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Football - Game # 2 Preview: Bears Travel to Plymouth State |
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 Senior quarterback Christian George, who had 312 yards of total offense vs. Merchant Marine, and the Bears travel to Plymouth State this week.
Sept. 15th, Currier Memorial Field, Plymouth, N.H., 1:30 p.m.
ON THE AIR: Audio webcast at www.sportsjuice.com. You can email the broadcasters at cgbears2007@aol.com.
THE SERIES: Plymouth State leads 8-6, however Coast Guard has won three straight. The last time the Bears played at Plymouth, N.H. was in 2003, a 49-12 Coast Guard victory.
LAST MEETING: Christian George ran for a pair of first half touchdowns and threw for another in the third quarter and senior Josh Williams scored a pair of touchdowns as Coast Guard snapped an eight-game losing streak dating back to last season with a 35-7 win over Plymouth State in a game between the two new teams in the New England Football Conference (NEFC).
Plymouth’s Kyle Clark fumbled a punt at his own 11 yard line and freshman Sam England recovered for the Bears setting up a George six-yard run. David Lieberman’s extra point was good and Coast Guard led 7-0 with 3:57 left in the opening quarter.
Coast Guard (1-1) increased its lead to 14-0 on a 16-yard run by George with 6:36 left in the first half.
The Bears took the opening drive of the second half and Williams (10 carries, 63 yards) scored on a one-yard run capping a seven play, 49 yard drive giving Coast Guard a 21-0 lead.
George (8 of 16, 95 yards, 1 TD), threw his first collegiate touchdown pass, a 24-yarder to Mike Zielinski (3 catches, 39 yards), a spectacular one handed grab over the middle, to up the lead to 28-0 with 3:30 left in the quarter.
Williams (10 carries, 63 yards) had the final Coast Guard touchdown of the game, a 7-yard run with 12:12 left in the game.
Plymouth State (0-2) broke the shutout against Coast Guard’s second string defense as backup quarterback John DeMarco (11 of 23, 88 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) led the Panthers on a 15 play, 77 yard drive, capped by a 7 yard touchdown pass to Drew Richardson (6 catches, 58 yards) with 5:45 left in the game.
Plymouth State had the ball for over 36 minutes and ran 20 more plays than Coast Guard, but the Bears outgained the Panthers 341 to 293. Coast Guard had 246 yards on the ground while Plymouth rushed for 172 yards.
Lance Lynch carried nine times for 77 yards for Coast Guard while George totaled 56 yards on eight carries with the two scores.
Jeff Mack led Plymouth State on the ground with nine carries for 59 yards.
LAST WEEK: Coast Guard won a thriller beating Merchant Marine 36-31 to win the Secretaries’ Cup for the first time since 2003. Senior quarterback Christian George had 312 yards of total offense including the game winning 10-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds left which capped a wild fourth quarter that featured 41 points. Merchant Marine had two chances from the Coast Guard 18-yard line in the final seven seconds, but a pair of incomplete passes sealed the win. The game featured 964 yards of total offense, 528 by Coast Guard.
Senior Jeff Mack and junior Brandon Clough each rushed for over 100 yards Saturday afternoon, as host Plymouth State beat Mount Ida College 41-30 in the season opener.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD VS. THE PANTHERS: Coast Guard has won three straight games against Plymouth State and in those three games, the Bears have scored 118 points (39.3 points per game). Coast Guard won 34-33 in 2002, 49-12 in 2003 and 35-7 last season.
OLD FOES BACK TOGETHER AGAIN: Coast Guard and Plymouth State used to both be members of the now defunct Freedom Football Conference. Coast Guard and Plymouth State both joined the New England Football Confernence (NEFC) last season. The Bears compete in the Bogan Division, while the Panthers are in the Boyd Division, so this does not count as a division game. The two schools actually met one time in postseason play in 1988 as Coast Guard beat Plymouth State 28-19 to win the ECAC North Championship.
STREET & SMITH’S RANKS BEARS: Coast Guard was ranked 24th nationally in the Street & Smith’s Magazine Division III Preseason poll. The Bears were 8-1 in the regular season, before finishing 8-3 overall, and won the NEFC Bogan Division with a perfect 7-0 record to earn a berth in the ECAC North Atlantic Bowl.
BEARS WENT BOWLING: For the first time since the 1988 season and only the second time in school history, Coast Guard played in an ECAC Bowl game last season. The 1988 team won eight straight as they won the final seven regular season games and won the ECAC North Championship beating Plymouth State 28-19 for their eighth straight win.
SUCCESS IN LEAGUE PLAY: Coast Guard won all seven league games last season for the first time since the 1997 season when the Bears went a perfect 6-0 in the Freedom Football Conference and won their second straight league title. In 1997, Coast Guard also advanced to the NCAA Playoffs for the second straight season. Coast Guard was a combined 0-14 in league play as a member of the Liberty League in 2004 and 2005.
ARGUELLES NAMED PRESEASON TO ALL-AMERICA TEAM: Sophomore free safety Steve Arguelles, who tied a the single-season school record and was second nationally with 11 interceptions, was named to the Street & Smith’s Preseason All-America team. He is one of just two sophomores on the 26-player All-America team which also consists of 22 seniors and four juniors.
HARMS ON GILBURG WATCH LIST: Senior punter Jesse Harms was one of six seniors named to the Gilburg Award watch list. Since 2004, the Gilburg Award has been presented annually to the consensus All-America punter compiled from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), D3football.com and Associated Press Little All-America teams. It is named in honor of retired Franklin & Marshall football coach and former NCAA Division I and NFL punter, Tom Gilburg. Harms led the New England Football Conference (NEFC) and was fourth nationally with a 41.6 yard average in 2006. He was named to the D3football.com All-America third team for the second time last fall. He was the first-team All-Bogan Division punter, a member of the New England Football Writers Division II/II team and led all of New England, Divisions I, II and III, with his 41.6 yard average.
BEARS GO FOR A PERFECT 10: Coast Guard won its ninth straight regular season game on Saturday and they will look to make it 10 straight at Plymouth State. The school record for consecutive regular season wins is 13. The 1996 team won the final seven games of the regular season and the 1997 squad opened the season with six straight wins, including a pair of overtime victories.
BY GEORGE, HE DID IT AGAIN: Senior quarterback Christian George, who earned a spot on the NEFC honor roll this week, is no stranger to game winning touchdown runs in the final minutes. In fact, with his 10-yard game winner with 52 seconds left on Saturday he has now done that in three of the four games that he played. He missed the final four games of last season with a broken foot. Below is a list of George’s game winners.
GEORGE’S LATE GAME HEROICS
LAST SEASON
Oct. 7th Coast Guard 31, Fitchburg State 30
(four yard run with 1:33 left)
Oct. 14th Coast Guard 21, Bridgewater State 17
(two-yard run with 50 seconds left)
THIS SEASON
Sept. 8th Coast Guard 36, Merchant Marine 31
(10-yard run with 52 seconds left)
THE DYMNAMIC DUO: Senior quarterback Christian George and junior quarterback Niles Pierson have become the Bears, Batman and Robin as the two combined for 401 yards of total offense in the season opening win in the two quarterback system. George was 12 of 19 for 185 yards while Pierson completed six of 12 for 68 yards including a pair of touchdowns. George carried 17 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns while Pierson called his own number three times for 21 yards.
DOUBLE THREAT: Senior running back Lance Lynch proved he can beat you in more ways than one as he totaled 191 all purpose yards as he carried 18 times for 98 yards and was also the team’s leading receiver with six receptions for 93 yards. Lynch had the big play on the final drive a 32-yard reception from Christian George, which put the ball into Merchant Marine territory at the 38-yard line.
THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER LEAVE A GAME EARLY: The fourth quarter on Saturday was one for the ages. It began with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Niles Pierson to Sam England on the first play of the quarter, but that was just the beginning. The final 15 minutes featured 26 first downs, six touchdowns, 41 points, 454 yards of total offense (343 passing) and 61 plays run from scrimmage. Merchant Marine, which took its first lead of the game with 1:58 left, converted on all four fourth down opportunites.
SCOUTING COAST GUARD: The Bears look to carry the momentum of a season opening victory into Saturday’s game at Plymouth State and win their 10th straight regular season game before opening NEFC Bogan Division play vs. Westfield State at home on Sept. 22nd.
Coast Guard’s potent no-huddle offense looks to keep things going as the Bears put up 528 yards of total offense last week, 275 rushing and 253 passing while turning the ball over just once and not allowing a sack.
Senior quarterback Christian George and junior quarterback Niles Pierson, who combined for 401 yards of total offense last week, will both see action in the Bears new two-quarterback system. Senior Lance Lynch, who had leads the NEFC with 191 all purpose yards per game, carried a team-high 18 times last week for 98 yards while grabbing a team-high six receptions for 93 yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Sam England had six receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore running back Matt Keith had four catches for 54 yards.
The Coast Guard defense allowed 436 yards, 235 of those in the fourth quarter. The Bears did register seven sacks in the season opener as senior linebacker Caleb Robards had led the way with two sacks. Senior nose guard Chris Hunt and sophomore cornerback Pat Bennett led the Bears with 10 tackles each, Hunt also forced a fumble.
SCOUTING PLYMOUTH STATE: The Panthers took the air out of the ball, gaining 311 of their 353 total yards on the ground as senior Jeff Mack and junior Brandon Clough each rushed for over 100 yards in the 41-30 season opening win over Mount Ida.
Clough led the way with 24 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown while Mack carried 26 times for 110 yards and three scores. Junior quarterback John DeMarco added 17 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown as Plymouth State ran the ball 70 times while throwing just nine passes. DeMarco was 3 of 9 for 42 yards.
The Plymouth State defense allowed 330 yards, 225 of those in the air. Junior linebackers Tim Nicholson and Brian Keenan led the Panther defense with seven tackles each.
NEXT OPPONENT: Coast Guard begins New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division play at home against Westfield State at 1 p.m.
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