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Army edges Navy to snap 14-game losing streak

Chris Korman
USA TODAY Sports

BALTIMORE — Some of the Army players were still meandering toward the locker room, trying to work their way through the cadets who’d rushed the field but also lingering to savor the feeling, when Army coach Jeff Monken finally found a quiet moment to speak with Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Army Black Knights quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw (17) celebrates in the air with fellow quarterback Chris Carter (7) after a touchdown against the Navy Midshipmen during the first half at M&T Bank Stadium.

They passed in a tunnel and spoke only briefly. Monken’s team had just won the 117th Army-Navy game, grinding out a 21-17 victory by running 70 times and holding the ball for more than two-thirds of the game at M&T Bank Stadium. The coaches had been assistants together on Navy’s staff in 2002, when the Midshipmen started a 14-year-win streak — the longest in series history — that Monken had finally found a way to end.

“We embraced,” Monken would say later, promising that the game would never drive a wedge through their friendship.

That’s how it often is — on so many levels — in a rivalry that consumes players in West Point and Annapolis for months at a time.

These teams are more alike than not.

So it made sense that Army would use its precise blocking scheme to beat Navy. The Cadets (7-5) perfectly mixed inside power runs with outside option plays. Freshman running back Kell Walker ran 16 times for 94 yards, and fullback Andy Davidson rushed 28 times for 87 yards and 2 TDs.

Quarterback Ahmed Bradshaw — who was 2-of-4 passing, and one of those completions was on a shovel pass — scored the game-winning touchdown on a 9-yard rush with 6:00 left in the game.

The Cadets defense — which entered the game having allowed only 31 points in the fourth quarter, best in FBS — took over from there. Jeremy Timpf and Alex Aukerman sacked Navy sophomore Zach Abey, making his first start, on first down of the ensuing drive. Three plays later the Midshipmen faced a fourth-and-4 from their own 40 but opted to punt.

Navy did not get the ball again. Confusion on offense had forced the Midshipmen to use two timeouts in the third quarter, so it was unable to stop the clock or Army’s run game.

Abey had put Navy ahead 17-14 on a 41-yard run with 12:42 left, but he also threw two interceptions and fumbled once. Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper made significant adjustments to their offense — putting Abey in the shotgun, where he could better read the defense — but ultimately the Midshipmen made too many uncharacteristic mistakes.

Abey was replacing Will Worth, the senior quarterback who broke a bone in his foot last weekend in the AAC Championship game loss to Temple. Navy was also without slotbacks Toneo Gulley and Darryl Bonner as well as receiver Tyler Carmona — all injured against Temple.

And the Midshipmen had only one week to prepare, compared to Army’s three; Cadets players said those weeks left them refreshed and allowed coaches to tighten their game plan.

“It is what it is,” Niumatalolo said. “They weren’t going to postpone the game. We knew coming into the conference if we played in the championship game we would have only one week to prepare. You don’t expect to get that many guys hurt. It is football. We’re not going to use that as an excuse. They outplayed us.”

The teams combined for seven turnovers on a day when president elect Donald Trump, in town for the game, told CBS  “I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best football, but it’s very good. But boy, do they have spirit more than anybody. It’s beautiful.”

Aesthetic purity meant nothing to Army’s seniors, though. Monken had repeatedly told them not to carry the burden of the last 14 years and to focus on this year’s team. That’s difficult to do at a place where history — and those who came before you — matters so much.

It had been a difficult year for the Cadets, despite having a winning record for the first time since 2010. Army players dealt with the death of defensive back Brandon Jackson, killed in a car accident after the team’s second win of the season. His mother, an Iraq war veteran as a member of the Army Reserve, visited the team's locker room after the game.

“To be able to share that victory with her, and for her to see how much Brandon means to these guys was really special for all of us,” Monken said.

“We definitely showed out for his family,” senior linebacker Andrew King said.

King said he was most proud of this Army team for finishing. Navy had trailed 14-0 at halftime but converted an Army fumble on the second play of the third quarter into a touchdown. Abey started to get comfortable. The Midshipmen made defensive adjustments.

Still Army pressed forward.

As the final seconds of the game ticked down — as 14 years faded into history — the crowd could no longer be held back. The players mobbed each other first but soon were overtaken by classmates. Senior wide receiver Edgar Poe, who caught the only actual pass of the day for Army, said it was surreal and that, during the commotion, someone had taken his helmet.

He did not seem to mind.

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