Cale Hellums knew his assignment: Do not under any circumstances, score a touchdown in the final moments.
Twice, Army’s junior quarterback did his job to near perfection and the result was a hard-fought 14-13 Black Knight victory over visiting Temple in an American Conference matchup in front of sellout crowd of 30,590 at Michie Stadium.
Here is what happened. With Army leading by one point and less than two minutes remaining in the game, Temple decided to allow the Black Knights to score unimpeded and, with two timeouts remaining, hoped they could score their own touchdown and convert a two-point conversion to tie the game and send it into overtime.
But, on consecutive plays, Hellums, under orders from the Army sideline, slid to the ground, the second time earning enough yards for a first down, and the Black Knights were able to run out the clock for the victory. Army (5-4 overall, 3-3 American) needs just one win in its two remaining games to become eligible for a postseason bowl game. Temple is 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the American.
“You know, you always want to get in the end zone when you can,” said Hellums. “But to win that game, it was a barrier play and we work on that every week. Coach (Jeff) Monken said, get inside and go down, take a knee so we can just get into victory formation and end it with the ball in our hands.”
The game’s outcome came down to a chess match between coaches. That was thanks to the fact that the Black Knights took over possession at their own 42-yard line with nearly 10 minutes left in regulation and utilized a slow and steady 18-play drive to ensure they never gave the ball back to Temple. Twice, Army converted fourth-down conversions to continue the drive.
This was a battle between two teams that had a lot to play for. Temple came in looking for its sixth victory of the season and bowl bid eligibility after finishing 3-9 last season. Army started the season 1-3, losing two overtime games, and is seeking to right its ship and finish on a high note after winning the American Conference title in its inaugural season in the league last year.
“Our team, I think, is just slowly improving a little bit each week,” said Monken. “When you win a game like it shows some maturity and leadership from within and I’m really proud of them for that. It was a great win.”
But neither team showed much offensive momentum, perhaps because their defenses played so well. Temple senior quarterback Evan Simon, who passed for 1,610 yards and 21 touchdowns in the Owls’ first nine games of the year, was held to just 157 passing yards and one touchdown pass in the game.
Meanwhile, Army’s offense did not get going either. Though Hellums, who started the season as the backup, ran for 121 yards on a workingman-like 36 carries, the Black Knights finished with just 250 overall offensive yards and two touchdowns.
The difference was that the Army defense once again held the line. Three times, the Black Knights defense stopped Temple drives deep in Army territory, forcing the Owls to settle for three field goal attempts. Temple missed the first one, a 46-yarder in the first quarter, and made the other two, including a 24-yard kick with no time remaining in the first half that gave the Owls a 10-7 lead going into the intermission.
As Monken has been doing all season and through most of his 12-year career at Army, he came into the game ready to gamble and it paid off on the Black Knights first drive of the second half. Army tried five fourth-down conversions, completing four of them including a 4th-and-1 early in the third quarter when Hellums found tight end Parker Poloskey for a 26-yard catch that gave Army the ball on the Temple 27-yard line. Seven plays later, Hellums pushed in from the 3-yard line to give Army a 14-10 lead.
“We installed (the play to Poloskey) before we played Air Force and we want to use it on 3rd-and-short, 4th-and-short, maybe a goal-line scenario,” said Hellums. “We run the ball up in the gut a lot on 3rd-and-short and 4th-and-short and we thought they thought that was going to come again.”
Temple narrowed the lead to 14-13 on a 31-yard field goal late in the third quarter, but Temple ran just three plays for no gain deep in their own territory in the fourth quarter and were forced to punt the ball back to the Black Knights for their final drive.
“That three-and-out was really big,” said senior co-captain and linebacker Andon Thomas. “I think it was kind of the turning point in the game. Obviously, they were pinned deep a little bit and I think they ran the ball once or twice and we were able to stop those. Obviously, they punt, give our offense great field position, and allowed them to do their thing. It was really important.”
