New London — To come from down three touchdowns at halftime minus your starting quarterback, recover an onside kick with a minute and a half remaining with a chance to take the lead and then fall by two ...

A blessing or a curse?

"I'm half-thrilled we made the comeback," Coast Guard Academy coach Bill George said late Saturday afternoon. "But we got that close. We made some great plays, but that was a tough one."

"It hurts," said backup quarterback Ethan Goldcamp, a sophomore who led Coast Guard's charge back into the game, throwing for 380 yards and three touchdowns. "(The final drive) was good defense and I didn't get the looks I wanted."

Catholic University held on for the 37-35 victory over Coast Guard in a nonconference game before 3,038 fans on Parents' Weekend at Cadet Memorial Field. That brings Coast Guard's record to 1-2, with the pair of losses by a combined six points.

Coast Guard lost record-setting quarterback Derek Victory to a hamstring injury on a second-quarter drive, with the Bears trailing 20-7. Victory took a shot from a defender just after delivering a 9-yard completion to Cody Bain for a first down in Catholic territory.

Catholic led 27-7 at halftime on four touchdown catches by Lucas Morley.

The Bears then went three-and-out on their first two series of the second half before Goldcamp began seemingly casually playing pitch and catch with his receivers, completing 10 straight passes at one point on back-to-back touchdown drives precipitated by an interception from Coast Guard freshman Patrick Crowley.

By the time Goldcamp was done, he was 23-for-44 for 380 yards and three touchdowns, all three to junior Darius Adams, and three Coast Guard receivers eclipsed the 100-yard mark.

Adams, in his first season playing football, had eight catches for 217 yards, some of them circus-like, while Bain had 10 catches for 121 yards and Kyle Jackson eight catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

"You could sense them getting run over," George said of the mood at halftime. "We tried to get the offense just to play well and get a good drive. And the defense picked some things up."

Following Crowley's interception, Coast Guard had the ball second-and-10 on its own 42 when Goldcamp hit his stride. The first of his 10 straight completions was to Jackson for four yards, then eight yards to Bain, plus 15 yards tacked on for roughing the passer.

The following throw was to Adams, who outleapt the defense for a 31-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 27-14.

Coast Guard got the ball at its own 7 on the next possession and backed up to the 2 after a pair of penalties. But Goldcamp hit Jackson on two straight completions, the second one for 36 yards, to get the ball near midfield. A 41-yard throw to Adams took the Bears to the 8 and two plays later the ball went to Adams again for a 4-yard touchdown.

That made the score 27-21 in Catholic's favor. And it was still only the third quarter.

Catholic's Peter Rosa kicked a 26-yard field goal to push the lead to 30-21, but with the Cardinals throwing in a third-and-34 situation from deep in their own territory on their next possession, Coast Guard's Titus Creamer authored a 20-yard interception return for a Coast Guard touchdown that made it 30-28 with 9:13 to go.

What happened next irked George. The Bears were flagged for excessive celebration, causing them to lose 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. And on the return, the Bears were whistled for another personal foul, tacking essentially 30 yards onto Catholic's field position.

The Cardinals scored in one play, a 51-yard touchdown from Jorge Pola to Matt Perno. The extra point made it 37-28.

Goldcamp wasn't through. He hit Adams for 51 yards with 1:21 to play to pull within 37-35 and Chip Crowley recovered his brother Patrick's onside kick at the Catholic 34.

The Bears never got any closer, however, as three Goldcamp incompletions sandwiched a sack by Catholic's Neal Davidson.

Goldcamp spoke following the game with blood dripping from his chin following a second-half hit.

"It's definitely big shoes to fill," Goldcamp said of entering the game for Victory. "In the second half, I thought, 'Just have fun. Don't let the stage get the best of you. Football is supposed to be fun."

v.fulkerson@theday.com