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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy sprint football team kicked off the home portion of its 2016 schedule with a dominant 50-0 victory over the Post Eagles at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Friday night. From taking the opening drive 57 yards for a touchdown through the final clock showing 0:00, the Mids (3-0) displayed strong form versus the Eagles (0-2).

Besides the scoreboard, Navy out-gained Post by 331 yards as the Mids' offense combined for 445 yards of output, while its defense controlled the Eagles to the tune of 114 total yards. In its shutout, Navy's defense held Post to -25 rushing yards and forced one turnover, a third quarter interception in the red zone.

"It was a good game. All our healthy players got in the game and got a solid number of reps which is absolutely phenomenal," remarked head coach Major Jeff Polson, USMC. "What we need to make sure is that there is no fall off in any of our depth and today we had a lot of guys gain important in-game experience.

"We made a handful of mental errors that will need to fix before someone is able to take advantage of those, but that was good win against a solid team. They came down here with 35 players and had a ton of guys going two ways, that's something that they should really be proud of. We have a lot of respect for Coach Taylor and his team."

Offensively, the Mids had both parts of its attack working with 277 rushing yards and 168 yards passing. The talented duo of Brendon Clements (Sr., Miami, Fla.) and Mac Lavis (Jr., Orinda, Calif.) spearheaded Navy's rushing game as Clements went for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, while Lavis recorded 78 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries as well.

"We love the way that Mac ran today with a solid, strong form," said Polson. "Brendon is a shifty back, that can lower his shoulder and run hard. Him and Mac are a very dynamic and different duo. Clements got a little dinged up in the first half and Lavis stepped in and showed off his hard, downhill style. It was good to see that power game work for us today."

Quarterback Jon Saadey (Fr., Canfield, Ohio) ran the offense and turned in a crisp statline of 136 yards and three touchdowns on 9-of-10 passing, in addition to 34 rushing yards. Miles Whitlow (So., Clemens, Ala.) was Saadey's top target as he hauled in three passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

"Jon Saadey continues to do a great job," remarked Polson. "He had a few errant throws and made a few questionable throws that we would've preferred that he didn't make, but he's doing a really good job as a backup. He's made himself a weapon, while Nick Deterding has been given time to heal up. We've got ourselves two threats at the quarterback position."

Defensively, the Mids had a well-rounded showing on Friday night with 13 players recording multiple tackles and none with more than four in the game. Defensive lineman Bryant Schlade (Jr., Napoleon, Ohio) was one of six Navy defenders with tackles. Two of his stops were behind the line of scrimmage as he was credited with 1.5 sacks of Post's quarterback Buddy Enriquez. Troy Monroe (Fr., Columbus, Ga.) and Kendall Mackey (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) also made big plays for the Mids as Monroe augmented his three tackles with a safety on a blocked punt in the end zone. Mackey left his mark on the game as he picked off a deflected Enriquez pass for his second interception on the season.

"On defense, we gave up some big passing passes as Post's Coach Taylor implemented a dynamic, spread offense," said Polson. "We got soft in a few situations and they were able to pick up big chunks of yardage. We're not real happy about that and need to tighten that up in advance of our game with Penn next week. Penn is an extremely good passing team with the reigning MVP Mike McCurdy at quarterback for them throwing for around 300 yards a game.

"When we were faced with adversity on defense, our players buckled down and made the plays to keep Post out of the end zone and out of field goal range. We're happy about that and putting up a shutout, but we're going to have to get to work and make sure everything is a lot tighter defensively next week."

Navy dominated the first half of play as the host Midshipmen scored on all five of their possessions in the opening 30 minutes. Clements got the scoring going as he rushed through the Eagles' defense for nine-yard touchdown run at the 11:28 mark of the first quarter.

After Post put together its longest drive in terms of both plays and yardage with seven plays gaining 41 yards, the Mids forced a punt and got its potent offense back on the field. Eight plays and 64 yards later, Navy's 7-0 lead was extended to 10-0 as Jules Murphy (Sr., Easton, Mass.) converted a 33-yard field goal attempt at 4:39. Clements played a large role in helping the Mids flip the field as he rushed five times for 59 yards on the scoring drive.

A nine-play drive that overlapped into the second quarter saw Navy increase its margin to 17 points as Saadey found Matt Vogel (Jr., Upper Saddle River, N.J.) for a 19-yard touchdown reception at the 13:29 mark.

The ensuing offensive possession for the Mids featured the trio of Saadey, JT Thompson (Fr., Stratham, N.H.) and Clements. The three players did the bulk of the heavy lifting with 56 of the 58 yards. Saadey rushed for 15 yards and threw for 13 to Thompson, while Clements pounded the ball on the ground for 28 on three rushes. Clements capped the drive with a 19-yard scamper into the end zone at 7:20.

Navy's five-for-five string of scoring in the first half continued on its last possession as Lavis rushed nine times for 53 hard-earned yards with a five-yard touchdown at 0:53 as his ultimate payoff.

At the half, Navy had outgained Post, 298 to 48 with a 242 to -20 advantage in rushing yards.

Up 31-0, the Mids salted away the victory in the two quick scoring plays within the first 2:04 of play. Starting on defense, Navy forced a three-and-out over 1:42. At the end of the possession, the Mids increased its lead by two points as Monroe burst through the Eagles' punt protection to cleanly block a Rocco Guerrera punt out the back of end zone for a safety. After a 23-yard kickoff return by Thompson set the Mids' offense up on Post's 45-yard line, a short Saadey pass to Whitlow resulted in a 45-yard touchdown after the sophomore wide-out muscled his way out of multiple Eagle tacklers and finished it with a stiff straight-arm to his final potential tackler.

Navy continued scoring at will as the Mids put points on the scoreboard with a touchdown on its seventh possession and field goal on its eighth. Another Saadey to Whitlow connection resulted in a 19-yard touchdown reception at the 7:02 mark of the third quarter before Murphy knocked in a 35-yard field goal at 2:03.

The final 15 minutes of play saw neither team score or even gain much traction on offense as Post ran eight plays for 10 yards, while Navy recorded 44 yards on 14 plays. Quarterback Erick Bleakley (Fr., Muskegon, Mich.) collected 32 of the Mids' yards as he went three-for-four passing.

In the 50-0 victory, Navy outgained Post, 445 to 114 and controlled the time of possession, 35:09 to 24:51.

Navy will be back in action next Friday with a road matchup at Penn. The Quakers (2-0) and Mids are the final two remaining undefeated CSFL teams. Kickoff is set for Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Penn's Franklin Field in Philadelphia.