Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Navy
Sprint Football Falls to Navy 38-20 at Allegiance Bowl
September 17, 2011 | Sprint Football
Sept. 17, 2011
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Army sprint football lost its season-opener, 38-20, against rival Navy on Saturday at the seventh-annual Adirondack Trust Allegiance Bowl in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The neutral-site, non-conference matchup was the first of two meetings between the two service academies this season with the annual Star Game set for Nov. 4 at West Point's Shea Stadium.
The Black Knights were the first to threaten, marching down to the Navy five-yard line on their second drive of the game. Army set up the drive by Lucas Hornick picking off Navy's Erik Erlandson's pass at the Midshipmen's 35-yard line. Junior quarterback Javier Sustaita completed passes to John Herina and senior Ben Johnson, combined with a pair of rushes by junior Marquis Morris, to lead Army into the red zone.
With a first-and-goal at Navy's five-yard line, Morris was backed up behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled as the Midshipmen recovered.
Navy went with their ground game, running the ball nine times in its 12-play drive. The Black Knights were able to limit the Mids' production, forcing Navy to punt.
After going three-and-out, Army senior Jeff Caraccio's punt was blocked by David Williams, who recovered the football and returned it six yards to the end zone. Adrian Montecino's point-after was good as Navy led 7-0, three minutes into the game.
The two squads traded punts the next three possessions as Navy maintained its 7-0 lead into the second quarter.
Army's first possession of the second quarter resulted in another punt attempt, but Caraccio was unable to get the kick off and was tackled at the Army 23-yard line. The Midshipmen would capitalize on the field position as Marty Meehan rushed in for Navy's second score of the game. Montecino connected on the PAT as Navy stretched its lead to 14-0 at the 10:36 mark of the second quarter.
The Black Knights would break into the scoring column with just over a minute remaining in the half as Army used a six-play, 69-yard drive to get on the scoreboard. Sustaita found Tom Jeffers for a 31-yard gain, setting up 16-yard touchdown pass to Cody Nyp at the 1:19 mark. Junior Kevin Scruggs' point-after was good, as Army moved within seven, 14-7.
Navy quickly responded, going to the air on its next seven plays, marching all the way to Army's one-yard line, where Meehan pounded it in for another Midshipman touchdown. The teams went to the locker room with Navy leading, 21-7.
The Midshipmen came out of intermission aggressively, scoring on a 50-yard pass from Erlandson to Jesse Holian on the first drive of the second half.
Down 28-7, the Black Knights were forced into two consecutive three-and-outs, punting on their first two possessions of the half.
Army got into the end zone in its final drive of the third quarter as Sustaita threw nine straight passes, capped by a 13-yard TD toss to sophomore John Egan. Scruggs' kick would pull the Black Knights within 14 at 28-14 to end the third quarter.
The Midshipmen owned the ball for 11:14 of the third stanza.
Navy would once again respond on its very next drive, scoring on an Erlandson eight-yard pass to Drew Presnell, extending its lead to 35-14.
Army senior Franklin Yu fumbled on the ensuing kickoff as Navy recovered at the Black Knight 36-yard line.
Despite the field position, Navy was held to just a 27-yard field goal on the drive, extending its lead to 38-14 with 11:24 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Yu would attempt to redeem his previous mistake by catching a 19-yard touchdown pass from Sustaita, cutting Navy's lead to 38-20 with just under four minutes remaining. The Black Knights' ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed.
Neither team would get past midfield in the final minutes of the game, as Navy capped Army's final drive by intercepting a Sustaita pass at the Midshipmen's 26-yard line.
Sustaita would finish the game throwing for 405 yards and three touchdowns. He connected on 42 of his 81 pass attempts. The Black Knights' ground game was not nearly as effective, totaling only 32 yards on 24 attempts.
Jeffers led the Black Knights in receiving, amassing 178 yards on 18 catches.
Junior Noah Currie led the Army defense with 13 tackles, while sophomore Dylan Dolan recorded the team's only sack.
Erlandson led Navy with 165 yards passing (12 for 21) and two touchdowns, while David Wells led the ground game with 142 yards on 23 rushes.
The Black Knights outgained the Midshipmen in terms of total offense, 437 yards to 415, while Navy edged out Army in time of possession, 33:18 to 26:42.
"The bottom line is that we got beat," said Army head coach Lt. Col. Mark West. "We had some blunders on special teams, three to be exact, and all three led to scores.
"We had a few chances on offense that we should have capitalized on and if we had we could have easily been up 14 points. We probably relied a little too much on the pass and need to work on our running game. We were going east-west too much and not north-south.
"The good news for us is that we get to play them once more this season. We have to figure out how to get better and luckily we have the next week off to work on it."
Army will open its conference schedule against College Sprint Football League foe Mansfield on Sept. 30 at West Point. Kickoff at Army's Shea Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
