It’s time to play for keeps
Bears are ready to stop talking and start playing
New London — Not that Jack Brandt and Chip Crowley can't hold up their end of a conversation, quite the opposite, in fact, with the two personable Coast Guard Academy senior football captains.
They just feel this Coast Guard team, which opens the season at 7 p.m. Thursday against the University of New England at Cadet Memorial Field, already knows what it has to do without rehashing it all the time.
“Our attitude this preseason has been very businesslike,” said Brandt, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound defensive tackle. “Coach hasn't had to call us at all on our effort. We just kind of play. We're just playing the game.”
“If you can't get excited for this, you got something wrong with you,” said Crowley, a 6-2, 180-pound wide receiver, speaking of the more lowkey leadership style of he and Brandt. “Getting excited to play football is pretty easy for us. It's a lot better than cleaning your room.”
The Bears, who return 14 starters — six on offense and eight on defense — have been through an arduous preseason which included an inspection Wednesday morning and two straight days of practices with no pads due to
no pads due to the heat. It's made them pretty anxious to get going, with the ultimate goal of getting back to winning after finishing the season with six straight losses a year ago to wind up 3-7, having been derailed by injuries.
Coast Guard was picked to finish sixth in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference preseason poll. The Bears were 3-1 last year, including a victory over Norwich University in their NEWMAC opener, only to lose starting quarterback Ethan Goldcamp to a career-ending head injury.
Ryan Jones, a sophomore last year, then took over at quarterback … in an offense more suited to Goldcamp's golden arm than to Jones' punishing running style. The competitive Jones adapted, throwing for 311 yards and three touchdowns in the season-finale against Merchant Marine, giving him confidence entering a new season in which he was named the starter from Day One.
Coast Guard returns its leading receiver from last year in Justin Moffatt (27 catches for team highs of 438 yards and four touchdowns), as well as Crowley (20 catches, 250 yards) and Liam Middleton (23 catches, 240 yards).
Four starters are back on the offensive line, with senior center Hudson Dunaway, senior Nick Szep (left guard) and Bill Boardman (left tackle) and junior Colton Rausch (right guard), who will be joined by junior Jared Gee at right tackle.
And the Bears have plenty of talent in the backfield, with a pair of sophomores leading the way at running back in Chris Gardner and Jon Wagner, two of 18 members of a strong sophomore class who have cracked the depth chart.
“Last year was tough because there was a lot of injuries,” Crowley said. “… We feel like we left a lot on the field. We have a great atmosphere with the receiving corps; we're not afraid to call each other out on our mistakes.”
The offense has also gotten more cohesive with Jones — whom they call “R.J.” — at quarterback.
“He knows it's not all on him,” Crowley said. “He would feel like all the weight of the world is on him. But he knows now the offense is one unit. Definitely, through our interactions with him, getting close to him, he's gained a lot of confidence.”
On defense, junior Pat Crowley, a second team all-conference selection last year at cornerback (67 tackles, 2 interceptions) will lead an experienced secondary that includes junior safety Mark Wicke (53 tackles) and junior cornerback Michael Goldsworthy (44 tackles).
Senior linebacker Jake Behne led the team with 72 tackles last season.
Brandt (49 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss) and fellow senior Tommy Jones (47 tackles, team-best 7.5 tackles for a loss) will anchor the defensive line.
Brandt and Crowley first met when they were placed in the same Swab Summer company prior to their freshman year. Brandt is from Marlton, N.J., Crowley from San Marino, Calif.
“I thought he was a surf dude from California,” Brandt said at Wednesday's weekly team football luncheon. “He looked like Justin Bieber.”
The pair then roomed together. Both government majors, they struggled through calculus, employing what Brandt called the “Brandt-Crowley Method” of succeeding.
They've gotten through three years together so far.
“It's fitting we're football captains,” Crowley said.
“These guys answer the questions how I would,” said Coast Guard coach Bill George, entering his 20th season. “We've had some great senior leadership.
“We're taking more of a football approach. Over the last couple of days, what I hoped would materialize on the field has. There's a lot of new faces and we want to play good, solid football. … I don't have a lot more to say to the team and normally you'd have a lot to say the night before a game. I'm like these guys, how you feel is how your team feels. We're ready to go.” v.fulkerson@theday.com