WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic University football junior Kevin Licciardi ran for a career-high 148 yards as the Cardinals posted a 30-7 victory over Coast Guard Saturday at Cardinal Stadium on Cardinal Weekend.
Catholic (5-2, 3-0 NEWMAC) has posted three-straight wins to open play in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) for the first time in its four seasons in the league. The last time the Cardinals opened the season with three consecutive conference wins was in 1999 when they went 6-0 and won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championship.
Dating back to 2019, Catholic has won seven of its last 10 games overall and four-straight in the NEWMAC.
Licciardi averaged 11.4 yards per carry, totaling 148 yards on 13 attempts with a 61-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter. He is the second Cardinal to rush for 100 yards in as many games against the Bears after Bryan Melara had 143 yards on 30 carries in 2019.
The Cardinals scored on five of their first seven drives en route to finishing with 394 yards of total offense. After a Catholic punt and 26-yard missed field goal by Coast Guard on the first two possessions of the game, the Cardinals scored on its next five consecutive possessions as it built a 30-0 lead with 11:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.
A week ago, Catholic scored 23-straight points to take a 23-0 third quarter lead at WPI.
The Cardinals started the scoring midway through the second quarter when sophomore Madden Lowe found senior Mark Cheffers for a 27-yard touchdown pass with 8:09 remaining that capped an 18-play, 80-yard drive that used nearly nine minutes.
Cheffers now has three touchdown receptions in his last four games.
Catholic took a 10-0 into halftime following a 10-play, 73-yard drive ended with a career-long 41-yard field goal from senior Fabrizio Reilly. After a missed 35-yard field goal to start the season against McDaniel, Reilly has now made six consecutive field goal attempts this season with a long of 41 twice against Endicott and Coast Guard. He is currently 12-for-18 in his career.
Touchdown runs by Lowe and Licciardi pushed the Cardinals' lead to 23-0 before senior Preston Jeffrey hauled in his team-leading six touchdown reception of the season on a 10-yard pass from Lowe with 11:23 to play in the fourth quarter.
Jeffrey has caught at least one TD in five out of seven games this season, including four in the last three.
For the second-straight week, the Catholic defense nearly completed the shutout since Sept. 28, 2013 before allowing a 2-yard touchdown run to Spencer McMillion with 3:35 remaining.
The Cardinals allowed a season-low 192 yards and had seven tackles for loss, including a season-high three sacks, while holding Coast Guard to just 4-of-11 on third-down conversions.
Junior Noah Miller led the way with nine tackles, including eight solo stops and one tackle for loss. Freshman Carson Henry had eight tackles with 0.5 sacks and a pass breakup while senior Gabe Aparicio had seven tackles.
In three games since returning from injury, Aparacio has totaled 19 tackles, three passes defended and one interception.
Catholic heads to Kings Point, N.Y. next Saturday, October 23 for a NEWMAC showdown with Merchant Marine. Both team are currently tied atop the conference standings with identical 3-0 records. The Cardinals will be looking for their first win in four meetings with the Mariners since joining the NEWMAC. Kickoff from Brooks Stadium is at noon.
Please be aware that all spectators attending Saturday's game will be asked to show photo identification at the gate to enter Brooks Stadium. In addition, fans are not permitted to leave the facility and roam the Academy grounds for any reason.