Bill George, the Coast Guard Academy football coach, admits to every possible scenario going through his mind just an instant before.

With Coast Guard ahead 21-14 last Saturday, Maine Maritime was driving for the potential tying touchdown with time running down. Because of a holding call against Maine Maritime, the Mariners were in a long-yardage situation. Prior to fourth-and-goal from the 15, with 46 seconds left, Maine called a timeout.

Then, Coast Guard free safety Mark Behne intercepted Mariners' quarterback Michael Fahey in the end zone, his second interception of the fourth quarter.

All Coast Guard had to do from there was take a knee.

On Wednesday, Behne was honored in Cambridge, Mass., with the prestigious Gold Helmet Award from the Jack Grinold Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Football Foundation, capping a week of awards for the senior.

“Your heart's pounding, but you've got to love it,” George said of the game's finish. “We're good at taking a knee.”

The win put Coast Guard at 3-2 overall, 2-0 in the New England Football Conference. The Bears have a bye week before hosting MIT on Oct. 17.

Behne also recorded a career-high 14 tackles in the game against Maine Maritime's triple-option, receiving NEFC Defensive Player of the Week honors and being named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week for his performance.

“Mark certainly deserves it,” George said. “We have a good secondary and they play exceptionally well. As we said, guys are making big plays. The first play, the last play, the 43rd play, Mark has made big plays. You've got to beat a lot of quality performances out (to win the Gold Helmet) and in this case the actual reason is he had a lot to do with us winning the game.”

Coast Guard trailed 14-0 in the second quarter before blanking Maine Maritime for the remainder of the game.

“Just that last drive, we had to stop them. That was sort of the mindset,” said Behne, whose brother Jake is a freshman linebacker for Coast Guard and recovered a fumble Saturday. “The linebackers and the defensive line got the penetration to put (Maine Maritime) in that sort of (long-yardage) situation.”

That gives Behne, a native of Clifton, Va., a team-high three interceptions, while fellow defensive back Will Daniels also had one Saturday. Daniels replaced senior James Rizzo in the secondary after Rizzo suffered a season-ending injury in week one. Senior Joe Rizzardi, also a member of the secondary, leads the team with 45 tackles.

Rizzardi was the last Coast Guard player to win the Gold Helmet during the 2013 season and Behne is the sixth player in program history to earn the distinction.

Said Behne of the tight-knit secondary unit: “When one person had a great game, we all had a great game.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

@vickieattheday