SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It’s the sports event I look forward to every year, the one that is the most patriotic in the USA, the one, that no matter where it’s played, fills every seat, plays in the rain, the snow, under sunny skies, and makes no difference.
it’s tradition, the good old Army-Navy football game, a classic that is played so hard and ends with hugs, sportsmanship, and one team carrying off the huge Commander-In-Chief Trophy.
This time it was played in its most usual site, now known as Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, just down the way from the naval shipyard. where Navy rolled over Army, 31-7, on a misty afternoon with a slight breeze and light raindrops, before a full house announced at 68,075.
President Donald Trump was there, first visiting the locker rooms of the academies, giving a pep talk, and receiving a warm welcome when he walked to midfield for the coin-toss that was in his hands, and which landed on heads and gave the team from Annapolis, Md., its choice.
The Midshipmen chose to defer to receiving the ball to start the second half. The president sat on the Army side for the first half and at halftime, walked across the field to sit on the Navy side. He stayed until the final play.
It was, as usual, the Saturday set aside every football season in early December for Army versus Navy. If you want to attend, tickets are few and pricey. No evident scalping tickets.
It has an around-the-world television audience, and a special treat for those in the military to watch, and cheer, and, if lucky, will be shown on the tubes for those in the United States to see.
It’s unlike anything else in any sport played in the USA. Both teams play hard, but you are likely to see a player from one team helping up a player from the other team, sometimes with a pat on the back, even the butt, and there’s no fighting, not here, for here it’s just a game, not a battle.
Sorry to take up all this space without inserting the heroic name of talented Malcolm Perry, the Navy senior quarterback. He was the show without throwing a pass. He just did as he did on a snowy Saturday afternoon back in 2017, run the ball. In the snow on a wet field, he then piled up 250 yards.
This time, he had 150 in the first half and wound up with an Army-Navy game record 304 yards, and a team record that gave him 1,804 yards for the season, and total 100 yards per game. It capped off a regular season in which he was named the American Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player, and in which he paved the way to a 10-2 record and a Liberty Bowl game coming up against Kansas State on Dec.31.
The Midshipmen have been in bowl games before, but most important to them has always been to beat Army, to hoist the shiny championship trophy. Nothing else. This time, it was important for Navy to win, to snap the 3-game losing streak to the Cadets from West Point. Before that, the Middies had trounced the Black Knights 14-straight times. They also lead the series 61-52-7 after this 120th edition was played.
Army came in at 5-9 and wanted its seniors to conclude with a 4-for-4 record against Navy, and started well. The injury bug had it down to its third string quarterback, Christian Anderson, and after a 3rd and out on its first possession, stopped the Middies, got the ball back and the inexperienced Anderson took off for three impressive runs, didn’t attempt a pass, and wound up in the end zone with a 5-yard touchdown that came on a 10-minute drive of 18 plays for 78 yards, and with the the extra point kick, it was a 7-0 lead for the underdogs.
But that was it. The Navy defense changed its strategy, with its 6-3, 300-pound senior tackle Jackson Pittman taking over, and Anderson and the other ball carriers were slowed down, tackled sometimes when they first touched the ball, and would no longer find their way through and around the defense for a Navy team that was a 10 1/2 point favorite and had lost only to ranked teams Memphis and Notre Dame.
The rest of the day, the magical offense belonged to Perry and company. After he ran down the sidelines and into the end zone for a 55-yard touchdown and a 7-7 tie in the first quarter, he took off down the same sideline shortly after for 44 yards and stepped out at the Army 3, and with only 10 seconds left in the half, Perry sprinted left, flipped the ball to senior running back Chance Warren, who found sophomore fullback Jamalle Crouthers with a toss into the right corner of the end zone and it was now 14-7.
But it didn’t stay that way, the way in which the last four games had none won by more than a touchdown. It was in 2010 that it was won by more than that. And last year, the currently injured (pulled hamstring) starting Army quarterback Kelvin Hopkins, Jr., engineered a close 17-10 triumph,
This time it was close enough for underdog Army, and it didn’t buckle. In the third quarter, senior Elijah Riley crashed through to block a Bijan Nichols 34-yard field goal try by Navy. But after that, it was Perry again. He bolted ahead avoiding tackles and often sped to the sideline for long runs that put his team back in touchdown territory. But it settled for a 41-yard field goal from Nichols this time, and it was good for a 17-7 lead.
Perry then added his touchdown with a fake followed by a dash up the middle, and it was 24-7. The final score came when Anderson fumbled the ball away on the Navy 16, the Middies recovered, and added six more points and another PAT for the final score, plus Crouthers who began the season on the junior varsity, scored twice via a pass and a catch.
The only negative is having to wait another year for this classic. There’s nothing like it, just two legendary American military academies taking time out to salute the nation, its flag, and the red, white and blue stripes, and except for the losing team, it’s always a success.
You’ve got the Midshipmen and Cadets standing, saluting, bouncing and cheering, and just having a ball with this time off from school.
I’m a veteran who served in the USA Navy, so I no doubt have a rooting interest, but first and always, it’s the game itself that I cheer for, plus the Navy and Army teams rushing to their uniformed, rowdy fans in the corner of the stadium to collectively sing their respective school anthems. This time it was the winner, Navy, going second and singing “Navy Blue and Gold.”
And I sang along. And God Bless whoever was responsible for creating this classic event, especially when it’s played where the Liberty Bell is, and where it’s known as the City of Brotherly Love.
It’s America’s game.
No major injuries, except for a minor mishap that occurred off the field as the Navy team made its way to the locker room.
It was an eager male fan reaching over from his low level seat to high-five Navy’s Jacob Springer, and as Springer reached back, the fan lost his balance and fell over the seating barricade and on to the ground. Nearby spectators were stunned, but the fan got up, brushed himself off, checked for injuries, and stood until the remainder of the team went by. Close, but no high-five, just a tumble.
Only in America, not so, but it did fit into America’s game.
