Unfortunately, Army football followers have seen this movie before.
After taking a 16-7 lead midway through the third quarter against arch-rival Navy, Army’s offense went into shutdown mode, allowing the Midshipmen to register an emotional 17-16 victory over the Black Knights and gain control of the Commander in Chief trophy for the second straight year.
On one of the biggest stages of the college football season, Army failed to gain a first down on its last three possessions of the contest and quarterback Cale Hellums threw an interception that gave Navy the ball at midfield midway through the fourth quarter. Nine plays later, Navy’s Eli Heidenreich caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Blake Horvath on a fourth down play to give Navy’s its go-ahead touchdown with 6:30 left in the contest.
Army punted after three plays and Navy managed to run out the clock at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore before a crowd of 70,100 including the president of the United States and a number of other dignitaries.
The loss dropped Army to a mediocre and somewhat disappointing 6-6 on the season with just a matchup with UConn in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl left on the schedule. Navy, ranked 23rd in the nation, is now 10-2 and will play Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl on Jan. 2.
Nine of Army’s 12 games were decided by a touchdown or less, with the Black Knights winning four of those contests. All told, those games were decided by a total of 29 points.
Army scored on all three of its possessions in the first half. After Navy scored on the first possession of the game, the Black Knights came right back with their own 13-play 75-yard drive that culminated in a two-yard run by Cale Hellums.
Dawson Jones put Army ahead 10-7 on a 20-yard field goal early in the second quarter, after Army had a first and goal from the eight yard line. “In the first half, I sorely disappointed did not get seven points from that second drive,” said Army coach Jeff Monken. “In this game, we always talk (to the players) about getting seven points, and not settling for just three.”
Jones hit a 45-yard field goal with time expiring in the half to put the Black Knights up 13-3 going into the locker room. Jones, a sophomore hit a 48-yard field goal, the longest of his career, to give Army a nine-point advantage, 16-3, before Navy hit its own field goal to close to within six and set itself up for the winning drive.
“It is a little difficult to put into words, the pain of that loss,” said Monken. “I feel terrible for our team, the players and our seniors. It was such a hard-fought game by both teams. We made some good plays, they made more. Unfortunately we had chance to make some plays and we didn’t and those might have turned the game. That is the name of the game, you’ve got to make the plays and they did.”
Army has struggled late in the game on offense in several games this season, including losses to Tulsa and Tulane. The Army offense rushed for a total of just 120 yards, with Hellums accounting for 100 of them.
“(Navy) flipped the switch (in the second half,” said Hellums. “We were rolling, with three drives in a row with points. Later in the second half, we flattened out and a lot of that falls on my shoulders. We got stagnant later on. Navy made some good adjustments in the second half.”
