Coast Guard 17, Worcester State 14
New London, CT -- Senior quarterback Niles Pierson (Cheshire, CT) threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to junior Cale Cooper with 5:30 left as Coast Guard scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to beat Worcester State 17-14 in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division game.
Last season, Coast Guard scored 40 unanswered points to beat Worcester State 46-10.
Worcester State (2-6, 2-3), which domininated the first half, scored on its first possession when senior quarterback Pat Good (Hull, MA) (9 of 15, 111 yards, TD, 2 INT) threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to junior David Salvi (Bedford, MA) (3 catches, 77 yards) capping a nine play, 72 yard drive for a 7-0 lead with 10:50 left in the opening quarter.
Coast Guard, which snapped a two-game losing streak with the win, punted on its first three possessions and the Lancers were driving in the second quarter when junior cornerback Pat Bennett (Capital Heights, MD) intercepted Good at the CGA one-yard line and returned it 31 yards with 7:28 left in the first half to keep the score at 7-0.
The Bears once again punted and the Lancers took over at their own 42-yard line and marched 58 yards in eight plays with freshman Charles Powell (Boston, MA) scoring on an 11-yard run with 33 seconds left in the first half for a 14-0 lead.
Worcester State (2-6, 2-3) had 232 yards of total offense in the first half (120 passing) and they converted eight of 10 on third down while holding Coast Guard to just 77 yards on 20 snaps. The Lancers also dominated time of possession in the first half (20:14 to 9:46).
Coast Guard junior running back Steve Arguelles (Yuma, AZ), who missed the last two games with an injury, had 80 of his career-high 139 rushing yards in the first half.
The Bears (3-4, 3-2), which punted on all four possesions in the first half, totally turned things around in the second half putting up 273 yards of total offense (152 rushing) to finish with 350 while holding Worcester State to 117 yards in the second (60 passing).
Coast Guard got on the scoreboard on its first possession of the second half when freshman kicker Jacob Shackleford (Richardson, TX) connected on a 21-yard field goal, making the score 14-3 with 11:51 left in the quarter.
Worcester State punted on its next possession but a 52-yard punt was downed at the 8-yard line. Coast Guard got back in the game with a 10 play, 92-yard drive, which took just two minutes and 12 seconds when Arguelles scored on a 2-yard run with 7:13 left in the quarter to make the score 14-10. Pierson had 33 yards rushing on the drive, including a 21-yard run while Arguelles accounted for 37 yards. The only completed pass on the drive was a 22-yard strike to junior Sam England (Grand Prairie, TX).
Worcester State turned the ball over on its next possession as Bennett intercepted his second pass of the game and then junior Patrick Skelton (Dedham, MA) missed a 33-yard field goal with 12:49 left in the game on the Lancers following possession.
Following an exchange of punts, Coast Guard moved the ball 38 yards to the Lancer 24-yard line, but Pierson (10 of 17, 140 yards) was intercepted on the 10-yard line by junior Tom Szalno (Hyde Park, MA), who returned it to midfield with 8:20 left in the game.
The Coast Guard defense forced a three-and-out and the Bears took over at their own 20-yard line with 6:10 left.
On third-and-10, Pierson hit Cooper (3 catches, 93 yards) in stride down the the middle for the 80-yard touchdown and the 17-14 lead.
The Bears defense forced a punt and the Coast Guard offense took over with 3:41 and was able to run the clock out, which included converting on 4th-and-1 from the Lancer 32 with 2:11 left.
Release Courtesy of Coast Guard Sports Information