Defense carries Air Force to win over Navy

The undefeated Falcons of the U.S. Air Force Academy showed host Navy and a national television audience that being ranked 22nd in both national collegiate football polls was no fluke.

While its previously formidable offense was mostly held in check (gaining 288 total yards and scoring just 10 offensive points), the Falcons’ defense was a juggernaut, intercepting two Navy passes and running one back for a touchdown while limiting the Midshipmen to just 124 total offensive yards in a 17-6 win as a record crowd of 38,803 fans squeezed into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

“This game is so far beyond football, beyond sports,” said Air Force Head Coach Troy Calhoun, now in his 17th season coaching the Falcons. “That’s for everybody – both teams. The heart and resolve that they show everybody in this stadium.  You feel lucky because these Cadets and Midshipmen are (going to be) fighting for our country. I’m just amazed at both sides – the effort and the whole bit. Hats off to Navy and hats off to our guys for their perseverance.”

By winning the first game of the battle for the Commander-In-Chief’s (CIC) Trophy, Air Force (7-0) now needs only to defeat Army (which fell to 2-5 Saturday night after a crushing 62-0 loss to 15th-ranked LSU) in the second game of the three-game, round-robin competition Nov. 4 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver to claim the CIC Trophy for the first time since 2016. The final CIC Trophy game of the year is the Army-Navy game Dec. 9.

The 7-0 start by the Falcons is their best since 1996 and though the offense has been productive, averaging 337 rushing yards and 37.0 points per game in the first six contests), the defense has played even stronger, holding the opposition to an average of just 240 total yards and 14.7 points over the same span. Leading the way for the Air Force defenders on Saturday were linebackers Johnathan Youngblood (game-high 13 tackles, 2 for loss), Alec Mock (7 tackles, 1 interception) and Bo Richter (7 tackles, 4 for loss), free safety Trey Taylor (8 tackles), and cornerback Jamari Bellamy (2 tackles, 1 interception).

“You always want (to give up) zero (points), but when you’re playing coverage at the end of the game, not trying to let up the big play, it’s just kind of what you expect,” Richter said. “Obviously, we would have rather had zero. What I’d rather have more is the ‘W’, so I’ll take that.”

Though Air Force entered the game with the better record, no one had a feel for how the game would develop at the start because both teams had changes at starting quarterback. The Falcons’ first string QB, Zac Larrier, was thought to be highly unlikely to play after sustaining an injury last week against Wyoming, but he moved onto the field the moment Air Force took possession.

“This game means a lot,” said Larrier. “You circle the date on the calendar. Your parents want to come to the game. Everybody’s asking us for tickets. We’re not going to act like it’s not a special game for us. We’re all going to go out there and play like it’s special because it is.”

Meanwhile Navy’s primary signal caller, Tai Lavatai, who aggravated a rib injury last week against UNC-Charlotte, came back to practice on Thursday and seemed ready to start, but when the Navy offense took to the field in the first quarter, freshman Braxton Woodson, who had never played in a college game before, moved behind center.

In the first quarter, the dominance of the Air Force defense became clear as the Falcons constantly broke into the Navy backfield and sent Woodson scrambling for all three quarters he was calling signals. Navy’s defense did not break through the Air Force line as often, but playing the same style of running game enabled the Midshipmen to be in the right place at the right time to minimize any gains by the Falcons.

A strong 46-yard Navy punt pinned Air Force on its own 6-yard line to start the second quarter. Larrier took the snap and made a quick pass to right sideline, finding Dane Kinamon on the Air Force 27. Kinamon pulled in the toss and charged 73 yards along the sideline to give the Falcons a 6-0 lead. At 94 total yards, it was the longest touchdown pass in the history of the Air Force Academy. Mathew Dapore’s point-after kick was good.

Larrier finished the day completing 4 of 5 passes for 151 yards, but he could not engineer any sustained drives and the Falcons were unable to build a comfortable points margin.

After intermission and three failed possessions, Air Force started a drive from its own 42. Larrier, still not completely comfortable, traded runs with Emmanuel Michel (game-high 69 yards on 22 carries) and over eight running plays they advanced the ball to the Navy 26. Dapore came on and lofted a 40-yard field goal for Air Force to make the score 10-0 with 5:55 left in the third quarter.  Following another stalled drive by Woodson and a punt into the wind that went only 32 yards, Larrier and Falcons found themselves in great field position on the Navy 34. Six pounding rushes left the visitors with a fourth-and-5 situation on the Navy 18 and Dapore came on to try another field goal but missed.

Navy Coach Brian Newberry decided to shake things up in the final quarter and sent Lavatai in as quarterback. He became the first signal caller of the day to consistently advance the ball. Over two drives, he threw for 96 yards and handed off or ran for 17 more. But along the way, while buried on his own 11-yard line, Lavatai tried to complete a pass to Jayden Unbarger. The ball was deflected, and Air Force’s Alec Mock grabbed it on the Navy 18 and sped into the endzone to make the score 17-0 and seal the win. Lavatai followed with a 15-play, 78-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Eli Heidenreich to make the score 17-6 with just 50 seconds left on the clock, ending the Falcons’ hopes of logging their first shutout win over the Midshipmen. After Navy’s two-point conversion failed, Air Force fell on the ensuing onsides kick and took two knees to the turf to run out the clock.

“My hat’s off to them – they’re a helluva football team,” Newberry said. “We knew that going into the game. I thought they played lights out on defense, we struggled offensively and had just eight first downs. I thought we did enough on the defensive side today to give ourselves a chance to win. We were just not good enough offensively.”