Curry Beats Coast Guard 44-21; Gerken Catches Record 15 Passes in Loss
NEW LONDON, CONN.--Sophomore Phil Bigelow carried 21 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns while senior quarterback Anthony Carnevale came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes leading Curry to a 44-21 win over Coast Guard in a non-divisional game between the two New England Football Conference (NEFC) schools.
Coast Guard junior wide receiver Eric Gerken set a single-game school record with 15 receptions in the loss. The old record was 12 held by three players, most recently Rob Bixler vs. Plymouth State in 2002. Gerken finished with a career-high 149 receiving yards in the game.
Bigelow scored the only touchdown of the first quarter on a 17-yard run with 4:32 left in the opening quarter. Freshman Chris Frissore added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Carnavale threw all three of his touchdown passes in the second quarter as the Colonels scored 23 points in the quarter and led 30-0. He threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Tyran Harrigan, a 25-yard strike to senior tight end Ryan Doherty and a nine-yard touchdown to sophomore Scubie Mageza for a 27-0 lead before Frissore booted a 29-yard field goal on the final play of the first half for the 30-0 lead.
Curry finished with 568 yards of total offense, 319 passing and 249 rushing while Coast Guard had 294 yards of total offense, 197 in the air and 97 on the ground.
The Colonels had 387 yards of total offense in the first half, 229 of those in the air while the Bears were held to 72 total yards in the first half.
Coast Guard took advantage of a Curry turnover early in the third quarter as after a fumbled punt, the Bears went 45 yards six plays with Gerken catching a 12-yard touchdown pass from senior Jarrod Owens with 11:07 left in third quarter making the score 30-7.
Curry junior Bruce Vieira's two-yard run with 7:27 left made the score 37-7 before the Bears answered with a six-yard touchdown run by sophomore Tyler Hames with 42 seconds left in the third quarter making the score 37-14 heading to the fourth quarter.
Bigelow scored from one-yard out before Coast Guard freshman Jake Wawrzyniak scored his first career touchdown on a two-yard run with 59 seconds left to close the scoring.
Carnevale finished 11 of 18 for 139 yards and the three touchdowns while senior Mark Gilson, who started, was 12 of 17 for 180 yards.
Doherty led the Colonels wiht nine receptions for 126 yards while junior Rob Bambini had seven catches for 89 yards.
Owens was 12 of 19 for 115 yards with a touchdown pass while junior Jon Resch was 9 of 15 for 82 yards. Owens also led the Bears with 13 carries for 43 rushing yards.
Curry improves to 2-1 on the season while the Bears drop to 0-2 on the year. Both teams open NEFC divisional play next week as the Colonels travel to MIT on Saturday at 1:00 for the Boyd Division opener and Coast Guard hosts Mass. Maritime on Homecoming in the Bogan Division opener at 1:30.
