ANNAPOLIS, Md. — UAB was knocking on the end-zone door late in the fourth quarter when Navy junior safety Rayuan Lane III intercepted Blazers junior quarterback Jacob Zeno and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown.
Lane’s interception was the fourth touchdown of the day for the Midshipmen. With a strong running game keeping the ball away from UAB and an even stronger defensive performance, the Mids (4-5) defeated the Blazers (3-7), 31-6, on Nov. 11.
“We played lights out on defense,” Navy head coach Brian Newberry said. “The plan was to make them earn everything they got.”
The game’s first big play came midway through the first quarter, when Navy faced a fourth-and-goal at UAB’s 3-yard line. Senior quarterback Xavier Arline targeted senior wide receiver Jayden Umbarger in the face of pressure but was intercepted by Blazers senior safety Keondre Swoopes for a touchback.
A stop by Navy’s defense, however, paved the way for a five-play, 70-yard touchdown drive by the Mids. Arline threw a 45-yard touchdown to junior wide receiver Regis Velez, marking the longest reception of Velez’s Navy career and the longest pass of Arline’s Navy career.
“It’s a great play call by [offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut], great scheme,” Arline said of the 45-yard touchdown. “[In practice] we ran it twice and converted it twice, so kind of figured that play was going to get called and at that point it’s up to us to execute it.”
UAB’s first-half points came courtesy of two field goals by senior kicker Matt Quinn, who also missed a 42-yard attempt late in the second quarter.
The Blazers started the second half on offense. Down just 7-6, UAB faced a third-and-6 from its own 29 yard line. Zeno connected with senior wide receiver Tejhaun Palmer for a 26-yard gain into Navy territory, the second-longest reception of the game for the Blazers.
After that big gain, the Mids’ defense forced UAB into a third-and-19. This time, though, Navy junior cornerback Deshaun Peele intercepted Zeno’s pass and returned it 42 yards. The Mids capitalized on the turnover with a 31-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Nathan Kirkwood to make the lead 10-6.
The defense then forced a three-and-out, leading to a classic Navy football drive. Starting with a little less than eight minutes left in the third quarter, the Mids ran 20 plays for 80 yards that ended with a 2-yard rushing touchdown by junior fullback Daba Fofana to give Navy a 17-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. This drive chewed up nearly 13 minutes of clock.
“That’s Navy football right there at its finest,” Newberry said.
Navy continued hitting on all cylinders for the remainder of the game. A 50-yard rushing touchdown by Arline gave the Mids a three-possession lead, and Lane added one more touchdown with the interception he returned 97 yards. Lane’s interception was the second-longest interception return in school history. It was also the longest at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium:
Arline finished the game completing 7 of 10 passes for 94 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also led Navy in rushing (19 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown), part of his team’s 269 total rushing yards.
Navy’s defense gave up 321 total yards and held UAB to 6-for-16 on third-down attempts. The Mids also sacked Zeno four times and forced two turnovers.
“We played a lot of drop-eight coverage today [as] part of our plan,” Newberry said. “So to get pressure when you’re doing that — I think two of those sacks were drop-eights, so when you can get a pass rush doing that and put all of those guys in coverage, that’s a pretty good deal.”
Navy sits at 4-5 with three games left in the season. Junior fullback Alex Tecza expressed that even after this win, the team is taking it one game at a time.
“I think we’ve just got to go 1-0. You know, it’s a new week, we’ve got to put this game behind us,” Tecza said. “Monday comes, we’re getting back to work.”
Next, Navy hosts East Carolina on Nov. 18.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox