NEW LONDON, Conn. –Alex Corvese (Cranston, R.I.) had a record setting afternoon as the Curry College football team was edged by the United States Coast Guard Academy by a final score of 56-54. Corvese set single-game school records in pass completions (42), yards (519) and touchdowns with seven.
Senior quarterback Derek Victory (Weston, Fla.) also had a record setting afternoon leading Coast Guard. The game featured 13 touchdown passes tying an NCAA Division III record.
Victory set a school record with 525 passing yards, tied a school record with six touchdowns in the win giving him a now Coast Guard career best 44 career touchdowns passes. He was 32 of 46 with three interceptions in the win.
Coast guard junior Darius Adams (Nassau, Bahamas), tied a pair of records as he tied the single-game record with three touchdown receptions and the season record with his ninth TD reception. He finished with seven receptions for 213 yards and had three TD receptions for the second time this season.
Sophomore Cole Austin (Flower Mound, Texas) set a school record as he made all nine extra points in the win.
Curry senior Jake Cawlina (Danvers, Mass.) led the Colonels with 14 receptions for 210 yards and four touchdowns.
The teams combined for 1,217 yards, 1,044 of those in the air. Coast Guard had 614 yards of total offense including the school record 525 passing while Curry had 603 total yards, 519 in the air.
Coast Guard improves to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the NEFC while Curry drops to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
The Bears led 21-0 following a 51-yard touchdown pass from Victory to Adams with 13:21 left in the first half. Victory opened the scoring with a 1-yard run and sophomore Jeff Porter's 5-yard run gave the Bears a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter would feature six touchdowns, three by each team, and the key missed extra point by the Colonels.
Corvese threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to D'Aundray Burcy with 1:20 left in the first half and after the missed extra point trailed 28-20.
The Bears would get momentum back as Porter caught a 2-yard pass from Victory with 14 seconds left and Coast Guard led 35-20 at halftime.
The game featured six more touchdowns in the third quarter, again three for each team with the teams alternating scores with Curry striking first as Corvese and Victory each threw three touchdown passes in the quarter.
Corvese threw a pair of TD pass to Cawlina (4 and 52 yards) before a 33-yard pass to Anthony Nastasi.
For Coast Guard, Adams caught touchdowns of 24 and 58 while junior Camden Cecchini (Tulsa, Okla.) caught a 43-yard touchdown pass.
The Bears led 56-41 after three quarters.
Cawlina would score his fourth touchdown of the game on a 20-yard pass with 13:54 left to cut the deficit to 46-48.
Corvese threw his final touchdown pass, a 1-yard strike to Dean Anderson with 4:19 left to pull the Colonels to within 56-54, but he two point pass to tie the game was incomplete.
Coast Guard would get one first down and take some time off the clock, but had to punt on 4th-and-1 giving Curry one last chance.
The Colonels took over at their own 17-yard line with 1:56 left. Curry moved the ball to the 35-yard line and were faced with a 3rd-and-3 when freshman R.J. Robiskie (Murrieta, Calif.) had a huge sack, the first of his career, to force and 4th-and 11. Junior Will Daniels broke up the 4th down pass intended for Cawlina with 49 seconds left as the Bears held on.
Junior tight end Cody Bain (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had a team-high nine receptions for 114 yards while Cecchini finished with 7 receptions for 90 yards for Coast Guard.
Nastasi added ten catches for 105 yards for the Colonels.
Porter led the Bears with 36 yards rushing on 12 carries while Corvese had nine carries for 35 yards to lead Curry.
Curry will next play Saturday when the Colonels play Maine Maritime in a home game at 1 p.m. Coast Guard will also be in action Saturday when the Bears travel to Nichols for a noon kickoff.
(Game Recap Courtesy of Coast Guard Sports Information)
