ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy sprint football team (7-0, 3-0 CSFL South) takes on rival Army (6-1, 4-0 CSFL North) in the 2021 Collegiate Sprint Football League (CSFL) Championship game on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 12:00 p.m. at Mansfield University's Karl Van Norman Field in Mansfield, Pa. The game will be live streamed and live stats will be available.
 
CSFL Championship Game
The teams have met in the last two CSFL Championship Games (2018, '19). In the previous two championship contests, the team that lost the regular season contest came back to win the conference title and raise the league trophy. Army handed Navy a 17-14 setback in 2018, but the Mids rallied to down the Black Knights, 24-10, in the title game. In 2019, Navy won the Star Game, 14-7, but the Knights of the Hudson responded with a 13-0 victory in the CSFL Championship.
 
Navy is seeking the 38th conference championship in program history, while Army is going for its 36th league title.
 
All-Time Series
Navy holds the all-time series record, 45-38-1 (.542). The Midshipmen are 26-22-1 (.541) against the Black Knights away from Annapolis.
 
Prior to last season, which was effected by the coronavirus pandemic, the two teams had met on the gridiron twice each of the previous two seasons (2018, '19) squaring off in the Star Game and the CSFL Championship.
 
Earlier this season, Navy posted a 14-6 victory over Army in West Point to earn the annual Star. The Midshipmen's defense was once again on display as the Mids were able to hold the Black Knights to under 200 yards of total offense, including -10 yards rushing.
 
A 2009 graduate of the Naval Academy, head coach Major Alfonso Meidus, USMC was a member of the Navy sprint football team from 2005 to 2008 and was a perfect 8-0 against Army, including four Star victories.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the weekend 7-0 on the season and 3-0 in division play. The Midshipmen have been balanced on offense, rushing for 1,513 yards and passing for 1,229 yards for 2,742 yards of total offense. Defensively, the Mids have limited opponents to just 40 points (6.7 points per game) in six games played this season (did not play against Cornell, due to forfeit). The Midshipmen have held opposing offenses to 966 yards of total offense on 814 yards passing and 152 yards on the ground.
 
Senior captain Matthew McGee (Port Charlotte, Fla.) leads the team with 659 yards on the ground with 11 touchdowns, while Alex Totta (Kansas City, Kan.) has tallied 348 yards rushing with nine TDs. Tyler Massena (Snohomish, Wash.) and Stephen Copeland (Ava, Mo.) have tallied 150 and 120 yards, respectively. Massena has found the end zone twice, while Copeland has added a score.
 
William Leong (Irvine, Calif.) and Brandon Atwood (Gentry, Ark.) lead the passing attack. Leong is 55-for-83 for 580 yards and four touchdowns, while Atwood is 40-for-62 for 548 yards and seven touchdowns.
 
Andrew Margiotta (Vienna, Va.) leads the team with 496 receiving yards on 24 receptions with five touchdowns. Jake Smith (Union, Ky.) is next on the team with 24 receptions, tallying 290 yards with a score. Marco Pezzini (Salinas, Calif.) joins the receiving corps with a pair of TD catches, while Totta, Jack Masterson (Reno, Nev.), Trent Parker (Washington, D.C.), and Jackson Suddath (Houston, Texas) have also hauled in passes for scores.
 
Paul Kuehler (Roanoke, Va.) leads the defense with 33 total tackles, including a team-high 21 solo stops. The linebacker has a team-best 8.5 tackles for loss with 2.5 sacks. Devyn Martin (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Ed Shead (South Hampton, Pa.) are second and third on the team with 25 and 23 tackles, respectively. Martin leads the team with 3.5 sacks, while Jack Costigan (Middletown, N.J.) is next with 3.0 sacks and a team-high pair of forced fumbles. Adam Weissenfels (Richland, Wash.) and Jobe Long (Bay City, Mich.) lead the team with two interceptions apiece. Jake Karczewski (Chicago, Ill.), David Niski (Shelton, Conn.), and Nadir Emlemdi (Cincinnati, Ohio) have each added blocked kicks on the season.
 
Mychal Golden (Jonesboro, Ark.) is second on the team behind McGee (66 pts) with 62 points on the year. The kicker is 10-for-12 on field goal attempts and 32-for-33 in extra-point tries.
 
Martin, McGee Claim CSFL Weekly Honors
The CSFL announced its weekly award winners and Navy's Devyn Martin (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Matthew McGee (Port Charlotte, Fla.) were selected as Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week, respectively. The duo helped lead Navy to a 52-14 victory over Penn to claim the CSFL South Division title and earn a spot in the CSFL Championship game against North Division winner Army.
 
Martin anchored a defense that held the top scoring offense in the league to just 14 points and 205 total yards of offense (129 passing, 76 rushing). The sophomore led the Navy defense with 10 total tackles – double what the next Midshipmen defender had – posting a team-high five solo stops to go along with a team-best five assisted tackles. Martin led the team with 3.5 tackles for loss for 21 total yards, including 3.0 of Navy's 5.0 sacks on the day. In addition, he added a quarterback hurry.
 
McGee tallied 194 rushing yards with two touchdowns in just three quarters of play. The offensive captain accounted for 53.4-percent of Navy's 363 total rushing yards. He averaged 6.5 yards per carry with TD runs of eight yards and 21 yards. McGee had six rushes of 10 or more yards, including a long of 35 yards. In addition, he added a reception for seven yards.
 
TAD Feature
Navy's Phil Bergman spoke to former Navy football players to discuss their roles within the Sprint Football team on the latest edition of AAC Campus Connect (video).
 
Last Time vs. Out (Nov. 6, 2021)
The Navy sprint football team posted a 52-14 victory over CSFL South Division rival Penn at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa. With the win, Navy claimed the South Division title, earning a spot in the CSFL Championship game against North Division winner Army next week at Mansfield University's Karl Van Norman Field in Mansfield, Pa.
 
Offensively, Navy tallied 488 total yards of offense, including 363 rushing yards and 125 yards passing. The Mids recorded seven rushing touchdowns on the night. Offensive team captain Matthew McGee (Port Charlotte, Fla.) led the offense with 194 rushing yards, scoring a pair of touchdowns. Alex Totta (Kansas City, Kan.) finished with just 54 yards, but led the team with four TDs on the ground. Starting quarterback William Leong (Irvine, Calif.) added 85 yards rushing, while Tyron Francis Jr. (Middletown, R.I.) finished with a score.
 
Leong was 14-for-23 passing for 119 yards. Luke Wagner (Edmond, Okla.) entered the game in relief, finishing 2-for-6 for six yards.
 
Marco Pezzini (Salinas, Calif.) paced a balanced receiving corps with five receptions for 30 yards. Jack Masterson (Reno, Nev.) added four catches for 27 yards, while Jake Smith (Union, Ky.) led the team with 36 yards on three receptions. Totta added one catch for 21 yards to his stat line.
 
Defensively, Navy finished with 8.0 tackles for loss, including 5.0 sacks with three interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble. The Midshipmen held the potent Quaker offense, who entered the game averaging more than 44 points per game, to 14 points. The Mids held the home team to 205 total yards, including 129 yards passing and 76 rushing yards with 11 first downs.
 
Devyn Martin (Las Vegas, Nev.) led the defense with 10 total tackles, including five solo stops, with 3.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. Nadir Emlemdi (Cincinnati, Ohio), Mike Garnett (Dallas, Texas), and Jobe Long (Bay City, Mich.) each finished with interceptions, while Nicholas Campbell (Allentown, N.J.) and Smith recovered fumbles in the game. In addition, David Niski (Shelton Conn.) forced a fumble in the game.
 
Kicker Mychal Golden (Jonesboro, Ark.) finished the game with 10 points. The sophomore was a perfect 7-for-7 on extra points, while adding a 43-yard field goal.
 
Last Time vs. Army (Oct. 2, 2021)
Navy recorded a 14-6 victory over rival Army at Shea Stadium in West Point, N.Y.
 
Defensively, Navy was able to hold the potent Army offense to under 200 total yards (193), including holding the Black Knight rushing attack to -10 yards on 34 total carries. The tallied 12 tackles for loss, including eight sacks on the day. Paul Kuehler (Roanoke, Va.) led the way with eight tackles (6 solo, 2 assisted), 3.0 TFL, including 1.5 sacks. Mike Garnett (Dallas, Texas) and Ed Shead (South Hampton, Pa.) added seven stops apiece and Garnett paced the squad with two of Navy's seven pass break ups. Shead finished with 2.5 sacks for 23 total yards. The defense also blocked a pair of kicks as Nadir Emlemdi (Cincinnati, Ohio) blocked a field goal attempt and Jake Karczewski (Chicago, Ill.) blocked a punt.
 
Offensively, the Midshipmen finished with 207 total yards of offense, including 137 yards through the air. Brandon Atwood (Gentry, Ark.) led the passing attack, going 14-for-26 with a touchdown and two interceptions. Adam Weissenfels (Richland, Wash.) completed a crucial pass on a fourth-and-four for nine yards, which continued a Navy scoring drive.
 
Senior team captain Matthew McGee (Port Charlotte, N.C.) led the rushing attack. He finished with 22 carries for 50 of the Mids' 70 rushing yards on the day. McGee scored on a 15-yard rush to give Navy some insurance late in the game. Alex Totta (Kansas City, Kan.) tallied 20 yards as the duo accounted for all of the Midshipmen's rushing output.
 
Jake Smith (Union, Ky.) and Marco Pezzini (Salinas, Calif.) each finished with five receptions on the day. Smith paced the offense with 60 yards, while Pezzini chipped in 19 with a score. Andrew Margiotta (Vienna, Va.) added four receptions, finishing second on the day with 47 yards.
 
Mychal Golden (Jonesboro, Ark.) remained perfect on the season in extra-point attempts, converting both tries on the day.