After its offense stalled out thanks to some early miscues, Navy football turned to the bench for a spark on offense late in the second quarter and came on late in the second half.
Navy’s defense came up with one final stop to give the Mids a chance for a game-tying drive with a less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter and no timeouts. Senior quarterback Tai Lavatai drove his team down the field with a 10-play, 72-yard drive, culminating in a fourth-and-goal at Army’s 2-yard line with 9 seconds left. Lavatai ran a quarterback sneak but came up inches short.
It was a devastating way to end the game for the Mids (5-7), who would’ve also needed a two-point conversion to tie the game. They lost to the Black Knights, 17-11, on Dec. 9 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., following an intentional safety.
“I think that’s our offense in a nutshell. We’re going to test who’s tougher, who has the better will and I like that play over any other play on the 1-yard line,” Lavatai said of Navy’s final offensive play of the game. “It’s basically us versus them, who can push harder and unfortunately, I felt like I’ve got to push a little more and it just didn’t work out in our favor which sucks because, you know, last college play and that’s what it was.”
Lavatai’s leadership should not be overlooked, however. After coming off the bench, Lavatai completed 16 of 26 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 19 times for 74 yards and was inches away from getting a chance to send the game to overtime.
“We’ve got to become a more disciplined football team in a lot of ways and that’s on me,” Navy head coach Brian Newberry said. “A win in this game is such great momentum going into the offseason. Going back to the last time we won [against Army] in ’21, didn’t have a great year at all but you felt great after this game, but losing this game is going to be fuel for us going into the offseason, I promise you that.”
The 124th matchup between these two teams was a memorable one. It looked like the Black Knights might run away with this game in the first half because of the Mids’ offense stalling out time and time again, but a change at quarterback before the end of the first half gave a much-needed spark to Navy’s offense. The spark, though, didn’t create a flame until late in the third quarter.
Starting from the Mids’ 11-yard line, Lavatai led a 12-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in a 37-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Nathan Kirkwood to cut the Black Knights’ lead to 10-3 early in the fourth quarter.
Army and Navy traded punts following that scoring drive. The Mids then responded with another much-needed stop, giving their offense the ball back with about seven minutes to go. Navy soon faced a key third-and-10, but Lavatai found sophomore slotback Eli Heidenreich for a 20-yard completion to move the ball to midfield.
But on third-and-8, the Black Knights got to Lavatai. Army sophomore linebacker Kalib Fortner stripped Lavatai for a 44-yard touchdown, giving Army a 17-3 lead with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Navy continued to fight, though, as Lavatai led a seven-play, 59-yard drive to cut the lead to 17-9. Lavatai found senior wide receiver Jayden Umbarger for a 14-yard touchdown to cap off that drive. The Mids tried for a two-point conversion but failed.
Lavatai hadn’t seen playing time due to a leg injury since Oct. 21 against Air Force when he entered against Army in place of starter Xavier Arline. In his first drive under center, Lavatai led a 10-play, 46-yard drive before Navy turned the ball over on downs. There was a bit of energy, though, as the Mids only had posted 24 total yards in their four possessions before this drive.
“Halftime, obviously we were down 10-0, but I don’t think the confidence ever left our offense,” Lavatai said. “I think we knew that we could move the ball if we just stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
An early missed opportunity came back to bite Navy. With Army facing fourth-and-2 at its own 47-yard line in the first quarter, Mids junior cornerback Dashaun Peele applied pressure to junior quarterback Bryson Daily, who overthrew sophomore wide receiver Noah Short for a turnover on downs. This gave Navy’s offense great field position in Army’s territory.
The Mids looked to capitalize and even reached Army’s 24-yard line. Arline then threw deep for sophomore wide receiver Cody Howard, but his pass was intercepted by Army junior defensive back Max DiDomenico.
Army then put together a 12-play, 65-yard drive, which took seven minutes of game time. Daily found senior tight end Tyson Riley open for a 4-yard touchdown reception, another tough miscue for Navy. This was Army’s first passing touchdown against Navy since 2015.
“I had him man coverage,” Navy junior linebacker Colin Ramos said of Riley’s touchdown. “I’ve got to get out there faster.”
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