NEW LONDON, Conn. - Coast Guard Academy Football will host arch-rival U.S. Merchant Marine this Saturday, Nov. 11th at 12 PM. The game will take place in New London, Conn. on Cadet Memorial Field. It will be produced and broadcasted live through ESPN and available for streaming through ESPN+.
Important Links
ESPN Remains Involved In Secretaries' Cup Game:
This will be the seventh-straight year that the "Worldwide Leader in Sports," ESPN, will produce and broadcast the annual rivalry game. We welcome back Robert Lee for the play-by-play duties and Craig Haubert who will serve as the color analyst.
The Rivalry:
This will be the seventh year the two teams will meet up at the end of the season. The two schools met in the final game of the regular season from 1991 to 2005 until Coast Guard joined the New England Football Conference, a two-division conference which needed the last week of the season for a championship game, thus the game was moved to September. The game has similar pageantry as the Army-Navy game.
Coast Guard and Merchant Marine first squared off for the "The Secretary of Transportation Cup" or Secretary's Cup in 1981. While the Bears and Mariners rivalry has always been a natural one, it was enhanced when the Maritime Administration was switched from the Department of Commerce to join Coast Guard in the Department of Transportation. However, the name of the contest was pluralized to Secretaries' Cup when the U.S. Coast Guard moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
This will be the 52nd meeting between the two schools with Merchant Marine holding a 36-15 edge. The Secretaries' Cup was established in 1981 and the Mariners hold a 29-13 lead in the battle for the Cup. Merchant Marine has won 12 of the last 15 meetings. After the Academies' first matchup in 1949, the two teams played again in 1965 and 1966 before resuming the matchup in 1974 and continuing until 1979. After not matching up in 1980, the teams have met every year since.
The Bears and Mariners were conference rivals in the Freedom Football Conference from 1992 to 2003 before Coast Guard left to join the Liberty League. In 2017, the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) sponsored football for the first time. Coast Guard is a full conference member while Merchant Marine are associate members of the league for football.
Last Season:
Last year, despite taking the early lead, Coast Guard would ultimately fall to Merchant Marine Academy in the second half of the game. USMMA would retain possession of the Secretaries Cup in the annual battle of NCAA Division III Service Academy rivals.
In the beginning of the game, The Bears marched down the field 77 yards in 12 plays for a six-yard touchdown pass from
Joey Armentrout to
Matt Ross for a 7-0 Bears lead. Kings Point answered back to tie up the score. CGA would take back their lead after a fumble recovery which set up a one-yard touchdown run for Armentrout.
Then,
Spencer McMillion would score on a 19-yard run to increase the Bears lead 20-7.
Finnegan Hall's PAT attempt bounced off the upright right at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, The Mariners would score and then hold the Bears to a field goal for a 23-14 score. Sophomore
Ethan Lasher?came up big for Coast?Guard as he intercepted a Jeremiah Wang pass and set up the Bears at the Kings Point 40-yard line.
On the?second play of the drive, Armentrout hit Ross for a 32-yard touchdown, which pushed the Bears?lead to 30-14. The Bears led the half 30-20 after a failed King's Point two-point conversion.
The Mariners battled back in the second half of the game and the Bears found themselves down 34-30 with just ten minutes left to play. Kings Point would score one last time and hold Coast Guard to a field goal, securing the 41-33 victory. Both offenses put up impressive numbers with the Bears gaining 425 total yards of offense and the Mariners totaling 450 yards.
Last Week:
Broock Desta was the main target in the game, catching nine passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns leading the Coast Guard to a 28-21 win over WPI in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.
Coast Guard's quarterback, Joey Amentrout, ended the night 21-for-36 with 286 yards and three touchdowns. He tallied 12 rush attempts for 41 yards and a score.
James Patz added 89 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
The Bears finished with 367 yards of total offense, 81 rushing yards, and 286 passing yards. The Engineers finished with 433 yards of total offense, 224 rushing, and 209 passing yards.
Merchant Marine had a bye week after suffering a 21-14 loss to Springfield on Oct. 28th.
Scouting the Mariners:
The Mariners look to win the Secretaries' Cup for the fifth straight season. Merchant Marine enters the game 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the NEWMAC under second year head coach Jameson Croall.
Offensively, the Mariners sit at fourth in the conference for total yards, averaging 354 yards per game (176.5 passing, 237.5 rushing) and 30.6 points per game.
Sophomore Gervy Alota will start at the quarterback position this week for the Mariners. Alota has 48 completions on the year for 818 yards and eight touchdowns.
Junior receiver Talsen Smith leads the Mariners with 30 catches for 649 yards and seven touchdowns.
Senior fullback Ceaser Gonzalez sits at third in the NEWMAC for rushing yards averaging 99.0 per game and four point seven yards per carry. He currently has 170 carries for a total of 792 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Mariner's defense is allowing 23.2 points per game and an average of 332.8 yards per game.
Senior linebacker Teddy Brunger leads his team with 41 total tackles, with eight tackles for a loss and four sacks. Defensive lineman Jack Temple leads his team and the NEWMAC with seven sacks on the season for a total loss of 30 yards.
Junior kicker George Ethan Ferrey is averaging 41.3 yards per punt. Junior Jackson Tinkis averages 55.8 yards per kickoff and leads the NEWMAC in field goals made, connecting on five out of six attempts. Tinkis has made 30 out of 32 extra points for the Mariners.
Scouting the Bears:
The Bears look to win the Secretaries' Cup for the first time since a 26-12 win at Merchant Marine in 2018. Coast Guard sits at 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the NEWMAC under fourth year head coach C.C. Grant.
Coast Guard currently leads the NEWMAC in total yards averaging 476.7 yards per game (287.2 passing, 189.4 rushing) and 36.4 points per game.
Junior quarterback Armentrout will start the game this Saturday for the Bears. Armentrout leads the NEWMAC in multiple categories. He had 189 completions on the year so far for 2477 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Wide receiver
Broock Desta not only leads the team, but the entire NEWMAC, with 65 receptions for 1040 yards and eight touchdowns on the season. Another wide receiver,
James Patz has the second most receptions on the year with 37 catches for 557 total yards and four touchdowns.
Freshman running back
Harrison Hensley leads the NEWMAC in rushing, averaging 136.8 yards per game and 6.6 yards per carry. Hensley has 125 carries for 821 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Bear's defense is allowing 31.9 points per game and an average of 456.4 yards per game.
Senior defensive back
Ryan Vigo leads the team with 58 tackles with two and a half tackles for loss and one interception. Junior defensive lineman
Tyler Jones has 43 tackles on the year three and a half sacks for a loss of 27 yards. Another defensive back
Hayden Anderson leads the team in interceptions with five on the year.
For special teams, Freshman
Matthew Hagerty handles most of the punting for the Bears while
Brennan Holt handles the kickoffs, field goals and PATs. Hagerty is averaging 30.75 yards a punt for a title of 615 yards. Quarterback Joe Armentrout also has punted nine times this year for an average of 36.67 yards per punt. Holt has made three out of five field goal attempts and leads the NEWMAC in extra points. He has connected on all 45 out of 45 PATs.
LAST WEEK'S NEWMAC GAMES
Saturday, Nov. 4
Springfield 58, Norwich 7
Salve Regina 49, SUNY Maritime 0
Coast Guard 28, WPI 21
THIS WEEK'S NEWMAC GAMES
Merchant Marine at Coast Guard, 12 PM
Salve Regina at Norwich, 12 PM
SUNY Maritime at Springfield, 1 PM
WPI at MIT, 6 PM
