Army snaps 14-game losing streak against Navy
A little more than a week ago, people were talking about Navy’s football team making the Cotton Bowl.
After the Midshipmen lost to Temple in the American Athletic Conference title game, the feeling was that at least Navy could hang its hat on extending its winning streak against Army.
On a 34-degree day in Baltimore in front of 71,600 fans at M&T Bank Stadium, Ahmad Bradshaw, Xavier Moss and the Black Knights of Army West Point made sure that Navy didn’t beat them for the 15th consecutive time. Instead, they made it so the Cadets could rush the field. They made sure Army would sing second.
For the first time since 2001, Army West Point beat Navy in the annual Super Bowl of Service Academies. The final score on Saturday, Dec. 10 was 21-17 in Army’s favor in the 117th edition of the game. Bradshaw rushed nine yards for the game’s final touchdown and the Army defense stepped up to halt a rally from the Midshipmen.
“It sucks when you lose. It truly does and I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” said Jamir Tillman, Navy’s senior wide receiver.
The feeling was much different in the other locker room.
“We’ve heard for a long time about the streak and it feels good to be the team that kind of put that to an end,” said Army head coach Jeff Monken, who was a Navy assistant under Paul Johnson when the streak started in 2002. “Our guys are thrilled. There’s a great love for each other in that locker room. What a celebration on the field.”
Navy was favored by 5.5 points heading into this matchup, but there were also a lot of things working against the Mids.
In this game, they had to start a sophomore, Zach Abey, at quarterback. Starter Will Worth, who replaced Tago Smith at the beginning of the season, went down in the AAC title game with an injury to his right foot. The Mids would also have to run their triple-option without captain and slotback Toneo Gulley, who was hurt on the same play as Worth last week.
READ MORE: Temple disappoints No. 19 Navy for AAC crown
Navy’s bad luck carried over from the Temple game as its first drive ended with a fumble, its first of three turnovers in the first half. Army responded with a 14-play drive that ate up almost eight minutes of clock.
On the first play of Navy’s second drive, Abey threw a pick. Army scored again a few possessions later. The Black Knights were able to establish the fullback run early, which opened things up for Bradshaw and the rest of their offense.
Army, the No. 2 rushing offense in the country, ran for 316 yards on Saturday to Navy’s 112 yards.
“They were double-teaming the ends and pulling somebody in between us and the raider,” said Amos Mason, Navy’s senior defensive end. “They were hitting it hard up there.”
There were many who felt safe to count out Abey and the Midshipmen at halftime, and who could blame them?
Up to that point, Navy trailed by 14 and Abey — who was making his first career start under center — had already thrown two picks and led the Midshipmen to just 49 yards of total offense. On each of his two interceptions, he overthrew receivers.
“I take a lot of responsibility for this game,” Abey said. “Obviously in the first half I made some bad decisions. I feel horrible for the seniors because I told them before the game that I would give it my all for them, especially Will and Tago knowing how much they wanted this.”
It seemed like the Black Knights had the momentum. Abey seemed incompetent, the Mids’ defense looked incapable and Army wasn’t scared. The Black Knights milked drives, controlled the ball and dominated the first half.
“We had to control the football, we had to keep it away from them,” Monken said. “That’s what we try to do from a philosophy standpoint on offense. We did a really nice job of that in the first half.”
But Abey bounced back in the second half. After Navy recovered a fumble, he led the offense to the end zone on a quick six-play drive.
The key drive for Navy was a short one that took just two plays. This is atypical of Ivin Jasper’s offense, which likes to eat up clock on long drives. But Navy was in a spot at the beginning of the fourth quarter in which it trailed Army by four points. The Mids were going to take points any way they could get them.
After Abey connected with Jamir Tillman on a 12-yard pass, the sophomore faked a handoff to Shawn White and ran an option to the right. He kept the ball and turned his run upfield, breaking five tackles during a 41-yard run for a touchdown. The PAT was good and Navy had its first lead of the day over its rival, Army.
Abey finished the game with two touchdowns, 88 yards rushing and 89 yards passing. Tillman caught three passes for 33 yards.
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Army bounced back on its next possession. Bradshaw capped off a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown that left Navy just six minutes to respond.
And what did Navy do on its next drive? It went three-and-out.
Abey was sacked on the first play, then he completed a pass to Shawn White, and then White ran up the gut for a yard. Facing fourth-and-4 with about 4 minutes to play and just one timeout, Navy opted to punt.
“I think they felt like after the second half they had — they did a pretty good job stopping us — that they could go in there and three-and-out us and get us to punt the ball back to them,” Monken said.
The Midshipmen never touched the ball again.
“Definitely. Maybe if it was a little bit closer,” Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said when asked if he considered going for it on fourth down. “We hadn’t been running the ball that well. It was either feast or famine. … We definitely thought about it.”
Niumatalolo won’t put blame on injuries for Navy, but this game would have been much different if the Midhsipmen had been playing with starters at quarterback, slotback, inside linebacker and outside linebacker.
“It is what it is,” Niumatalolo said. “They weren’t going to postpone the game. It is what it is. We knew coming into (the AAC) that if we got into the championship then we would only have a week left (to prepare for Army). Still with that, you don’t expect to get that many guys hurt, but it’s football. It’s not an excuse.”
What Navy looks forward to now is ending the season on a high note. They made a bowl game, so they’ll face Louisiana Tech on Dec. 23 in Fort Worth, Texas with their last chance to put a tally in the win column for the 2016 season.
Said Mason: “As much as this sucks we will push on.”
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