ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Tai Lavatai returned from a two-game injury absence to lead Navy back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit and a 34-30 win over UCF on Saturday for the Midshipmen's first victory this season in front of 30,871 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

"I'm proud of our young men.  They could have folded, they could have quit," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.  "Everybody was talking about what a tough streak (of games) this is and coming in is UCF, one of the best teams in our conference. Coach Malzhan and their team, we have great respect for.  We were able to eek out a win.  Just proud of our players, proud of their resolve."  

With Navy trailing 30-27, Diego Fagot knocked the ball out of Brandon Johnson's hands after a 20-yard reception and Taylor Robinson recovered at the Navy 47. Eleven plays and over five minutes later, Isaac Ruoss ran in from the 4-yard line to give the Midshipmen the lead with 3:09 left. Ruoss finished the day with 84 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.

UCF quickly went down the field to the Navy 12, but Robinson, who dropped a would-be interception two plays earlier, came up with his first career interception in the end zone on fourth down with 24 seconds remaining.

The victory was the first for Navy (1-3, 1-1) in three meetings with the Knights (2-2, 0-1) since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2015, the final league team the Midshipmen were winless against.

Bijan Nichols kicked his second field goal and Lavatai, ran for his second touchdown of the game after Navy entered the fourth quarter trailing 30-17.

Lavatai and Ruoss had 21 carries each as Navy ran for 348 yards led by 85 from Carlinos Acie.  Acie entered Saturday's game with 68 career rushing yards.

Daniel Taylor recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a Navy TD in the first half. The blocked punt by McMorris was the first blocked punt by Navy since 2008 when the Mids blocked two against Air Force.

UCF freshman Mikey Keene, making his first start in place of the injured Dillon Gabriel, was 16-of-26 passing for 178 yards and two TDs to Johnson.

"Our guys came back on Monday after the Houston game, when pretty much everybody gave up on them and didn't give them a chance, and just went back to work.  Things looked bleak (today) too.  We had some turnovers that hurt us.  The guys found a way to fight back.  That's a great team win.  We played much better on offense today.  We had some big stops on defense.  Special teams had been hurting us, but today they helped us.  Just proud of our players.  Our guys just came back to work.  That looked like Navy football.  I saw that last week and that was why I was encouraged going into this week."

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