Commander In Chief Trophy 2 Go To Army-Navy Winner
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The national exposure that has been enveloping the Army football program this week will receive an added boost Friday with a trio of segments focused on Saturday's 106th Army-Navy game, set for 2:35 p.m. Saturday in Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.
On ESPN's nightly "Outside the Lines" program on Thursday night (the show actually begins at 12:40 a.m. Friday morning following the late Thursday night SportsCenter), host Bob Ley will examine the Army-Navy game as it is conducted during the specter of war. In a rivalry that pits two of the nation's service academy football teams in a series that dates to 1890, the players share a unique bond knowing that their common objectives lie beyond the field of play. The players in this Saturday's game, particularly the seniors from both West Point and Annapolis, could ultimately be deployed for combat service in either Iraq and Afghanistan.
Former Army quarterback Ronnie McAda and former Navy linebacker Clint Bruce, who battled against one another between 1993 and 1996, will be featured.
On Friday afternoon, Army head coach Bobby Ross will be interviewed live on the nation's leading drive-time sports talk show, "Mike and the Mad Dog," on WFAN (660-AM, New York, N.Y.). Hosts Mike Francessa and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo will welcome Ross to the airwaves at 2:05 p.m. to discuss Saturday's matchup, in which the coveted Commander in Chief's Trophy will on the line.
The Mike and the Mad Dog show is also simulcast on the YES Network, available via satellite and DirecTV.
Additionally, the tradition and history of the Army-Navy football rivalry will be featured on ESPN Classic Friday night. The hour-long show Classic Now, which airs at 7 p.m. ET, will feature a segment dedicated to the series. The show will air a second time at 11 p.m. ET.
Army (4-6) enters Saturday's game riding the crest of a four-game win streak while Navy (6-4) has already accepted an invitation to battle Colorado State in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 22 in San Diego. Because both Army and Navy defeated Air Force this fall, outright possession of the Commander in Chief's Trophy will await the winner of an Army-Navy game for the first time since 1996. Army won that 1996 game by a 28-24 count.
Navy Pummels Army
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Navy's Adam Ballard ran for 192 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Midshipmen to a 42-23 victory over Army in the 106th meeting between the two service academies. Army (4-7), had its four-game winning streak snapped.
The Midshipmen have won four straight and six of the last seven games against Army, taking a one-game lead in the overall series at 50-49-7.
Navy captured the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy outright for the third straight year. The coveted trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the football competition between the three major service academies, was on the line for both teams for the first time in nine years.
Zac Dahman tossed three TD passes, breaking the Army record and tying the Army-Navy game record held by George Welsh from the 1954 contest. Dahman was 23 of 35 for 255 yards passing on the afternoon. His 23 completions were the most complete passes for an Army quarterback in the series, breaking his own record of 20 set last year, while his 255 yads in the air shattered the previous mark (190) by Earle Mulrane in 1978.
Jeremy Trimble caught two of Dahman's touchdown passes, tying the Army mark for most touchdown receptions set by Lou Merillat in 1913.
The Black Knights came out strong and led 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
However, the Midshipmen responded with TD runs of 28 and 1 yards by Lamar Owens to take a 21-10 lead at halftime. Ballard's 67-yard scamper just 9 seconds into the fourth quarter made it 42-17.
After Army went ahead 3-0, Reggie Campbell took an option toss from Owens and sprinted untouched past the defense down the left side for his fourth TD this season.
The Black Knights answered with Dahman's 30-yard TD pass to Jeremy Trimble to make it 10-7. Trimble split two defenders and was so wide open that it appeared he was a punt returner making a fair catch.
On the ensuing possession, Owens ran 28 yards down the left sideline for a TD. Owens' second, 1-yard TD run made it 35-10 late in the third quarter.
Dahman tossed an 18-yard TD pass to Carlton Jones to cut it to 35-17, but Ballard broke loose on the next play.
Jones finished with 80 yards rushing and became the second player in Army history to run for 1,000 yards in a season twice in his career. Mike Mayweather did it three years straight (1989-90).
Navy racked up 490 yards rushing, an Army-Navy game record, including 99 from Owens. Campbell added a 54-yard TD run and Owens had three TD runs for Navy (7-4).
Navy finished with 531 yards of total offense, breakings its old record of 508 yards, set just three years ago in 2002.
Army linebacker Barrett Scruggs wore on his uniform the actual patch of a soldier who was recently killed in action in Afghanistan.
Cadet's Football Family Legacy
The first big decision I made in life came in the autumn of my eighth year, when I picked Army quarterback Leamon Hall as my favorite football player. My first favorite football player.
That was in 1977, when I was just learning the game, and all I knew about Army was that the Cadets were coming off of four straight years of pitiful football. From 1973 to 1976, they went 10-33 and lost four in a row to Navy by a combined score of 138-16. But Hall put a stop to that. A strong-armed passer -- until recently, he held every significant academy passing record -- he led Army to a 7-4 mark in '77, its best season since 1968. More important, he engineered a 17-14 win over the hated Midshipmen. It didn't matter to me that Hall graduated the following spring. I was hooked, and still am as Army and Navy prepare to meet this weekend for the 106th time since the two first played on the Plain at West Point in 1890.
It wasn't by chance that I favored the Black Knights of the Hudson. I grew up an Army brat -- my father graduated from West Point in 1959 -- and was inculcated at an early age with the lore of Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, of the Lonesome End and Pete Dawkins. I used to pore over the pages of my father's yearbook, The Howitzer, looking at the pictures of Dawkins, a Heisman Trophy winner, and Army's undefeated team of 1958 (the last undefeated team in academy history). The first time I watched football on television was when I was four; my father and I watched Navy thump the Cadets 51-0 in the 1973 contest. Five years later, I sat on the 50-yard line at old J.F.K. Stadium in Philadelphia and watched the Midshipmen shut out Army again, 28-0.
Losing is a fact of life when you cheer for Army or Navy, whose programs have suffered their fair share of ups and downs. So when I decided to go to West Point in 1987, it wasn't because I thought the Cadets were going to be national title contenders. It had more to do, I thought, with my father and the career he'd made out of the military. My own career was much shorter than his -- I left active duty in 1995 because I wanted to try my hand at writing -- but I never stopped being an Army football fan. In fact, I realized recently that Army football had more to do with my going to West Point than I had previously thought.
A few years ago, my mother informed me that my father had his own Leamon Hall story. When dad was nine, Army halfbacks Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard made the cover of LIFE magazine. From that moment, apparently, my father dreamt of nothing more than attending West Point. It's overstating the case to say that I owe everything to Army football, I suppose, but not by much.
There's going to be a lot written this week about how much the Army-Navy game means to the graduates of both institutions, many of whom are currently serving our country all over the world. Take it from me: None of it is hyperbole. My father will actually miss the game because he's traveling out of the country on business. It'll be my pleasure to tape it for him.
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