New London — It was the best play of an otherwise forgettable second half for the Coast Guard Academy football team. And still, it was cause for concern.

Sophomore linebacker Nate Harvey picked up a Merchant Marine Academy fumble and returned it 34 yards to pull Coast Guard within a point in Saturday's Secretaries' Cup matchup against its rival, played before 4,944 fans at Cadet Memorial Field.

Then two things happened: the kick failed, leaving the Bears that point short with seven and a half minutes left. And the defense, already weary from a second half in which Merchant Marine dominated the time of possession nearly four-to-one, was tasked with turning right back around and returning to the field.

"They were wearing us out with the run game," Harvey said of Merchant Marine, which runs the triple-option offense. "We couldn't stop them. It is real tiring."

"That's why I wanted to receive," Coast Guard coach Bill George said of the opening kickoff, when the Bears won the coin toss and elected not to defend against the Mariners just yet.

Merchant Marine won 31-27, overcoming a 21-14 halftime deficit to control the ball for 23 minutes, 26 seconds of the second half and finish with an ample 83 carries for 411 yards rushing.

The Mariners (1-0) held Coast Guard (1-1) to 29 yards offense and one first down in the second half. And that was after Coast Guard quarterback Derek Victory threw for 204 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, with the Bears scoring on three straight possessions at one point.

The second half featured the Coast Guard defense in a starring role, led by junior defensive back Ryan Robertson with 14 tackles. The Bears stopped Merchant Marine on its first two drives of the second half before the Mariners extended a 15-play drive on a fake punt and eventually scored to tie things 21-21 on a 6-yard run by Spencer Blauw.

"We had a couple good stops in the red zone," Robertson said. "It gets tiring, but it's partly our fault. We weren't stopping them. We were giving up too many yards, not big plays, but enough. As a total defense, we were tiring ourselves out. ... It's definitely disappointing. You get that feeling in your stomach."

"Credit Merchant Marine," George said. "They came out (in the second half) and did some things, I guess. We didn't move the ball and we didn't stop them. That's it."

With the score tied, Coast Guard gained three yards on its next possession. Merchant Marine took a 28-21 lead on a five-play, 46-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run from Wiley Martin.

Following Harvey's fumble recovery, to bring the margin to 28-27, Merchant Marine then held on to the ball for the next 6:10, tacking on a 28-yard field goal by Eric Swayne. Coast Guard got the ball back with 1:19 to play and, even then, George was optimistic the Bears' generally potent offense could score, but it still couldn't manufacture a first down.

"I thought we had the ability to hit a pass," George said.

Quarterback Robert Moore ran 25 times for 201 yards for Merchant Marine and Martin added 28 carries for 101 yards.

Victory was 21-for-36 with 229 yards and three touchdowns, one each to Jeff Porter (13 yards), Cody Bain (21 yards) and Chip Crowley (34 yards) in the first half. Victory extended his streak to 229 consecutive passing attempts without an interception. Bain had five catches for a team-high 64 yards.

Merchant Marine head coach Mike Toop, a former defensive coordinator at several stops including UConn and Penn, said he had a few words for the defense at halftime.

"We made a couple of adjustments," Toop said. "(Victory, who got the better of Merchant Marine in a 42-31 victory in 2014) is a phenomenal player. I talked to him after the game.

"... When we got the ball back (up a point), we needed to score points and kill clock. It's all about making plays. Our guys did that there."

v.fulkerson@theday.com