Philadelphia – In what was expected to be a hard-hitting, low scoring slugfest, Army’s Cadets came away with a 20-17 victory over their archrival Midshipmen of Navy. With a blocked punt for a TD in regulation and the benefit of a fumble recovery at the one-yard line in the second OT, the Cadets came away with the points they needed to win in this hard-fought scrimmage.
Early in the second period, the Mids drew first blood with Bijan Nichol’s 44-yard FG. Later in the period, DB Isaiah Morris blocked Navy’s punt and CB Jabril Williams returned it 31 yards for a Cadet TD with 1:06 before halftime. Army led, 7-3.
Cadets and Mids fighting to the finish
Navy (4-8) outgained the Cadets (6-6) on the ground 259 yards to 125. QB Xavier Arline topped all runners with 102 yards on 28 carries. Teammate Anton Hall, Jr. gained 99 yards on seven carries including a 77-yard TD burst to give the Mids a 10-7 lead in the third quarter. The score held until 1:53 remained in the final period when Army’s Quinn Maretzki booted a 39-yard FG. Two series earlier, the Cadets forced the Midshipmen to punt on a three and out from their own five. Army took over from their 46 to drive to the Navy 20 to tie it with Maretzki’s kick.
A first in Army Navy History
With the stage set 10-10 at the end of regulation, the Cadets and Midshipman played their first OT after 122 meetings. Army struck like their Lightning Division. RB Markel Johnson raced around the left side for a 25-yard score, the Army offenses’ first TD of the game. Navy retaliated with stealth. On their first and only pass of the entire game, Arline lofted a 25-yard TD pass to wide-open Maquel Haywood to tie 17-17 on their first play of the OT.
To start the second OT, Navy went to offense first. On six running plays, the Mids got to the three for a second and goal and called time-out. Next, Hall took the handoff, went left, lunged toward the goal line, but before he could reach the ball across, DL Austin Hill forced a fumble recovered by Darius Richards. Navy got shut down. Starting over at the 25, Army focused on keeping the ball between the hashmarks. From 39 yards out, Maretzki made good to finalize the 20-17 victory for the Cadets.
End of an era, regrettably
Navy still leads the series 62-54-7, but Army has won five of the last seven games. Ten of those 62 Navy wins against the Cadets came under HC Ken Niumatalolo. Disappointingly, he’s seen his last. The very dedicated Navy coach leaves with the most wins ever at USNA with a 109-83 record. However, his last winning season came in 2019 at 11-2.
The Midshipman have gone 11-23 since. He leaves USNA with a 10-5 record against Army and at 7-7 versus Air Force. In our opinion, once Covid-19 hit, he seemed to lose his focus and enthusiasm for running this program. Before that, he seemed to be the right fit for Midshipmen playing football. Sorry to see him go after watching him coach over most of these seasons. Regretfully, it seems like the program needs re-energizing. He leaves Navy football with lot of great memories and victories. We hope someone else can build on what he had continued after the departure of his predecessor, Paul Johnson.
Next up! Bowl Season
Neither Army nor Navy goes to bowl games. Both wait till next year. As for collegefootballfan.com, we’ve decided to pare our bowls games from three to two. With Coastal Carolina and East Carolina heading for the TicketSmarter Bowl in Birmingham, we now say, “no”. After CCU lost Senior star QB Grayson McCall, they can’t compete as well. They got smoked by James Madison, 44-7, and then by Troy in the Sunbelt Championship game, 45-26. The Chanticleers aren’t the same without him.
Our final two for 2022
We await some personal developments, but we do plan to head for the Liberty Bowl in Memphis where Kansas (6-6) will meet Arkansas (6-6). Big fans of KU HC lance Leipold, we look forward to seeing the Jay Hawks play. We have not seen that team play since 1993 when they fell to eventual national champion, Florida State, 42-0. They met to start the season at the Kick-off Classic in The Meadowlands. This matchup 39 years later looks to be a good game.
Already, we committed to the Music City Bowl. Have to say, we regret seeing Iowa (7-5) getting the Big Ten invite. That team has no offense. They will face Kentucky who has a very good defense though we saw them lose to South Carolina and Georgia already this year. We expect some scoring from the Wildcats to outgun anything the Hawkeyes have to offer. With that game penned on our slate, we will finish this season with our 655th game. More Salvos to come weekly though. Stay in touch.
Please check out our book!
Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! If you like our stories, read all our tales when we saw all 120 FBS teams (at the time of publication) play for the first time. Or, start thinking Christmas gifts for your favorite college football fans! We also encourage you and whoever you buy for to submit a review for us. Please click on the title or copy of the cover on our right sidebar to go to our Amazon page to buy and review. Thanks!
