SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Senior running back Kevin Cook had  a career-high 246 yards as Western New England, the #1 team in New England  beat Coast Guard 22-7 in New England Football Conference action at Golden Bear Stadium, a game in which it rained from start to finish, heavy at times.

Western New England held Coast Guard to just 225 yards of total offense and the Golden Bears defense intercepted Coast Guard quarterback Derek Victory four times in the win.

Victory passed for 152 yards on 22 of 52 attempts and an 18-yard touchdown toss to junior Jordan Groff, who finished with two receptions for 25 yards. Senior Collis Brown caught five balls for 33 yards. Coast Guard was held to 73 yards rushing as a team, with junior Mike Clancy getting 36 yards  on 11 carries. Brown tied the Coast Guard career record of 159 receptions held by Sam England (2006-'09).

Western New England which finished with 391 yards to total offense, 318 of those on the ground, improves to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NEFC while the Bears drop to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

The Golden Bears led 14-0 at halftime, holding Coast Guard to just two first downs and 43 total yards on 27 plays in the first half while Western New England ran 60 plays in the first half for 263 yards.

The Bears defense kept them in the game all afternoon long and the offense got its only touchdown of the day on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Victory to Groff with 4:13 left in the third quarter cutting the deficit to 14-7 and Coast Guard appeared to have some momentum.

The momentum was short lived as Tucker Schumitz returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown and the Golden Bears converted the two point conversion for a 22-7 lead with 4:01 left in the third quarter.

Victory would be intercepted on two the next three possesions, but following a WNE fumble, Coast Guard drove down to the Golden Bears 27-yard line before turning it over on downs with 6:17 left.

Coast Guard would force a punt and once again drive into WNE territory, but again turned it over on downs, this time at the 29-yard line with 2:50 left to end the chances of a comeback.

Defensively, senior Victor Rizzardi and junior Kyle Wood led the Bears with 12 tackles apiece, followed by juniors James Rizzo (7 solo) and Joe Rizzardi (3 solo) with 11 each. Sophomore Brendan McNeil and junior Mark Behne chipped in 10 apiece.

"The defense played well, we didn't give up many points, but we didn't move the ball. We just didn't come up with the big play," said Coast Guard head coach Bill George. "We made some mistakes that hurt us, we dropped some balls in the wet rain. We hung in there we played hard and we didn't quit, but when you play and undefeated team, you have to play mistake free football and we didn't do that."

"We had our chances near the end and we had to put in the endzone, but we didn't convert and that hurt us. The kickoff return hurt us for sure," added George.

Coast Guard is back in action on Saturday when they host Curry on Homecoming Weekend with kickoff set for 1:30 p.m.