The US Naval Academy held off Army West Point in a typical tight, tense, and hard-hitting affair.
With the win Navy finished atop the Rugby East with a 5-0 conference record.
Navy spent a good portion of the early minutes in the Army half but couldn’t come away with any reward. And once Army got into midfield and earned a penalty, the Black Knights were able to score.
After winning a lineout at the Navy 22, Army worked quick ball through a series of phases from sideline to sideline. Scrumhalf Isaac Gamboa was instrumental in keeping the attack moving and not letting Navy get settles. Lock Liam Walsh almost scored on a pick-and-go, and the after that, with Navy worried about people like him, Gamboa sent it wide straight to center Benji Kemp, and Kemp scampered over.
Howie Heller had no trouble with the conversion and Army led 7-0.
Army was in the ascendency here and was inside Navy’s 22 for a while. Navy’s defense was as you’d expect—intense and physical. But they strayed offside at one point and Heller slotted a simple kick to make it a 10-0 game.
Another sequence with short passes or picks had Navy scrambling. Again their stopped Army, but at the expense of a penalty, Heller was good from another one and Army had a 13-0 lead.
However, there was a little more time in the half left. Navy kicked off, got the ball booted back to them, and almost broke it open with long runs from both wings.
Army defense, of course, came flying in to stop that, and eventually held up Navy in-goal.
However, with the clock well into the red, the Black Knights infringed and Navy took advantage.
As they often do, Navy had run in reserves in the first half. What this accomplished in part was some fresh power at the close of the first 40. Navy took the lineout, mauled it to the tryline, and then ran their short yardage pattern. With lock Ed Soeder, props Aidan Bryan and Dalton Sand, and hooker Ian Bullock on the field now, Navy put all that pent-up enthusiasm to work. They did the heavy lifting and in the end Soeder and Bryan shoved No. 8 Trevor Gayron over the line.
Roanin Krieger was good on the conversion, and the half ended 13-7, with Army thinking they should have closed it out 13-0.
Army again was moving forward in the second half. Navy spend the first part of the second period in their half. But their defense held, and while Army took another Heller penalty goal midway through the half, the Midshipmen had to be feeling that they had come away with the better part of the deal.
Navy now went on the attack, running a fairly simple pattern that challenged the Black Knights to miss a tackle.They didn’t, but they did eventually give up a penalty.
For once the sure-handed Navy side lost control of the ensuing lineout. But when Army kicked clear Navy countered and ran a sequence where they went through 12 phases, with just one pass and a hard carry each time. Scrumhalf Michael Strehle worked hard to make sure the ball was out and accurate and fast. That left little time for Army to realign. Finally after 12 phases, most with just the one pass and a hard run, Strehle chest-passed it out and the ball was shipped quickly to Max Smith on the wing and he was in at the corner.
Krieger covnerted from the sideline and it was 16-14 Army.
Time was running out, but Navy is notorious for finishing strong, and again they had subbed on some players early, especially in the forwards. Navy was again on the front foot. A hard-charging run after an Army kick got them going and once again Strehle was instrumental. If there was no one to pass to he got the ball out and moving regardless, running a couple of steps until he had someone to pass to.
Conversely, players were bursting onto passes before the ball was available. Strehle would hit them anyway—a key one to Bryan was just that sort of play.
With inside center Jake Cornelius taking hits with his fast wrapped up, Navy looked as if they would put everything into that last try. They did. Krieger started adding a wrinkle, almost putting hooker Ian Bullock through. And then a well-timed delayed pass from the flyhalf to Avion Ganse set up the outside center to work through two tacklers to fight his way over the line.
