Nichols at Coast Guard football preview capsule
Sep. 17—WHEN — Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Where: Cadet Memorial Field, New London (all spectators regardless of age must show proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours; no parking allowed on campus)
Records: Nichols 2-0 overall; Coast Guard Academy 1-1.
Players to watch: Nichols QB Logan Sawyer (32-for-65, 362 yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs), RB Joshua Pierre-Charles (45 carries, 182 yards, 3 TDs), WR Hunter Ferreira (10 catches, 103 yards, 1 TD), LB Joe Cox (23 tackles), DB Derek Rousso (5 tackles, 2 INTs).
Coast Guard, QB Tafari Wall (42-for-79, 494 yards, 3 TDs, 5 INTs), RB Jared Colletti (39 carries, 108 yards; 9 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD), WR Damaso Jaime (13 catches, 144 yards, 1 TD), WR James Duren (4 catches, 81 yards, 1 TD), WR Cody Fidler (8 catches, 121 yards), LB Michael Palermo (19 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 INT), DL Connor McGuire (16 tackles), LB Connor Healy (20 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup), DB Adam Jibril-Barnes (14 tackles), K-P Finnegan Hall (2-for-3 XP, 2-for-2 FG; 13 punts, 501 yards, 38.5 yards per kick).
Analysis: The most glaring stat in last week's 21-18 loss to Curry was Coast Guard's four turnovers, but head coach C.C. Grant made sure to emphasize that the loss didn't just belong to the offense. "The offense didn't just lose or special teams lost," Grant said. "We all lost. The program is 1-1 right now. I kind of wanted to address that right away. The turnovers are the things that everyone sees. With the X's and O's and the execution of the game, there's so many things that we need to get better at. ... There were a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball in the second half which you can't do in tight ballgames to win." ... Coast Guard plays its first home game in 672 days, celebrating its first of two Homecoming weekends against Nichols, which Grant calls the toughest of the Bears' three opponents so far this season. The Bison have a gigantic 158-man roster, including running back Joshua Pierre-Charles, a grad student who entered this season third all-time for Nichols in rushing yards (1,858) and rushing touchdowns (15). The Bison look to open the season 3-0 for the first time since 2000, having topped Westfield State (21-6) and Anna Maria (27-23) in the first two games. They average 320 yards of offense per game (181 passing, 139 rushing), while Coast Guard averages 293 (247 passing, 46 rushing). "They're ripped with upper classmen," Grant said of Nichols. "The quarterback is very good, they have a real good running back; the running back is as good as we'll probably see all year, an outstanding kid. We're going to have to play a very good game to beat these guys." ... Coast Guard will debut uniforms this week honoring Station 17, the Pea Island Life-Saving Station in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, which was the first in the country to have an all-Black crew and the first to have a Black commanding officer in Richard Etheridge. The Bears will wear the uniforms four times this season. ... Coast Guard has won three straight in the series with Nichols, including a 24-23 victory in overtime in 2019. Jon Wagner scored on a 20-yard touchdown and Pat Crowley added the game-winning extra point in OT. ... Nichols has a handful of players from the Eastern Connecticut Conference on its roster: junior wide receiver Marcus Elliott (Waterford), freshman defensive back Nehemiah Owens (Montville), freshman linebacker Spencer Berlepsch (NFA) and freshman offensive lineman Elijah Blanchard (Bacon Academy).
— Vickie Fulkerson
