Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy sprint football team battled trying weather conditions and a game Penn squad for 60 minutes on Friday, but a stout defense and strong individual efforts from a variety of players helped the host Midshipmen defeat the Quakers, 29-14. In a matchup of 2-0 teams, Navy's terrorizing defense held Penn to just 237 total yards and caused three turnovers, while getting big plays from its quarterback and punter throughout the game.

"We executed extremely well on defense and took advantage of some opportunities with interceptions and aggressive defense," remarked head coach Major Jeff Polson, USMC. "We caused chaos with their quarterback. They had some success with their running back so that is something that we'll have to tighten up as we go.

"On the offensive side we'll have to continue to stay on our blocks to help get the running game going. I definitely feel the weather played a role in the passing game, so we weren't able to open that up as much as we would have liked, but we controlled the ball. If we can pick up the play of our offensive line, we'll be able to balance our offense."

Defensively, senior lineman Temple Sloan (Raleigh, N.C.) was a menace to Penn with a team-high 12 tackles, including 5.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks. He even found his way into the box score with a blocked punt in the end zone for a safety in the third quarter. Fellow lineman Hardy Davis (Sr., Dallas, Texas) and linebacker Collin Ascherl (Sr., Granville, Iowa) recorded eight tackles a piece.

"Temple was all over the place out there," said Polson. "With him coming off the right side, our defensive line did extremely well tonight. If we can pick up the level of play from our left side and have them meet in the middle it's going to an extremely stout defense moving forward."

The front six weren't the only defensive unit finding success versus Penn as defensive backs, Kendall Mackey (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) and Devin Graves (So., Pikeville, N.C.) each picked off Penn's quarterback Mike McCurdy once. Mackey took his first quarter interception 79 yards for a touchdown.

On offense, Penn executed its plan of stopping 2014 MVP Eric Wellmon (Wallkill, N.Y.) fairly well with the senior running back registering just 35 net yards on 21 carries, though he did break through in the fourth quarter with his third touchdown of the season. With weather limiting the passing game and Penn focusing on Wellmon, junior quarterback Nick Deterding (Lindsborg, Kan.) took matters into his own hands and rushed for 159 yards on 20 attempts, including an 81-yard sprint for a third quarter touchdown. He added to his offensive output with 78 passing yards and one touchdown.

"Nick stepped up big for us tonight," exclaimed Polson. "A couple of his big gains were broken plays, but he succeeded on pure athleticism. We're blessed to have a great athlete at quarterback who makes good decisions. He was able to step up and take advantages of the situations in front of him. In many of Nick's long gains, he got great downfield blocking to help break away."

The third unit of Navy's squad that directly impacted both the defense and offense was special teams. On a night where neither team recorded more than 269 total yards of offense and the wind and rain was constantly howling, field position was an important factor in the Mids' victory. Junior punter Jules Murphy (Easton, Mass.) was at the center of the success with five punts for 192 yards, but more significantly, he placed three of those kicks down inside the 20-yard line.

"The punting game with Jules was really big for us," said Polson. "Field position was so important because our defense proved tonight that could pin them deep and then we could flip it and take advantage of the short field on offense."

Offensive scoring was hard to come by in the first quarter as the first and only points of the period were posted by Mackey on a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown on Penn's first possession of the game at 10:35. The first quarter went into the book at 6-0 with just 75 combined yards between the two teams, 43 for Penn and 32 for Navy.

In the second quarter the grinding slugfest continued for over six minutes until Penn broke through with a three-yard touchdown pass at 8:21. After the Quakers missed the PAT, the Mids eventually broke the 6-6 tie courtesy of a Deterding to Matthew Hite (Sr., Chapin, S.C.) two-yard touchdown connection with just four seconds remaining in the half. Graves' 14-yard interception return set up his offense with a short 17-yard field for that late scoring drive.

Up 13-6 at half, Navy put some distance between itself and Penn in the third quarter. Deterding scored the period's first points as he took the snap and quickly turned the corner around the right edge of his offensive line before finding space down the sideline and speeding away from the Quakers' defense for an 81-yard touchdown run at 8:59. On the ensuing drive, Sloan dominated the possession with two consecutive tackles to leave Penn with a third-and-10 situation. After an incomplete pass, the senior stayed on with the punt coverage team and burst through the Quakers' line and swatted away Matt Caltabiano's punt attempt for a safety.

With the score 22-6 after three quarters, the teams exchanged touchdowns in the final period to see the game go final at 29-14. Wellmon notched Navy's score with a 10-yard touchdown run that was set up two plays earlier by a 43-yard rush by Deterding.

For the game, Navy outgained Penn, 269 to 237 with a 191 to 64 advantage in rushing yards. Penn had six more first downs at 16-10 and won the time of possession battle, 31:31 to 28:29.

"We have some areas that we need to continue getting better at so we'll have a get back to work this week and come out ready to hit hard against Franklin Pierce next Friday," said Polson in closing.

Navy will be back home again at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Friday, Oct. 9 with a 7 p.m. matchup versus the Franklin Pierce Ravens.