By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
All year, the Coast Guard Bears have been known for one thing: a prolific offense. This unit is led by quarterback Sean Burns, who was averaging 256 passing yards per game coming in, and star running back Harrison Hensley, who had racked up over 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground.
The story of the Springfield and Coast Guard game, held on Stagg Field last Saturday, was going to be that offense vs. the vaunted defense of Springfield, who had held every team it has faced with the exception of nationally-ranked UW-Plateville to under 300 total yards.
The added stakes for this one were that with both teams at 5-0 in conference play and two games up on a pack of 2-loss teams, the winner was going to secure the NEWMAC’s autobid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
That offense got on the right foot to start the game, with Harrison’s rushing ability and Burns’ effective short passing meticulously marching Coast Guard down the field. Facing a third-and-19, Burns and the Bears offense converted, bringing the offense down to the one. Harrison converted quickly after, his 16th rushing score of the season, and giving the Bears an early lead.
But from that point, after allowing 75 yards on the first drive, the Pride’s swarming defense held Coast Guard to just 80 total yards the rest of the game, and on the back of 397 rushing yards overwhelmed Coast Guard with a 30-10 win, securing their fifth straight NEWMAC crown.
For head coach Mike Cerasuolo, seeing his defense’s response to Coast Guard’s opening drive says a lot about their mindset.
“It’s about how you respond to things,” Cerasuolo said. “It’s never about the action, it’s about the reaction when kids don’t blink. There’s no flinch in this group, and that was really cool to see.”
After the Coast Guard touchdown, Springfield went on an odyssey of a drive. 16 plays and just under 10 minutes of game time full of powerful, deliberate runs, led by quarterback TJ Welch, fullback Stanford Davis and wing back James Green. No run got more than 10 yards, with not one negative play.
Davis punched it in from two yards out, and Ian Wernik’s extra point tied it up at 7.
The rest of the game followed a similar script.
Springfield received the second half kickoff and pounded the ball up the middle, keeping the ball exclusively in the hands of Welch and Davis. Finally, Welch pulled a triple option, flipping it out to Cam Pedro, who scampered in for an 18-yard score.
Coast Guard kicked a field goal following a Springfield muffed punt, narrowing the score to 17-10.
But as they’ve done all year, Springfield responded after allowing points, this time with a nine minute effort. Facing a fourth-and-five on Coast Guard’s 19-yard line, Welch threw the ball for the only time all day, hitting Green on a crossing route, where he sprinted for a touchdown.
These time-consuming drives helped Springfield control the tempo of the game and keep Coast Guard’s offense off the field.
“They’re obviously a well-coached football team,” Cerasuolo said. “When you can hold onto the ball and not turn it over, be able to establish the fullback, the quarterback ran well, and hit them with that nice pass at the end. There’s a lot of good things working well with the offense right now.”
A bit later on, Bode Dunn ran one in from 20 yards out, pushing the score to 30-10. Cerasuolo promptly received his Gatorade bath at the final whistle, securing another appearance on the national stage for Springfield.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Cerasuolo said. “Proud of where we started the season, how we came around and everything. They’ve worked really hard to get to this point.”
The Pride take on SUNY Maritime next week at Stagg Field, hoping to extend its conference winning streak to a whopping 30 in a row.
“We have another opportunity next week just to build this thing every single day,” Pohlman said. “And we just love every single day we get to spend time with each other.”
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics