Inability to make critical plays epitomizes Mids’ season

Michael McMorris was positive Navy would find a way to win. It was senior day, after all. The Midshipmen simply do not lose the final home game of the football season with fans in the stands, having won 17 straight from 2003 through 2019.

“There was nothing but hope and faith all the way up until the end of the game,” the senior cornerback said. “That’s all you feel — that we’re going to get this, we have to get this because it’s senior night. I was feeling confident that we got this.”

With time winding down late in the fourth quarter, it certainly seemed the Midshipmen were going to pull out the win against East Carolina.

Sophomore quarterback Tai Lavatai directed exactly the type of drive designed to chew up the remaining clock and produce a game-winning field goal by Bijan Nichols. Slotback Carlinos Acie ripped off a 22-yard run to get things going, then fullback James Harris II and Lavatai followed with consecutive gains of 5 and 6 yards.

The Mids moved methodically into enemy territory and only needed another first down to get Nichols in range. Then the potential winning drive came to a screeching halt.

Back-to-back fullback dives only netted 3yards and set up third-and-7 at the East Carolina 44. The coaching staff dialed up the right play and Lavatai executed, dropping back and calmly delivering a strike to wide receiver Mark Walker on a short crossing route.

Walker caught the pass and had firstdown yardage but failed to properly secure the football, which was punched out by ECU cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian.

The loose pigskin bounced backward, and just like that, a 7-yard gain that would have moved the chains was nullified.

It’s been the story of Navy’s disappointing season to date — an inability to make plays when the game is on the line. It happened twice on the final two possessions Saturday.

Facing fourth-and-5, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo elected to punt and that proved a mistake. Two plays later, ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers tossed a high-arching bomb downfield that was basically a 50-50 ball.

Navy safety Taylor Robinson failed to make a play on the ball, and it dropped into the hands of wide receiver Tyler Snead for a 46-yard gain. The Pirates did their best to mismanage the last 30 seconds, including committing a false-start penalty that seemingly took them out of field-goal range.

Freshman kicker Owen Daffer had never made a field goal longer than 39 yards, but showed he was quite capable of doing so. Daffer drilled a 54-yarder that easily cleared the uprights as time expired, and East Carolina escaped with a 38-35 win.

“That long pass killed us. We’ve got to find a way to knock that one down,” Niumatalolo said.

Almost an hour afterward, Niumatalolo still seemed stunned by the sudden turn of events.

“We were one play away. Unfortunately, [Walker] wasn’t able to hold on to that one,” Niumatalolo said. “If we convert there, we’re in good shape. We’re going to milk the clock and put it right where Bijan wants it and do what they did to us — kick a field goal to win.

Niumatalolo used the word “heartbreaking” several times to describe the loss, and it surely was. On the cusp of sending their seniors out the right way, the Midshipmen found yet another way to lose and saw their record drop to 2-8, 2-5 in the American Athletic Conference.

Navy’s seven previous losses were primarily due to subpar offense. The Midshipmen came into Saturday’s contest averaging just 16.8 points per game, which won’t get it done in this era of high-scoring college football.

Saturday, it was the normally stout defense that let down the Mids. Ahlers was in complete command from start to finish as ECU amassed 563 total yards. Navy had no sacks and got almost zero pressure on Ahlers, who picked apart the coverage by completing 27 of 32 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns.

Snead repeatedly beat defenders in man-to-man coverage and totaled 137 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions. Fellow wide receiver Audi Omotosho was running wideopen almost all game and added 90 yards on seven catches.

It was a very bad day for the pass defense as the Pirates made a bunch of big plays through the air. Ahlers tossed a 40-yard touchdown to Snead and found C.J. Johnson all alone along the sideline for a 54-yard gain that set up another score.

ECU had just enough balance to keep the Navy defenders on their heels, with Keaton Mitchell running for 94 yards and a touchdown. Ahlers was outstanding on scrambles and designed runs in contributing 48 yards.

It was easily the worst performance by the Navy defense since a 49-7 destruction at the hands of Marshall in the season opener. It was an ominous sign when East Carolina easily drove 75 yards in just six plays and 2:46 for a touchdown on the game’s opening possession. Marshall did the same thing.

“Our defense has been carrying us most of the season. They’ve played really well in a lot of games. Unfortunately, we had a hard time stopping [ECU] today,” Niumatalolo said. “We had some assignment errors that contributed. We made some mistakes that were hard to explain.”

After struggling throughout the game, the defense had a chance to redeem itself after a 98-yard kickoff return by freshman Maquel Haywood gave Navy a 35-27 lead with 8:33 remaining. A stop on the next East Carolina possession would have put the home team in position to salt away the remaining time.

Instead, the defense offered very little resistance as Ahlers directed a 70-yard touchdown drive capped by a 28-yard scoring strike to Snead. The Midshipmen also allowed a two-point conversion pass that tied the score at 35 with 5:01 to go.

“We’ve got to make plays when the moment comes. That was our time to get a stop and we failed to execute,” McMorris said.

McMorris also alluded to communications issues and lamented the Midshipmen not being “aggressive” enough against the run game.

“We did a poor job of communicating. That’s on me. I’ve got to get the whole defense on the same page,” McMorris said. “We had some mistakes on the back end that we don’t normally make.”

If there was one positive to come out of the loss it was the obvious offensive improvement. Lavatai made a lot of sound decisions and did a good job distributing the ball as Navy accumulated 382 yards, the second-highest total of the season.

Acie delivered the type of explosive play the offense has been sorely lacking this season, taking a pitchout and racing 90 yards down the left sideline for a quick score. Acie has become one of Navy’s most reliable weapons and finished with a careerhigh 155 yards rushing.

It was good to see Niumatalolo pull out a couple of nifty pass plays in goal-line situations with Lavatai tossing 4-yard touchdowns to wide receiver Mychal Cooper and slotback Chance Warren.

Navy’s offensive output was encouraging, but ultimately not enough on a day its defense got shredded. After posting 17 straight wins on senior day, the Midshipmen have now suffered two straight losses.

“I’m just sad for our seniors who laid everything on the line. They’re really hurting right now,” Niumatalolo said.