11 kickoff returns, 228 yards) and sophomore David Rehfuss will do a majority of the kickoff and punt return duties.

Sophomore Jacob Shackleford returns as the placekicker after a tremendous freshman season in which he earned first team All-division and All-ECAC Northeast honors. Shackleford was 8 for 9 on field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards and his only miss was from 49 yards while making 18 of 20 extra points. He also handled the punting duties last season and averaged 33.6 yards per kick. Karr will battle for the starting punting spot this season.

Freshman Will Leffler, who is also a backup goalkeeper on the Coast Guard soccer team, will handle the punting duties this season.

“We have an excellent freshman group, some of whom will contribute right away. The coaching staff has high hopes for this class over the next four years, but I expect the veterans on this team to rally around the loss of one of their captains Pat Bennett and provide the leadership needed to close out games, something we did not do last season,” said George.