BIDDEFORD, MAINE -- Junior Tafari Wall threw a touchdown and ran for another in his first career appearance leading Coast Guard to a 16-0 season-opening win over the University of New England to give head coach C.C. Grant his first career win.

Wall was 19 of 30 for 262 yards with a touchdown and one interception in the win.

Both teams finished with 277 yards of total offense in the game. 

Cody Fidler and James Duren each had four receptions for 75 yards in the win. Jared Colletti led the Bears with 18 carries for 56 yards and also caught five passes for 55 yards.

"It means something to me," said Grant, who was emotional when Wall presented him with the game ball after picking up his first win. "We work so hard and winning is not easy particularly at a service academy because of all the things that the kids go through and it takes a lot to win a football game."

Wall threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Duren, a fantastic catch, with 3:38 left in the first quarter to open the scoring the extra point was missed and the Bears led 6-0, which would be the only points in the first half.

Coast Guard had 110 yards in the first half while UNE totaled 128.

Wall would score on a 1-yard quarterback keeper with 9:14 left in the game to cap a 77 yard drive and Finnegan Hall would add a 20-yard field goal with 4:06 left to close the scoring.
 
Seniors William Price and Michael Palermo each registered their first career interceptions in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Junior linebacker Connor Healy led the Bears with nine tackles, all solo, while sophomore free safety Logan Morris added seven tackles in the win. 

It was the first season-opening shutout win since a 34-0 victory over Anna Maria in 2016.

"We have some guys banged up and we had freshmen on the field playing two different positions today" said Grant. "To have them ready to play is a credit to the upperclass and the coaching staff and they did a pheonominal job against a really good opponent. UNE is much improved from two years ago especially on the defensive side of the ball. I knew we would make mistakes, but we just needed to play well enough and stick together to overcome those and we did today."

The Bears are back in action next Saturday at Curry with kickoff set for 1:00.