Army’s hex hits 13
BALTIMORE — Navy extended its winning streak over Army to 13 games, using a strong defensive performance and the versatility of quarterback Keenan Reynolds to carve out a 1710 victory Saturday. After Army turned a blocked pu nt into a touchdown in the first quarter, the Midshipmen used the passing of Reynolds to pull even at halftime.
Navy (7-5) then took a 10-7 lead before Reynolds scored from the 1 with 12:07 left to put the Mids in control.
Ken Niumatalolo became the winningest coach in Navy history, breaking a tie with George Welsh. Niumatalolo (56-35) also became the first Navy coach to win his first seven games against Army (4-8).
Reynolds ran 26 times for 100 yards and completed six of eight passes for 77 yards and a TD.
The 13-game run by Navy is the longest in the history of a series that began in 1890. Army hasn’t defeated the Midshipmen since 2001.
First-year coach Jeff Monken became the sixth coach to lose to Navy over that span. After scoring a touchdown late in the first half to draw even at 7, Navy opened t he third quarter with a 41-yard kickoff return by Ryan Williams-Jenkins. That led to a 45-yard field goal by Austin Grebe for a 10-7 lead.
Army then wasted a 50-yard drive, moving to the Navy 30 before Daniel Grochowski hooked a field-goal try to the left. Reynolds subsequently directed a 12play march that lasted nearly eight minutes and ended with Reynolds, the 5-foot-11 junior, bulling over the goal line for a 10-point cushion.
An Army drive to the Navy 38 ended with a fumble by quarterback A.J. Schurr, and that pretty much left Army the prospect of lamenting yet another loss to their rivals for the next 365 days.
A 52-yard field goal by Grochowski made it 17-10 with 1:51 left, but Navy recovered the ensuing onside kick.
The Cadets went up 7-0 in stunning fashion, holding Navy to four yards on its first series before Josh Jenkins blocked a punt and Xavier Moss scooped up the ball and spr i nted seven yards into the end zone. It was a horrid first quarter for Navy, which gained 15 yards on three straight three-and-outs.
Army maintained the upper hand in the second quarter, but the momentum turned when Cadets QB Angel Santiago was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 from the Navy 30 with just over two minutes left. The Midshipmen then turned to a seldom-used weapon — the pass — as Reynolds completed a 39-yarder to Jamir Tillman to the Army 31 and connected with Williams-Jenkins for 12 yards before throwing a 9-yard TD pass to Tillman with 18 seconds to go before halftime.