Defense has keyed Coast Guard’s recent football success
New London — Of all the tension and emotions over four quarters Saturday, the little victories and the near misses for the Coast Guard Academy football team, it came down to this: 2 minutes, 59 seconds to go, Norwich University ball at its own 44-yard-line, Coast Guard defense on the field. And then suddenly that was it. The series consisted of three straight incompletions by quarterback Matthew Chaffee and a 7-yard run by Chaffee on fourth down, on which he was tackled by linebackers Titus Creamer and Dan Dinges.
“I was like, 'Wait, did that just happen? We get the ball back?'” said coach Bill George, whose Bears held on to a 13-9 victory in the New England Men's and Women's Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
It was the second straight game for Coast Guard (3-1) without giving up a touchdown, nine consecutive quarters. The 44 points allowed headed into Saturday's game against Catholic in New London are the fewest allowed by the Bears through four games since the 1974 season.
And it's a good time for a defensive stranglehold, too, as the Coast Guard offense will introduce a new quarterback this week in sophomore Ryan Jones, making his first career start in place of Ethan Goldcamp, who spent the night in a Vermont hospital Saturday after leaving the game with dizziness.
George said of Catholic, “I'm looking at this game as offensive.”
It's been the defense, however, operating with a little bit of the “wow” factor.
There have been nine sacks, three by Creamer. There have been six interceptions, two by sophomore Patrick Crowley.
And there have been substitutions. Sophomore Mike Goldsworthy will start his third straight game at defensive back Saturday due to an injury to senior captain Ryan Robertson.
“A big thing is it comes down to trust,” sophomore linebacker Kane Alletzhauser said at Wednesday's media luncheon, by way of explanation. “We see each other so much. I feel like there's such a close bond. You can't get that at a big college. Here you see people in your (military) company or they're your roommate.”
In the second quarter at Norwich, the Cadets had a first-and-goal at the Coast Guard 1-yard-line, leading 3-0. On first down, Goldsworthy came up to stop running back Steve Cuqua for no gain. Norwich was then penalized for a false start, pushing it to the 6. Cuqua was hit for a loss of six yards by linebackers Mark Wicke and Christian Breviario. On third down, Chaffee's pass was successfully defended by Goldsworthy, forcing Norwich to settle for a field goal and a still narrow 6-0 lead.
Then there was the reason Norwich was at the 1-yard-line in the first place. Alletzhauser.
A member of the scout team last year who impressed George, Alletzhauser was certainly impressive as he tracked down Cuqua in the midst of a 52-yard run, tackling him at the 1 to save a touchdown.
“I was thinking,” Alletzhauser said. “I was taught you have to hustle. You can still end up doing something. I just saw an opportunity."
“We kind of believe that at any given moment, anyone can make the play to change the game around,” said senior free safety Matt O'Donnell, who had a second-quarter interception. “Teams we play, they've got the height advantage, the size advantage; we all believe in this bend, don't break.”
Coast Guard, under co-defensive coordinators Dana Fleischmann and C.C. Grant, is using a new formation this season with just two down linemen and two linebackers in the spots where the ends would be.
Crowley leads the team with 28 tackles and tackle Jack Brandt has a team-best five tackles for a loss.
“They're having fun,” George said. “We're putting more pressure on the quarterback, we're making a play. It's fun having some success. There's so many guys running around a little bit.” v.fulkerson@theday.com