NEW LONDON, Conn.--Senior Mike Lefflbine threw for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns while junior Maurice Irby ran for 75 yards and three touchdowns leading St. Lawrence to a 45-14 win over Coast Guard in the season opener for both teams.

St. Lawrence ran 93 plays racked up 458 yards of total offense, 269 passing and 189 on the ground while dominating time of possession as the Saints had the ball for 45 minutes and 27 seconds while Coast Guard had the ball for 14 minutes and 33 seconds.

Coast Guard was held to 141 yards of total offense, 74 yards rushing and 67 passing.

Irby scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter and then added a 2-yard run with 7:27 left in the first half to give St. Lawrence a 14-0 lead.

The Bears got on the board taking advantage of fumbled punt at the Saints 16-yard line. Sophomore Bryan Popp scored his first career touchdown, a 17-yard run on a reverse to cut the lead to 14-7 with 5:31 left.

The Saints answered right back as Lefflbine threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Matt Gardiner with 1:17 left to close the first half scoring and take a 21-7 lead.

Senior Tony Buzzini returned an interception 50 yard to the Saints 9-yard line on St. Lawrence's first possession of the third quarter, but the Bears missed a 25-yard field goal.

Coast Guard senior Jake Wawrzyniak's 1-yard run with 9:27 left in third quarter cut the deficit to 21-14, but the Saints would score 24 unanswered points, 17 of those in the fourth quarter to win going away.

Irby had a 2-yard run, his third touchdown of the game with 3:09 left in the third quarter for a 28-14 lead.

Sophomore Andrew Carvalho booted a 26-yard field goal, Lefflbine threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to freshman Sean Richardson before backup quarterback Zane Fish threw a 5-yard touchdown to freshman tight end John May with 7:52 left to close the scoring.

Sophomore tight end Mitch Gallagher led the Saints with seven receptions for 104 yards while sophomore Paul Wonka led the ground attack with 22 carries for 80 yards.

Coast Guard sophomore quarterback Derek Victory was 9 of 27 for 67 yards with a pair of interceptions while Wawrzyniak led the Bears with ten carries for 40 yards.

Popp led the Bears receivers with three catches for 41 yards while senior Collis Brown had three receptions for 21 yards.

Junior strong safety Joe Rizzardi led the Bears defense with ten tackles, all solo.

The Bears honored the 1988 ECAC North Championship team at halftime while members of that team served as honorary captains for the coin toss.

Coast Guard is back in action next week when they host rival Merchant Marine in the annual battle for the Secretaries' Cup with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m.

POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH COAST GUARD HEAD COACH BILL GEORGE