United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Game # 4 Preview

COAST GUARD (1-2, 1-0) AT FITCHBURG STATE (1-3, 0-1)
OCT. 1ST, ROBERT ELLIOT FIELD, 1:30 P.M.

ON THE AIR: The Coast Guard live audio telecast can be found at www.ustream.tv/channel/coast-guard-sports.

There is a live video stream at http://www.fitchburgfalcons.com/sports/fball/2011-12/game_day.

THE SERIES: Coast Guard leads 3-2.

LAST YEAR: Sophomore Eric Gerken had quite an afternoon as he set both NEFC and school-records with 167 punt return yards including an 85-yard return for a touchdown, finished with 277 all-purpose yards and scored both Coast Guard touchdowns as the Bears beat Fitchburg State 19-7 in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division game in front of a Homecoming crowd.

Gerken caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Jon Resch (18 of 39 yards, 220 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) with 6:14 left in the first quarter and junior Jacob Shackleford’s extra point gave Coast Guard a 7-0 lead. Gerken tied a career-high with 10 receptions for a career-high 110 yards. He set up the score with a 34-yard punt return and then scored the touchdown on the next play.

Gerken went 85 yards for his first career punt return for a score and following the extra point Coast Guard led 14-0 with 4:49 left in the first half.

Fitchburg State got back in the game late in first half when senior quarterback Jordan Cannava (13 of 27 for 155 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) came off the bench and fired a 55-yard touchdown pass to starting quarterback Jeremy Kimber (1 of 5, 21 yards and 5 receptions, 96 yards) cutting the lead to 14-7 with 44 seconds left in the half.

Coast Guard had 191 of its 265 offensive yards in the first half with Resch throwing for 173 yards in the first half.

Fitchburg had 116 yards in the first half and finished the game with 262 yards, 176 passing.

In the fourth quarter, Cannava was called for intentional grounding in the endzone as senior Sam Beauchamp sacked him as Cannava tried to throw the ball away and the Bears led 16-7 with 8:33 left in the game.

Shackleford, the backup punter, then pinned the Falcons at their own one-yard line for the second time in the half. Fitchburg moved the ball to the 15-yard line and had to punt, but Gerken had a 37-yard return down the home sideline to give Coast Guard the ball at the Fitchburg 19-yard line.

This time Shackleford made a 26-yard field goal with 3:39 left to close the scoring.

Fitchburg did take the ball and go on a 14 play, 69-yard drive that ended when Cannava was intercepted by senior linebacker Ben Barrett on first-and-goal from the eight with 55 seconds left.

Senior Darren Wilson led the Falcons on the ground with 25 carries for 107 yards.

The Coast Guard defense was outstanding as it registered five sacks. Senior linebacker Kyle Ennis led the team with 11 tackles, five solo to go with a fumble recovery while Walker added a career-high 10 tackles, seven solo.

LAST WEEK: Sophomore Tyler Hames rushed for 122 yards and accounted for five touchdowns as Coast Guard celebrated the 50th Reunion of the Class of 1961 by scoring 61 points in a 61-30 Homecoming win over Mass. Maritime. The win snapped a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season for Coast Guard, the last team the Bears beat is this week’s opponent Fitchburg State in the fifth game of the season last year. Coast Guard finished with 445 yards of total offense, 226 passing and 219 rushing while Mass. Maritime had 395 yards, 245 of those in the air.

Maine Maritime Academy exploded for 34 first half points enroute to a 40-7 win over Fitchburg State. The Mariners scored on each of their first five possessions, piling up 316 yards offense in the first half.

NEFC HONORS HAMES, PETERS: Sophomore running back Tyler Hames was named the NEFC Offensive Player of the Week while senior linebacker Nick Peters earned a spot on the weekly honor roll.

Hames accounted for five touchdowns while Peters had the first two interceptions of his career and returned the second one 29 yards for a touchdown.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS IN THE ZONE: Coast Guard is the best team in the NEFC in red zone offense. The Bears have scored a league-high 90 percent of the time in the red zone with eight touchdowns and a field goal in ten red zone trips.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Coast Guard scored 61 points in the win on Saturday, just one shy of the school-record of 62 set twice, the most recent also against Mass. Maritime, a 62-7 win in the 2004 season opener, the first game on the artificial turf at Cadet Memorial Field.

A RECORD, A MILESTONE AND ANOTHER ONE COMING: Junior wide receiver Eric Gerken has been outstanding during the first three weeks of the season. He caught a school-record 15 passes in the second game of the season and he went over the 1,000 yard mark for his Coast Guard career on Saturday. Gerken is closing in on another milestone in a Coast Guard uniform. He enters this week’s game with 99 catches in his career. He has 99 receptions for 1,026 yards and seven touchdowns. The transfer from Iona, had ten receptions for 100 yards for the Gaels during his freshman season, thus this is his final year of eligibility.

A LOOK BACK ON THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST NCAA PLAYOFF APPEARANCE: In 1996, the Coast Guard Bears won the Freedom Football Conference (FFC) and made the program’s first appearance in the NCAA playoffs. The team started 1-2, but won seven straight games to end the regular season and win the FFC and earn the NCAA berth where the Bears lost 17-16 to heavily favored East Region power, College of New Jersey. Each week, we will look back at a game or games in that magical season.

In the fourth and fifth games of that magical season, the Bears handed out back-to-back beatings with a 35-9 win at Norwich and a 55-6 home win over Westfield State. James Jones had 149 yards and scored three touchdowns in the win over Norwich as the Bears won The Mug while he added three more rushing touchdowns and 145 yards as the Bears jumped out to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised past Westfield State to improve to 3-2 on the season.

SCOUTING COAST GUARD: The Bears look to win back-to-back games and improve to 2-0 in NEFC Bogan Division play this week.

Coast Guard is third in the NEFC scoring 36.7 points per game while totaling 356.3 yards per game, 215 of those passing.

Senior quarterback Jarrod Owens has played well in the first three games. He is 44 of 67 for 443 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions while junior Jon Resch has also been solid coming off the bench in each game completing 17 of 27 passes for 202 yards. Owens is also second on the team with 37 carries for 66 yards and a par of touchdowns.

Sophomore Tyler Hames leads the Bears on the ground with 44 carries for 225 yards and four touchdowns. He also has five receptions for 33 yards and a touchdown. Hames is eighth in the NEFC in kickoff returns with a 17.2 average (nine returns for 155 yards).

Coast Guard has the top receiver in the NEFC in junior Eric Gerken. He had ten or more receptions for the second time this season on Saturday with ten catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.He leads the NEFC with 32 receptions and 121.7 receiving yards per game. He has 32 catches for 365 yards and three touchdowns. He is also a very dangerous special teams weapon for the Bears as he leads the team with a 19.2 yard average on punt returns (4 for 77 yards).

Coast Guard is allowing the most total yards per game (488.7), the most rushing yards per game (235.3) and the most passing yards per game (253.3). The Bears have allowed 36.3 points per game on the year.

Junior strong safety Dante Adams leads the team with 25 tackles, 16 solo while senior defensive end Paul Hahn-Rauch is second with 20 tackles, 11 for loss. Junior linebacker Curt Barrett has a team leading 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

The Bears are the least penalized team in the NEFC with just 12 penalties for 75 yards in the three games.

SCOUTING FITCHBURG STATE: The Falcons have dropped three straight being outscored 147-28 in the past three games after a 30-24 win over Becker to start the season.

Fitchburg is allowing an NEFC-high 42.8 points per game while allowing 378.5 yards per game, 210 of those yards on the ground.

The Falcons are also last in the NEFC in total offense (205.8), second to last in rushing offense (76.8) while passing for 129 yards per game.

Freshman quarterback Brian McDonald is 44 of 95 for 456 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions. His favorite target is senior wide receiver Jeremy Kimber, who has 22 receptions for 282 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore Farren Davis leads the Falcons on the ground with 39 carries and 114 yards with two touchdowns while
freshman Steph’fon Teague is second with 38 carries for 96 yards and a score.

NEXT WEEK: Coast Guard travels to Bridgewater State on Saturday, Oct. 8th with kickoff set for noon.