Coast Guard drops football opener to UNE
Sep. 4—NEW LONDON — Coast Guard's final drive Saturday was stopped on a play with 48 seconds remaining, an incompletion under pressure by sophomore quarterback Joey Armentrout from the University of New England 15.
The final score: UNE 17, Coast Guard 10.
But as electric as the final moments became, a 38-yard completion from Armentrout to freshman Amr Baadani at the height of it to get the Bears in scoring position, there were plenty of mistakes before that drive to look toward, as well.
"I don't think they did anything differently than they did all game," Armentrout, making his fourth career start, said of the way UNE defended the final series.
"A lot of mistakes that we made were self-inflicted. It sucks that it had to come down to the last play of the game for us, but I think if we clean up the mistakes we made earlier in the game, we wouldn't even be in that position."
Coast Guard, which has now lost eight straight games dating back to last season, opened the season at home at Cadet Memorial Field and trailed 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bears fumbled away their first possession, after which UNE scored to lead 3-0. Coast Guard had a block in the back on its ensuing kickoff return that put the ball back at its own 7-yard-line. The Bears punted, but, combined with a late hit on that return, the Nor'easters took over at the 25 and scored again to go up 10-0.
Coast Guard then missed a 32-yard field goal that could have narrowed the deficit.
"The difference was probably the first quarter," third-year head coach C.C. Grant said. "We're down 10-0 and we get a chance, we miss a field goal. The fumble, we had a fumble so now we're backed up. We made a lot of mistakes, third-and-longs we gave up.
"So that to me was really the difference in the game."
UNE upped its lead to 17-0 to start the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Henault to Shane LaPorte.
Coast Guard scored with 33 seconds remaining in the first half on a 31-yard pass from Armentrout to Baadani, behind his defender in the end zone, to pull within 17-7.
The Bears were intercepted on their first series of the second half but later pulled within 17-10 with 10:31 remaining in the game on a 21-yard field goal by Finnegan Hall.
UNE was able to take the clock down to the 2:46 mark on its next possession, however, picking up five first downs as it drove down to the Coast Guard 13 before giving the ball back to the Bears.
Armentrout made the time count as he hit Baadani for 38 yards on the first play to put the Bears within striking distance at the Nor'easters 35.
"Having Amr on the field, you just know that eventually he's going to pop open," Armentrout said of the freshman receiver, who finished his first career game with five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. "He's a playmaker and we saw earlier, there was a couple drops but he bounced right back and scored the touchdown for us."
Baadani, who is 5-foot-7, is a 2021 grad of Fairfax (Va.) High School and played last season at Naval Academy Prep in Newport, R.I.
"Us NAPS guys, you come in (to Coast Guard) and you're not even a freshman at that point," Armentrout said of Baadani. "I think what they instilled in us at NAPS is you're going to make an impact on one side of the ball or the other as soon as you step foot onto that campus, whether you're going to Coast Guard or Navy.
"I think that's his expectation and that's our expectation."
Armentrout was 19-for-39 passing for 275 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Tafari Wall added six catches for 58 yards and tight end Matt Ross had two catches for 57 yards. Running back Spencer McMillion had 18 carries for 52 yards before being injured, with freshman David Bolin (7 carries, 25 yards) filling in.
Conner McGuire led the defense with seven tackles and a sack. Hall provided a highlight with a 68-yard punt.
Henault was 11-for-17 for 99 yards for UNE and the Nor'easters outrushed Coast Guard 172-69. UNE was 6-for-15 on third down (40%), converting a third-and-11 in the fourth quarter with Coast Guard growing desperate to get the ball back.
"What I said to them yesterday was, 'We're going to make mistakes. The big thing is what we do to overcome those mistakes. Just stay together, keep playing,'" Grant said. "I knew that with this much youth, only eight seniors, that there were going to be a lot of mistakes throughout the game and we were just going to have to play through them."
