Biddeford, Maine — The University of New England scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 44-28 football victory over Coast Guard Academy in the season opener on Saturday at Blue Storm Stadium.

New England led 30-28 when Holdan Wilson’s five-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter upped the Blue Storm’s lead to 37-28. Rob Young’s two-yard TD run with 1:36 remaining put the Bears away.

The game was tied late in the third quarter when Coast Guard punter Chase Polittle couldn’t handle a bad snap on fourth and 13 from his own 6 and was pushed out of the back of the end zone by UNE’s Joey Bella for a safety with 17 seconds left in the quarter.

Wilson’s TD came on the ensuing drive just 1:22 into the fourth quarter.

Coast Guard trailed 28-21 when Van Buhman capped a 14-play, 80-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run and Brennan Holt’s extra point tied the game at 28-28.

Quarterback Joey Armentrout had a big day for the Bears, throwing a pair of touchdown passes and running for a third, all in the first half. He connected with James Patz (4 yards) and Brooock Desta (20 yards) for TDs and added a one-yard TD run to cap a 75-yard drive in the second quarter.

Armentrout finished 22-for-41 with 217 yards. He also threw an interception. Harrison Hensley led Coast Guard’s rushing attack with 151 yards on 22 carries and Desta had five catches for 76 yards.

Defensively, Logan Morris and Ryan Vigo had nine tackles apiece and Ethan Lasher had an interception.

Coast Guard will play its home opener next Saturday against Anna Maria at noon.

Volleyball

• Mitchell College opened its season by sweeping sweeping Anna Maria 3-0 and rallying from a two-game deficit to defeat host Curry 3-2. In the 25-16, 25-19 and 25-21 win over Anna Maria, Griswold’s Sarah Aviles led the way with nine kills while Bliss Brown had 19 assists and Allison Blum and Julia Lent had 10 digs apiece.

The Mariners dropped the first two games against Curry, 25-21 and 25-22, before bouncing back to win three straight, 25-9, 25-16 and 15-7, closing the match with five straight points. Blum had 17 kills and 18 digs against Curry while Juliana Repaci had 19 digs, Brown 18 digs and 25 assists and Lent 16 digs.

Sonja Matheson, a sophomore from Griswold, had 10 kills for Curry.