CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy forced a fumble on Western New England's first possession and answered with a 5-play 54 yard drive to start the game, but the Golden Bears scored 30 points in the third quarter to take a 58-35 New England Football Conference victory over the Mariners on Saturday afternoon on Ritchie Field.

Offensively the Mariners amassed 361 rushing yards and 146 passing yards for 507 yards of offense, and the defense grabbed a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception in the effort.

James Ferrar (Cumberland, Maine) led the Mariners with 133 rushing yards on 11 carries, and senior quarterback Michael Fahey (Union, Conn.) amassed 84 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns on land and 77 yards and a touchdown in the air.

Terrence N'Dabian fumbled on the first play of the opening drive for the Golden Bears and Justin Lovely (West Gardiner, Maine) recovered, giving the Mariners excellent field position at their own 46. Fahey led the Mariners to a 5-play 54-yard drive highlighted by a 28-yard pass to Jacob Doolan (Fairfield, Maine) and an 18-yard touchdown pass to Derek Breunig (Westbrook, Maine). Chad Martin's (Fairfield, Maine) extra-point attempt was good, giving the Mariners a 7-0 lead.

The Golden Bears responded with a 6-play 48-yard drive capped off by a 12-yard Tyler Ward touchdown pass to Mohamed Camara. Kevin Patterson's extra-point kick was good, tying things up at 7-7.

On Maine Maritime's next possession the Mariners used a 20-yard run by Doolan and a Western New England personal foul, to set up a 32-yard field goal attempt for Martin. Martin's kick went just wide right, keeping things tied up.

The Mariner defense forced a three-and-out on Western New England's next drive, taking over on their own 44. Fahey ran the ball in for a touchdown from the 1-yard line, following a 11 play, 56 yard drive. Martin's kick was good to give the Mariners a 14-7 lead.

Matt Clifford (Kittery, Maine) picked Ward's pass off on the next drive, giving the Mariners the ball on the Golden Bears 40-yard line. Unfortunately, Maine Maritime could not capitalize on Western New England's turnover.

Western New England scored on their next two possessions to take a 21-14 into the intermission.

The Golden bears scored on their first five possessions in the second half, after forcing a Mariner fumble on the opening kickoff, to jump out to a 51-14 lead.

Maine Maritime scored to open up the fourth quarter on a 6-yard rush by Fahey, and a Martin extra-point to close the gap to 51-21. The Mariners forced the Golden Bears to punt on their next drive, and Kaleb Brown (Norridgewock, Maine) grabbed his first career rushing touchdown with 9:02 remaining in the game to make it 51-28.

Kevin Degnan rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 58-28, but the Mariners kept fighting as Corey Creeger (Biddeford, Maine) found Breunig for a back-to-back completions, the first for 37 yards and then a 32-yard touchdown toss to make it 51-35. The score was good for Creeger's first-career touchdown toss. The Golden Bears got the ball back with 21 seconds left, and took a knee to seal the victory.

Sam Olsson led the Golden Bears defensively with 13 total tackles (12 solo), while Kevin McLaughlin added 10 stops (4 solo) and a forced fumble.

Cody Chapman (Bangor, Maine) led the Mariner defense with 12 tackles (6 solo), while Jeddy Doyon (Hampden, Maine) added 10 tackles (5 solo) and a pass breakup that was almost an interception. Clifford forced a fumble, and grabbed and interception returned for 20 yards, and Lovely recovered a fumble.

The Mariners fall to 1-4 on the year and 0-3 in NEFC play, while the Golden Bears remain undefeated at 6-0 and 3-0. Maine Maritime returns to action next weekend at Endicott for a 12:00 p.m. battle, while Western New England will travel to MIT for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff.