New London - It was the week of the Hampden-Sydney game, Sept. 20, with the Coast Guard Academy football team matching up with one of the top 25 Division III teams in the nation.

Kevin Postiglione, Coast Guard's senior center, was getting a particularly high volume of email that week from his grandfather, Daniel McManus.

"I got like 12 emails that week from him. He would scout them out for me, he would make up sayings, 'Beat the Tigers,'" Postiglione said. "... He would always be in blue and orange in the stands."

McManus, 74, died last week after a fight with cancer. A football guy, McManus played running back for Merchant Marine and later served in the U.S. Navy. He was even accepting when Kevin picked Coast Guard over Merchant Marine, choosing Merchant Marine's rival instead. Daniel and his wife, Gail, from Monroe, N.Y., were at all Coast Guard's home games until this year, when his illness kept him away.

On Saturday, Kevin Postiglione will play his final game at Coast Guard, as the Bears take on MIT in Cambridge, Mass.

It would be more bittersweet, the end of his competitive career, had it not been for the perspective he's gained over the last few weeks, taking in his grandfather's illness.

"It was going to hit me," Postiglione said this week from a Coast Guard practice at Cadet Memorial Field. "But something worse to worry about came along. It's sad because it's my 16th season of football ... but there's no reason to be sad. I want to enjoy every last second of it. That's what my grandpa would want."

It will also be the final game for Coast Guard seniors Tony Buzzini, Gordy Holloway, Joel Wyman, Matt Monteilh, Blake Thompson, Collis Brown, Jake Wawrzyniak, Victor Rizzardi, Nick Couture and Aaron Black.

The Bears are 3-6 overall, 2-4 in the New England Football Conference, losing the last three games by a total of 17 points.

Postiglione, 21, is the leader of a Coast Guard offensive line which has protected sophomore quarterback Derek Victory enough for Victory to have thrown for 1,888 yards this season, 3,574 yards over the last two seasons. Postiglione moved last year from defensive end back to center, which has long been his favorite spot on the field.

"He's a student of the game," said Coast Guard coach Bill George, also the Bears' offensive line coach as a former center, himself. "My hope is that, wherever he gets stationed, he can work with a local high school and do some coaching. He's a great leader for this young offensive line.

"He's an old-fashioned, hard-nosed football player. He should be lined up next to Jerry Kramer of the old Green Bay Packers. This kid loves football."

George said he noticed two things when he was recruiting Postiglione. He wanted to play football and he wanted to become a military officer.

Because Postiglione hails from Washingtonville, N.Y., approximately 15 miles from West Point, it was the U.S. Military Academy he dreamed of attending most of his life. But when it became clear he couldn't play football there, in a Division I program, he switched focus. He didn't expect the appeal of the Coast Guard Academy campus to reel him in quite so passionately.

His grandfather would have to switch allegiances for each year's Secretaries' Cup game against Merchant Marine.

"I had the record for most tickets for your family with 21. This year I broke it; I think I had 33. We're a football family," Postiglione said.

Postiglione had a few bumps this season. He contracted mononucleosis and had to miss two games. During that time, he went from 230 pounds, already undersized for a lineman, down to about 205. He tried to gain it back, but wasn't able, finally reconciling with the fact he was just going to have to figure out how to play at the lower weight.

"I was worried at first, but honestly, I play 100 percent all the time. I'm just a little smaller," Postiglione said. "It didn't phase me at all."

George said sometimes he's gets a little emotional on graduation day at the academy, but he also knows his players are going on to make a difference. Postiglione, a government major, hopes to become a boarding officer in the Coast Guard.

Said George: "I really think that at this place their best years are ahead of them."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday