CASTINE – On a rainy afternoon, the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners got off to a bright start in their New England Football Conference football game against Bridgewater State College (Mass.) by constructing an impressive game-opening 12-play, 65-yard drive.

Quarterback Brandon Hamilton’s 1-yard touchdown run finished it off.

But the Bears, behind a monster game from NCAA Division III third-team All-American defensive tackle Mike Sirignano, didn’t allow another first down until there were 10 seconds left in the third quarter and the offense scored 28 unanswered points en route to a 28-21 triumph at Ritchie Field.

It was Bridgewater State’s eighth straight win over MMA. The Bears are now 2-1 while MMA fell to 1-2.

Junior quarterback Greg Borsari, a transfer from Stonehill College (Mass.), scored on touchdown runs of 29, 3 and 2 yards after running back Matt Maroon had tied the game with a 31-yard scamper.

Hamilton, who was sacked seven times and harassed constantly, tried to rally the Mariners in the fourth quarter by scrambling five times for 67 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns, the latter on a one-yard sneak with 2:08 left.

But John Bascon’s interception sewed up the win.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Sirignano had 41/2 sacks, all in the first half, and finished with 19 tackles, including 14 unassisted. He also forced a fumble. Safety Zane Fyfe was involved in 10 tackles, including eight solos; linebacker Casey Florence was in on eight and junior defensive end Robert Morrissey had seven.

Tackle Chris Dijak had two sacks among his four tackles.

“[After the first drive], I turned to my coach and said ‘It’s going to be a long day,'” said Sirignano. “But the defense dug down deep. There was a lot of heart out there.”

Sirgnano also said “we played faster we went from a 4-3 to a 4-4 defense” which enabled them to cover both Hamilton and the potential pitch recipient in the Mariners’ option arsenal out of a Wing-T variation.

“Their defense was tough,” said senior Hamilton, a converted cornerback playing his first season at quarterback. “They were flying around, making it hard to block them and making my reads difficult.”

Borsari gave the Bears the lead for good just 46 seconds after Maroon’s TD run.

Bear linebacker Anthony Vizakis had recovered a Jim Bower fumble at the MMA-29 and that set up Borsari’s option jaunt on the next play with 17 seconds left in the first quarter.

“The option opened up a lot better than I expected. Their guy bit on the option [pitch] and I just kept it,” said Borsari.

His next TD came with just 16 seconds left in the half and was set up by a 30-yard pass to Jesse Teixeira, who outjumped cornerback Tyler Angell.

Borsari’s 3-yard TD run came on an “improvised” quarterback draw.

In the third quarter, an 11-play 60-yard drive expanded the lead to 28-7 as Chris Joyce fought off well-positioned Mike Riley and Nate Bolduc, to snare a 30-yard pass on third-and-11 and extend the drive.

“Our receivers can go up and get the ball real well,” said Borsari, who finished it off with his 2-yard run.

A pass interference call gave MMA its initial first down since the opening drive and, moments later, Hamilton scrambled into the end zone from 11 yards out with 12:10 left.

Hamilton’s only two completions, including a 34-yarder to Brian Matthews to the 1-yard line after he had scrambled out of danger, highlighted MMA’s last scoring drive culminating in Hamilton’s 1-yard sneak.

Bruce Burley ran for 105 yards on 21 carries for BSC and Borsari added 72 on 11 carries while completing 9-of-21 passes for 104 yards.

Hamilton ran for 83 yards on 35 carries and Bower added 32 on eight for MMA.

Linebackers Chris Tracy and Brian Guillerault and safety Bolduc were in on eight tackles apiece to lead the Mariner defense.

BEARS 28, MARINERS 21

Bridgewater St. (2-1) 14 7 7 7 – 28

Maine Maritime (1-2) 7 0 0 14 – 21

MMA – Hamilton 1 run (Matthews kick)

BSC – Maroon 31 run (DiCristoforo kick)

BSC – Borsari 29 run (DiCristoforo kick)

BSC – Borsari 3 run (DiCristoforo kick)

BSC – Borsari 2 run (DiCristofor kick)

MMA – Hamilton 11 run (Matthews kick)

MMA – Hamilton 1 run (Matthews kick)

BSC MMA

First downs 13 12

Rushing att.-yards 42-220 57-160

Passing comp.-att. 9-21 2-11

Passing yards 104 42

Total yards 324 202

Punts-avg. 7-30.7 8-31.9

Fumbles-lost 4-2 2-1

Intercepted by 2 1

Penalties-yards 9-66 3-15

Rushing

BSC: Burley 21-105, Borsari 11-72, Maroon 6-46, Clark 3-0, team 1 (minus-3); MMA: Hamilton 35-83, Bower 8-32, Farrin 3-21, Goodrich 8-16, Rackliff 3-8

Passing

BSC: Borsari 9-21-1-104; MMA: Hamilton 2-11-2-42

Receiving

BSC: Joyce 3-47, Teixeira 2-39, McCarthy 1-12, Stearns 1-8, Clark 1-6, Burley 1-(minus 8); MMA: Matthews 1-34, Coulombe 1-8

A- 425 (est.)