New London — It has been suggested that athletes don't take time to dissect the moment when they are in the moment.

Perhaps this is an erroneous suggestion, especially if Coast Guard Academy tight end Casey Paris is used as Exhibit A.

Consider Paris' day on Saturday until he became the Most Famous Man On The Base after the Bears' improbable 8-5 win over No. 10 Westfield State:

He dropped a fourth-down pass in the third quarter that killed a drive deep in Westfield State territory, allowing the Owls' stout defense to maintain a shutout.

A pass tipped off his hand with a little more than a minute left, luckily to a teammate.

And then the ball was coming his way — with Paris alone, alone, so all alone in the end zone — with 32.9 seconds left.

Flashbacks, anyone?

"I'm not going to lie," Paris said. "It took me back."

But this time, Paris cradled Jesse Karr's 14-yard touchdown pass as if it were his newborn baby. Paris' catch capped an 82-yard, six-play drive in the final 1:32, after the Coast Guard offense had been stymied all day.

"As coach always says," Paris said, "redemption is so sweet."

Indeed. It was redemption for Paris and the entire Coast Guard offense, which threw away some opportunities to score and didn't support what coach Bill George called "one of the great defensive performances ever."

The Bears, (1-2, 1-0 in the New England Football Conference) trailed 5-0 with 1:32 left. With time growing desperate, Karr scrambled on a first-down play. He threw a pass over the middle that tipped off Paris' hands — and right to freshman Eric Gerkin, who ran 52 yards to the Westfield State 14.

"I actually screwed up the formation," Gerkin said, admitting to a right-place right-time moment.

"Now as I reflect on it," George said, "it was a miracle play."

Two plays later, Karr found Paris in the end zone, much to the delight of 3,100 fans at Cadet Memorial Field.

"I almost thought there was an invisible man out there," Karr said. "I couldn't believe (Paris) was so open."

Chris Izurieta picked off quarterback Tim Racinie's desperation throw in the final seconds.

Izurieta's play capped an afternoon that should have defensive coordinator CC Grant sleeping soundly, at least for one night.

Coast Guard held the 10th-ranked team in the latest New England Division III poll to eight first downs, 10 yards passing, a combined 2-for-17 on third and fourth downs and forced 10 punts.

"It's as good of a fourth-quarter defense as I've seen," George said, likening it to a pair of games the Bears won 3-0 and 3-0 during recent Bogan Division championship seasons.

Karr finished 22-for-37 for 218 yards and also had 72 yards rushing. Steve Arguelles, who ran in the two-point conversion after the touchdown led the Bears with 85 rushing yards.

"With the no-huddle spread offense we run," George said, "there is always hope."

m.dimauro@theday.com