NEW LONDON, CT - Norwich football ran in to a buzz saw in their game against Coast Guard and lost 52-17 in the Little Army-Navy game.
The Coast Guard Bears have been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team this entire year. So far this season, the Bears are 0-3 on the road but have been dominant at home, going 4-0 and averaging 58 points when playing in front of their friendly crowd. Unfortunately for Norwich, this game was played in Connecticut and everything seemed to break in the Bears' favor.
The Norwich defense knew it was going to have their collective hands full facing a Coast Guard team that had both the top rusher in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) in Harrison Hensley, averaging 140 yards per game, and top producing wide receiver in the NEWMAC in Broock Desta who leads the conference in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Hensley proved to be just as good as advertised and finished with 224 out of the 317 yards rushing gained by the Bears. Desta finished with 93 yards receiving and a touchdown, but the Cadet defense only surrendered one big play, a 50 yard touchdown reception on a trick play, to the wide receiver all day.
In what has traditionally been a series of very close games, early on it looked as though this would be another hard fought barn burner. The first quarter finished 7-3 after
Zach Buchy (Suffoflk, VA) drilled a 41-yard field goal. The second quarter ending score was 21-10 and highlighted by a Norwich 2-play, 93-yard touchdown drive.
Ryan O'Keefe (Scarborough, Maine) found
Trevor Chase (Eliot, Maine) for a quick throw to the right side which Chase turned into a 15-yard gain and then a 78-yard touchdown on the very next play.
The second half continued the expected trend and saw the Cadets march down the field on the opening possession and another O'Keefe to Chase connection on a touchdown pass, bringing the score to 21-17. But, the rest of the day belonged to the hometown Bears.
In the second half, as the lead began to widen, the Cadets were forced to gamble more and more. Unfortunately, the gambles did not pay off and Coast Guard was able to take advantage of four second half interceptions and scored 31 points.
The defense had several good individual performances.
Ethan Amburn (Suffield, Conn.),
Jeremy Henault (Goffstown, N.H.), and
Declan Kapusta (Walhalla, S.C.) each finished with double digit tackles.
Marcello Misuraca (Wilmington, Mass.) and
Shayne Leddy (Spring Lake, N.J.) followed quickly behind with nine and eight tackles respectively.
Garrett Mack (Lewiston, Maine) recorded his first career interception while
Eli Leblanc (Hollis Center, Maine) added a sack on the day.
O'Keefe completed 52% of his passes for almost 300 yards with two touchdowns, but also threw four second half interceptions. The offensive line with team captain
Winston Churchill (Windsor, Conn.) at center,
Matthew Brigham (Ringoes, N.J.) and
Rasheed Patterson (Newington, Conn.) at tackles, and
Patrick Murphy (Port Orange, Fla.) and
Lucas Reasons (Chatham, N.J.) at the guard positions; only allowed one sack on the day. Chase hauled in 9 receptions for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Will Thornton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) chipped in with 4 receptions for 76 yards while running back
Justin Bryant (Eliot, Maine) had 4 receptions for 50 yards. The leading rusher for the Cadets was
Jeremiah Claiborne (Redlands, Calif.) with 35 yards.
The Cadets are on the road again next weekend as they travel to Cambridge to battle the Beavers of MIT. Last year, the Cadets notched their first win over MIT by the score of 21-11. Chase had an explosive day with 9 receptions, 205 yards, and a pair of 79-yard touchdown receptions.
Jehric Hackney (Jehrico, Vt.) add 121 yards on the ground. Amburn led the stout defensive effort which only surrendered 263 yards of offense to the Beavers.
