Home  Football Football - Bears Late Heroics Stun Westfield
|
|
Football - Bears Late Heroics Stun Westfield |
|
|
 Jesse Karr led the Bears on a game-winning drive with under two minutes left. (photo by Paul Duddy)
SEE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME COURTESY OF THE DAY BY SIMPLY CLICKING HERE.
The Bears (1-2, 1-0) avoid an 0-3 start for the first time since 1983 and remain a perfect 7-0 vs. Westfield State all-time. The Owls drop to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in division play.
Coast Guard had moved the ball all day, but the Bears were being shutout 5-0 when the offense got one last chance with 1:34 left on its own 18 yard line. On third-and-two, Karr was looking for Paris, the ball however was tipped by Paris and luckily for Coast Guard, into the hands of freshman wide receiver Eric Gerken, who raced 52 yards to the Westfield 14 yard line.
Karr (22 of 37, 218 yards) spiked the ball to stop the clock and then went back to a wide open Paris for the only touchdown of the game bringing the Parents’ Weekend crowd to its feet.
Senior running back Steve Arguelles ran in the two point conversion for the 8-5 lead.
Sophomore Chris Izurieta intercepted Westfield State junior quarterback Tim Racine with nine seconds left to ice the improbable win.
The Coast Guard defense was outstanding all afternoon long, holding the Owls to just eight first downs and 235 total yards, 225 of those on the ground. Racine, who was starting for the injured Kyle Anderson, was just 2 of 18 for 10 yards with two interceptions. Sophomore Luke Johnson led Westfield with 30 carries for 164 yards.
Coast Guard finished with 378 yards, 160 rushing with Arguelles leading the way with 84 yards on 18 carries while Karr ran 19 times for 49 yards.
Each team punted the first three times it had the ball to start the game before junior Chris Stengel kicked a 26-yard field goal with 11:55 left in the second quarter for a 3-0 lead. The Owls went 63 yards in seven plays to take the lead.
Coast Guard junior linebacker Mike Hart recovered a Johnson fumble on the Owl 22-yard line with 5:18 left and the Bears took it down to the six-yard line before senior Josh Mathieu intercepted Karr in the end zone. The Owls maintained the 3-0 lead into halftime.
The Bears turned the ball over twice, punted and turned the ball over on downs in the third quarter while Westfield punted three times.
In the fourth quarter, Stengel booted a 54-yard punt, the Bears were penalized on the return and had to start at the five-yard line. Two plays later, Karr was called for intentional grounding to make it 5-0.
Coast Guard looked to take the lead midway through the fourth, but the Bears were stopped on a fourth and one from the Owl 16 with 7:17 left.
Westfield took time off the clock and made Coast Guard use all of its timeouts going 65 yards in 11 plays before turning it over on downs at the Coast Guard 18-yard line with 1:34 left.
Sophomore defensive lineman Paul Hahn-Rauch led the Coast Guard defense with nine tackles while freshman linebacker Curt Barrett had eight stops for the Bears.
Paris (37 receiving yards) and Arguelles (21 receiving yards) each had five receptions to lead Coast Guard.
Junior linebacker Brian Anderson led Westfield with 10 tackles.
The five points scored by Westfield State marks the first time in the 86-year history of football at the Coast Guard Academy that an opponent has scored five points.
The last time the Bears scored eight points and won a game was back in 1935 when they beat Middlebury 8-6. This is just the fourth time in history that the Bears scored eight points and won. Coast Guard beat Norwich 8-0 in 1932 and 8-7 in 1933. |
|