Disbelief, grief as 2 mainstays get hurt
Worth and Gulley suffer season-ending injuries on same second-quarter play
Slotback Toneo Gulley was carted off the field and taken into the Navy locker room so team doctors could take a closer look at his injured foot.
Moments later, quarterback Will Worth was brought into the training room for a similar examination.
“I came in here and [Gulley] had just gotten the bad news. I used the same X-ray machine and I got bad news as well,” Worth said a few hours later. “It was a tough time in there.”
That was the sad aftermath of No. 19 Navy’s 34-10 loss to Temple in the American Athletic Conference championship game Saturday. Coach Ken Niumatalolo announced afterward that Worth and Gulley had suffered season-ending injuries.
What was most remarkable is that Gulley and Worth went down on the same play, and within inches of each other. Video replays show Gulley getting hit awkwardly by a defender while Worth thinks he got hurt while making a cut.
“All I know is I made a block then toward the end of the play I got rolled up under and that’s when I felt something and dropped again,” Gulley said.
Worth was limping around as Gulley was being attended by trainers on the field. Worth stayed in for one more play but realized something was wrong. He was running an option play to the perimeter when he had to drop to the artificial turf.
“I just tried to cut upfield and my foot popped,” Worth said. “I kind of had a feeling, but I tried to run one more play. I just wasn’t able to put any pressure on it.”
Gulley and Worth emerged from the locker room late in the first half, both on crutches. They knew their college careers were over and that they would not play against archrival Army West Point on Saturday or in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 23.
“A lot of emotions. You work so hard to get to this point and then you can’t play,” Gulley said.
There was more bad news on the injury front as slotbacks Dishan Romine and Darryl Bonner, and wide receiver Tyler Carmona left the game and did not return. A Navy spokesman did not know the specific nature of those players’ injuries but said he was told by medical staff that none were serious.
Backup quarterback Zach Abey (Archbishop Spalding) will lead Navy on Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. The sophomore, who made his college debut in mop-up time of the rout over East Carolina and had similar duty late in the blowout over Southern Methodist, replaced Worth early in the second quarter Saturday. Navy trailed Temple 21-0 at the time.
Abey performed adequately in the most extensive action of his young career, passing for 104 yards and rushing for 70. But he threw two interceptions and clearly made some wrong reads on option plays.
Abey had Navy’s longest play from scrimmage, scrambling out of the pocket on a pass play and racing 47 yards into Temple territory. Moments later, the Pasadena resident fought through a couple of defenders to get over the goal line for the team’s lone touchdown. Offensive woes: Offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper warned last week that it would be tough sledding against Temple’s highly ranked defense and predicted that Navy would not go up and down the field the way it did throughout November.
His prediction was spot-on. Navy turned the ball over on downs during its first possession, lost a fumble on its second then was forced to punt on its third. By the time the Mids managed a field goal on their fourth possession, the Owls led 21-3.
“We started off slow and that can’t be us. We’ve normally been on point early on,” Niumatalolo said. “It actually started off a little like South Florida. We were in some kind of funk. By the time we got out of it, Will had gotten hurt and we were in a hole.”
Navy was limited to 306 yards, its lowest output of the season. Even with Worth was under center, the Mids looked out of sync in a way they had not been since amassing only 317 yards at Air Force. End zone: Starting inside linebacker Hudson Sullivan was unavailable because of an injury suffered against Southern Methodist. Sophomore Taylor Heflin made his first college start in place of Sullivan and made six tackles. … Senior defensive end Amos Mason tied a career high with seven tackles, three for loss. … The 24-point margin of defeat was Navy’s largest since falling to Duke, 35-7, in October 2013. … The Mids, who came into the game with just nine turnovers all season, committed three Saturday. … Navy has given up a touchdown on the opponent’s opening possession in eight straight games.