Perry likely moving to QB fulltime
Moehring shoulders blame for closing field goal miss
PHILADELPHIA — Malcolm Perry had a two-game audition for the Navy quarterback job. Apparently, that is all the coaching staff needed to see.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo said after Saturday’s loss to Army that Perry would likely become the Navy starting quarterback next season.
Perry rushed for 250 yards and a touchdown as the Midshipmen lost, 14-13. Niumatalolo was asked during the postgame press conference if the sophomore had earned the starting spot going into 2018.
“Probably. We’ll see,” Niumatalolo said. “I haven’t really thought that far ahead. It’s kind of fresh off this game. We’ll go back and look at everything.”
Perry was sensational in his first career start at quarterback, rushing for 282 yards and four touchdowns to spark a 43-40 victory over SMU. That means the Tennessee native totaled 532 rushing yards and five touchdowns in two games as the team’s quarterback.
“I’m really excited. I don’t know how much the kid rushed for, but that was on a sloppy field. So you know what he would do on a dry field,” Niumatalolo said. “He’s a talented kid and I’m excited for the future.”
Perry, who started nine games at slotback this season, increased his season rushing total to 1,068 yards and nine touchdowns. Zach Abey, the season-long starter at quarterback, has 1,325 rushing yards. It is just the third time in program history that Navy’s had two 1,000-yard rushers.
Abey did most of his damage between the tackles, routinely running over defenders or breaking tackles. Early speculation is that Abey will switch to fullback so his talents are not wasted. The 6-foot-2, 212-pound Pasadena resident runs like a fullback so it should be a relatively easy transition.
Perry joined an elite group of five Navy players who have rushed for 200 yards or more in a single season. Abey is one of them, rumbling for 235 yards at Florida Atlantic and ripping through Air Force for 214 yards. Quarterbacks Chris McCoy (1996, 1997) and Keenan Reynolds (2013, 2014) along with tailback Napoleon McCallum (1983) are the others.
NO EXCUSES: Navy placekicker Bennett Moehring had plenty of excuses for missing a 48-yard field goal that could have given Navy a two-point victory over Army.
A pair of false start penalties backed up the Midshipmen and took Moehring out of his normal range. Also, the natural grass field at Lincoln Financial Field was covered with about two inches of snow.
Moehring refused to blame either of those two factors, accepting full responsibility for not making what would have amounted to a monumental game-winning field goal.
“I wake up every day and thank the Lord for giving me the ability to play football in the first place. I dream of times like this. Unfortunately, the ball just went the other way today,” Moehring said. “I’m sorry to all the seniors, sorry to the team, sorry to Coach Niumat. It’s just really tough.”
Moehring was not brought to the formal postgame press conference, but agreed to come out of the locker room to speak with a small group of reporters. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound junior stared at the ground and had to fight back tears while speaking of the missed opportunity.
“God gives his toughest struggles to his toughest warriors. I’ll use this as a learning opportunity and get better,” Moehring said. “I mean, that’s the only option I have from here. I’ll use this as motivation and I’ll get better.”
Navy had reached the Army 23-yard line and that would have led to a field goal that was well within the range of Moehring. However, right guard Evan Martin and wide receiver Tyler Carmona were flagged for false starts, bringing the ball back 10 yards.