College football: Navy stages own shutdown of Air Force in second half
NICK WASS | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Quarterback Keenan Reynolds of Navy scores the first of three touchdowns. He rushed for 126 yards.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Navy capped a week of uncertainty with a convincing win over a service academy rival.
Keenan Reynolds ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns, and the Midshipmen rolled to a 28-10 victory over Air Force yesterday in a game that survived the restrictions of the U.S. government shutdown.
Although the Department of Defense has suspended athletic competition at the nation’s service academies because of the shutdown, an exception was made for this event because it was funded by non-appropriated money.
Still, it made for a difficult and unusual few days of preparation.
“It was a tough week for both sides, the uncertainty of if the game was going to happen,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “You didn’t know what was going to transpire.”
The game didn’t go according to the script, either. Air Force (1-5) came in a heavy underdog after losing four straight, but the Falcons were the better team in the first half and led 10-7 at halftime.
“We didn’t execute like we should have on offense,” Reynolds said. “I made a few dumb plays, a few mistakes.”
After that, however, it was all Navy (3-1). It began with the opening drive of the third quarter, when the Midshipmen moved 75 yards in eight plays to take a 14-10 lead.
“That was huge,” Reynolds said. “It really helped out with the team confidence, gave the guys some swagger. We were able to get the momentum going our way.”
Early in the week, when the status of the game was still up in the air, both academies decided it best to proceed as usual.
“We planned and prepared like we would any week,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said.
Navy’s Chris Johnson, who had two fourth-quarter interceptions, said, “During the week, we were going through it like we knew the game was on, even though there was an uncertainty. When we found out we were going to play, we were happy. But it wasn’t like we were surprised.”
Reynolds returned from a concussion to successfully run the triple-option.
Air Force got a solid performance from a defense that had allowed an average of 48.8 points in its previous four games, but the offense was limited to a season low in points.
After amassing 202 yards in offense in the first half, Air Force got only 111 in the second half.
“The better team won today, especially when you look at the second half,” Calhoun said. “There is no doubt there was a difference in the last two quarters.”
The game turned when Demond Brown scored on a 38-yard run for a 14-10 lead within the first three minutes of the second half.
In the most lopsided victory in the series since 1978, the Midshipmen scored another touchdown on their first possession of the fourth quarter courtesy of Reynolds’s 2-yard dive. Reynolds added a 10-yard touchdown run four minutes later for the final margin.
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