ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy sprint football team (0-1) dropped a 7-3 contest to Army (1-0) on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in the annual Star Game, which is part of the overall Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.
"Defense played big and we were just a play away from making things happen," said
Major Jason Dewald, USMC after the game. "I am beyond proud of this team and the adversity that it has faced this season. Going from a season cancelled to having two games and then to just one is a roller coaster of emotions."
The game was a defensive matchup, pitting two of the best defenses of the Collegiate Sprint Football League (CSFL) over the past few years against one another.
The Midshipmen held the Black Knights to under 200 yards of total offense (186), including just 53 yards on the ground. Navy was able to scratch out 233 total yards of offense with 99 yards rushing and 134 yards in the air. The Mids limited the Black Knights to six first downs, while tallying 17 in the game. The two teams combined for 17 penalties with Army tallying nine for 75 yards and Navy totaling 8 for 45 yards.
The Navy defense registered 10.0 tackles for loss, including 4.0 sacks, while picking off a pass, breaking up a pass, and recording a quarterback hurry. For Army, the defense made 11.0 tackles for loss with a pair of sacks, a fumble recovery, an interception, four pass breakups, and three quarterback hurries. The interception for the Black Knights proved costly for the Midshipmen as the short field led to the only touchdown of the game.
Junior
Jake Karczewski (Chicago, Ill.) led the team with 11 total tackles, including a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Caiden Groff (Bennington, Neb.) tallied nine stops, while
Trey Ogden (Chesapeake, Va.) and
Adam Weissenfels (Richaland, Wash.) each recorded eight apiece. Weissenfels registered the only interception for the Midshipmen, while
Lukas Kaiser (New Albany, Ind.) was credited with a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.
Navy was the first team to score, putting three points on the scoreboard in the first quarter. Freshman
Mychal Golden (Jonesboro, Ark.) made his first collegiate field goal attempt count as the rookie was true from 35 yards to put Navy in front 3-0.
The score remained 3-0 until the third quarter. Army used an interception to set up a short field. The Black Knights capped a 33-yard scoring drive with a one-yard plunge into the end zone by quarterback J.C. Watson to go in front 7-3 with just over nine minutes to play in the third quarter.
Navy's best attempt to regain the lead came in the final drive for the Midshipmen. The Mids converted a long third down attempt with a 14-yard pass from
Jake Foss (Merced, Calif.) to
Jake Smith (Union, Ky.) to keep the Navy hopes alive. On first down,
Jacob Hudson (Wilmington, Del.) connected with
Alex Totta (Kansas City, Kan.) for a 23-yard strike on a halfback pass to move into Army territory. On fourth and short, Navy got the Army defense to jump offsides giving the Mids a new set of downs. Foss followed with an 11-yard strike to
Connor Majarucon (Phoenix, Ariz.) to get down to the Army 17 yardline. The Midshipmen were unable to move the ball any closer as the drive ended with an incomplete pass on fourth down to seal the game for the Black Knights.
Offensively, the Mids were led by
Matthew McGee (Port Charlotte, Fla.) who carried the ball 16 times for 82 yards. He was joined by Totta who notched 20 yards on the ground. Through the air, Foss finished 15-for-25 for 84 yards, while
Braydan Chmiel (Warrenton, Mo.) was 3-for-10 for 27 yards and an interception. Hudson's lone pass went for 23 yards on Navy's final drive. Totta led the team with 39 receiving yards, while Majarucon added 31, Smith tallied 30, and McGee chipped in 18.
