Nov. 2, 2007

Final Stats

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy sprint football quarterback D.J. Green (Jr./Indianapolis, Ind.) accounted for three touchdowns, while the defense delivered a stifling performance, to propel the Midshipmen to a 41-13 win over Army on Friday night at Shea Stadium. With the victory, Navy captured its league-record 25th outright CSFL Championship and the N-Star for the fourth-consecutive year.

The Midshipmen came into the contest with at least a share of the league championship, their 32nd CSFL title, after they defeated Penn last week in Philadelphia, 56-7. Navy finishes the year with a perfect 6-0 record and 4-0 mark in CSFL play. Army concludes its season with a 2-5 overall record, 1-3 in league action.

"To have the hard work put in to be worth it at the end, it's very gratifying," stated Navy head coach Maj. Jake Jenkins, USMC. "We really wanted to send our seniors out in style with a win over Army. It's truly a great victory for them."

Green, the reigning CSFL Offensive Player of the Week, completed 14-of-27 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. With his legs, Green led the Midshipmen with 57 yards on 16 carries with a pair of scores.

"D.J. really stepped it up in another big game," said Jenkins. "He really became the leader of this offense as the season progressed. He was poised all game and it's been impressive to watch him develop over the last couple of games."

Navy's defense scored 13 points and forced six turnovers, three interceptions and three fumble recoveries, which led to 14 of the other 27 points tallied in the contest. The Midshipmen, who also produced six turnovers in their first meeting with Army on Sept. 22, held the hosts to 169 yards of total offense. Navy's rushing defense held the Black Knights to minus-six yards on the ground, the second minus-rushing tally of the year for the Midshipmen and the fourth-best performance in school history.

Leading the defense effort for the Mids on Friday, linebacker Tyler Hawkins (So./Canyon Country, Calif.) delivered 14 tackles, one for a loss of nine yards, forced and recovered a fumble, picked off a pass and swatted away two other aerial attempts. Fellow linebacker Brian Smith (Jr./Gainesville, Fla.) came up with nine stops and recovered a fumble, which he returned 25 yards for a score. Defensive team captain Taylor Brashear (Sr./Collierville, Tenn.) produced one and a half sacks for a loss of eight yards and finished the evening with six tackles.

"The defense was just fantastic. Six turnovers will change the complexion of any game," commented Jenkins. "They played with emotion and were lights out in every situation we put them in. It takes so much pressure off of the offense and allows us to take a few more chances."

Unlike the first meeting of the year between the service academy rivals, Navy jumped out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. Following an Army fumble deep in its own territory, Navy running back Richard Engel (Sr./Medford, N.J.) opened the scoring with a four-yard touchdown run. For Engel, it was his 24th career rushing touchdown, moving him past Matt Sobecki (1994-97) for the most in school history.

After an Army punt on a three-and-out, Navy marched 55 yards on seven plays, capped by a Green eight-yard touchdown scamper. The Mids would make it 21-0 before the end of the opening quarter, as Taylor Dodd (Sr./San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) forced a fumble on a sack of quarterback Robert Miner, which Smith picked up and brought back 25 yards for a score.

The Midshipmen would carry a 28-0 advantage into the break, as Green found wide receiver Todd Barriger (Sr./Prescott, Mich.) for a 37-yard touchdown pass. Barriger would finish the game with four receptions for 92 yards, while teammate Karl Motoyama (Jr./Honolulu, Hawai'i) hauled in four passes for 40 yards.

Army had an opportunity to trim the deficit with less than a minute going into halftime, as the snap sailed over Navy punter Stephen Phillips (So./Barhamsville, Va.) and he illegally kicked the ball out of bounds, giving the Black Knights starting field position at the visitor's own nine. However, on the first snap of the series, Navy linebacker Chris Combellick (Jr./Carmel, Ind.) stripped the ball from Army running back Justin Abbatacola and Dodd recovered to end the threat.

The Black Knights would break the shutout late in the third quarter with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Abe Payne to Wesley Pritchett, pulling within 21 at 28-7.

That would be as close as Army could get, as Navy's defense made two key plays that led to the team's final-13 points of the game. Hawkins picked off a Payne pass early in the fourth quarter before Green ran for his second touchdown of the contest, a 30-yard carry. After a Navy fumble led to an Army touchdown with 3:06 remaining, Navy defensive back Andrew Wright (Jr./Baltimore, Md.) stepped in front of a Miner pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.

Navy's rushing attack, which came into the night leading the CSFL with 304.0 yards per game and 341.0 yards per league contest, was held to just 82 yards on 41 carries. Despite Army's defensive focus on the ground game, the Midshipmen threw for 194 yards to finish with 276 yards of total offense, 107 more than their hosts.

Navy kicker David Reifenberg (So./Ft. Wayne, Ind.) connected on five of his six extra-point attempts on the night to finish the season with a school-record 37 extra points made. He had made each of his last-37 tries before his final point-after attempt in the fourth quarter was blocked.

The Midshipmen improved their all-time advantage over Army to 35-30-1 with Friday's victory. The Mids have posted two victories against the Black Knights for the seventh time in school history, five of which have taken place over the last-six years.

The 28-point margin of victory for Navy places as the second-largest for the Midshipmen in series history. Only Navy's 30-point win, 33-3, over Army at the Pride Bowl in 2005 ranks ahead of Friday night's performance.

Navy's seniors also become the first class in the program's 62-year history to go undefeated against Army in their four-year career, boasting an unblemished 8-0 mark. Overall, this year's Navy senior class concludes their career with an impressive 24-1 record, good for a .960 winning percentage.