NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy football team picked up their first victory of the season on Saturday with a 34-24 defeat of Curry College in front of a packed Family Weekend crowd.

Both teams now stand at 1-1 following the result. Curry gets to rest next weekend before returning on September 27th to host Dean College (0-2) at noon.

After forcing a deep Colonels punt on the opening drive, Coast Guard gave the ball right back after Sean Burns (Absecon, N.J.) was picked off at the 11-yard line. It only took three plays for All-American running back Monte Quinn to take the ball to the house on a 13-yard run and Omar Aboutoui to drill the PAT to give Curry the early 7-0 lead.

Another turnover ended the Bears' next drive early, coming this time on a fumble from the typically strong-gripped Harrison Hensley (Riverview, Fla.). Nothing came of it as the Bears defense forced a four-and-out, and the hosts embarked on a nine-play, 81-yard drive culminating in an easy one-yard dive over the pile for Hensley to make it 7-6. The Bears fell just short of tying it, however, as the PAT was blocked by Pete Jurovich.

Both teams traded big plays to start the second quarter. Curry capped an overlapping eight-play drive with a 40-yard scoring connection from Anthony Santino to Wesley Williams, going up 14-6 following the converted PAT. Coast Guard needed just two plays to respond, with Hensley making up for his earlier turnover with a highlight reel play. The Bears running back received a pass from Burns on a swing route, broke a tackle, and lowered his shoulder to truck an incoming defender before taking it to the endzone; Caleb McClure (Canton, Ga.) was able to get the PAT off this time to make it 14-13.

After the Colonels' next 10-play, 47-yard drive ended in a successful field goal, Coast Guard was able to take the lead on another big play as Burns connected with Matt LaBouliere (Pipersville, Pa.) on a 31-yard pass straight to the endzone; McClure once again was able to convert the PAT to send the Bears into halftime with a 20-17 lead.

Coast Guard had the ball to start the second half, but Curry forced Burns to throw his third pick of the game at the visitors' 38-yard line. Curry marched down the field to Coast Guard eight-yard line in nine plays, seemingly destined to score and retake the lead until local favorite Noah Westkott (Waterford, Conn.) intercepted Antino in the end zone to give the Bears a touchback.

Coast Guard turned the sophomore's first career interception into points, taking 11 plays to have Burns connect with Desta on an 18-yard pass in the end zone. McClure was able to drill the PAT again, while the score was set up by an incredible 37-yard pass from Burns to Desta that the latter was able to catch while fighting off contact.

After the next drives for both teams went nowhere, Curry was able to get the ball back with 10:22 remaining the in the fourth before the defense showed up again. On 1st and 10, Noah Rohrer (Mount Joy Township, Pa.) met Quinn in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Second down saw Antino's pass to Quinn fall short, and third down saw youth prevail again as sophomores Will Adair (San Antonio, Tex.) and Colin Donahue (Reading, Mass.) teamed up in the backfield to bring down the Colonels quarterback and force a punt.

Coast Guard punted as well on the following drive, but the Bears were able to quickly force their visitors into a fourth down situation yet again with five yards to reset. Curry opted for the pass, but Adair stormed the backfield on his own this time to bring down Santino and force the turnover on downs. Coast Guard needed just one play to extend their lead as Burns handed it off to Glenn Patrick (Fairhope, Ala.), who broke through the middle and received a speed boost off of a defender's push to make it to the end zone, with McClure's following kick splitting the uprights.

Curry scored one more time and converted the PAT at 2:04 to cap a ten play, 75-yard drive and make it 34-24, but their ensuing onside kick attempt was easily recovered by the Bears. After playing the timeout game for a couple of downs, Coast Guard was finally able to take the victory formation and kneel the ball to secure their first win of the 2025 season.

Burns was still impressive in just his second career start despite the three interceptions, completing 13 passes with a game-high 263 passing yards and career-high three passing touchdowns. Desta added to his Academy career record marks in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns with four, 108, and one respectively. Hensley and Patrick combined for 164 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Patrick, a prototypical speed back who hole the Academy men's track program's 60-yard dash record, took over for Hensley in the second half after the latter aggravated a lingering injury.

On defense, William Wolf (Front Royal, Va.) led the way with 12 tackles (five solo, seven assist) and two QB hits, while Blake Develan (Carlisle, Pa.) also reaching double-digit tackles at ten (four solo, six assist). Lucas White (Juneau, Alas.) and Rohrer were one-man wrecking crews with six and five solos, respectively. Finally, Adair had a monster day in the Colonels' backfield with 2.5 sacks for a combined loss of 10 yards.

Bears football is back in action next Saturday, September 28th, as they host Nichols College at 1:30 p.m. The crowd for that one is sure to be a raucous one, as the game is set to coincide with the Academy's annual Homecoming Weekend. Coast Guard lost a high-scoring 47-56 shoot-out in Dudley last season, which was just the third win for the Bison in their 11 match-ups with the Bears.