Army linebacker Kalib Fortner scored on a fourth-quarter strip sack after which stuffed quarterback Tai Lavatai six inches from the objective line with 3 seconds left to assist the Black Knights beat Navy 17-11 Saturday and win the 124th assembly of the nation’s oldest service academies.
After falling behind 17-3, Lavatai led the Midshipmen to at least one landing to make it a one-score recreation after which drove them to the Army 6. With no timeouts and about 30 seconds left, Lavatai threw two incomplete passes earlier than hitting Alex Tecza, who was tackled in bounds on the 2.
With no timeouts — and no alternative to spike the ball on fourth down — Navy scrambled to line up and managed to get the play off. Lavatai surged ahead as his complete group pushed — forward of him and behind — however Army held its floor.
The play was whistled useless, and the replay confirmed the ball by no means crossed the objective line. To kill the remaining 3 seconds, Army quarterback Bryson Daily took a shotgun snap, hesitated and stepped out of the top zone for an intentional security.

Army Black Knights gamers run on the sector previous to a recreation towards the Navy Midshipmen at Gillette Stadium Dec. 9, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (Edward Diller/Getty Images)
Cadets started to storm the sector earlier than being despatched again for one more assessment to see if time had expired. The affirmation from the sales space set off one other wave of Army followers onto the sector.
Bryson Daily ran for 84 yards and threw Army’s first landing move towards Navy since 2015 to assist the Black Knights declare bragging rights for the second straight yr and the sixth time in eight tries.
Kanye Udoh ran for 88 yards for Army, which additionally claimed the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy that goes to the group with the very best document in head-to-head matchups towards different service academies. The Black Knights upset then-No. 17 Air Force final month.
The matchup of patriots on the Patriots’ stadium introduced an injection of pomp and pleasure to Gillette Stadium, the place the six-time Super Bowl champions have stumbled to a 3-10 document and failed to attain of their final residence recreation. New England is on tempo for the worst season in Bill Belichick’s three a long time as an NFL head coach, stripping among the shine off the devoted Navy man who’s within the dialogue for the Greatest Of All Time.

Nathaniel Smith (44) of the Army Black Knights celebrates a sack within the second quarter towards the Navy Midshipmen at Gillette Stadium Dec. 9, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (Edward Diller/Getty Images)
Wearing gold uniforms that paid tribute to the Dogface Soldiers of the third Infantry Division, Army took a 10-0 lead towards a Navy group that had zero move completions on the half.
Lavatai, Navy’s backup quarterback, changed began Xavier Arline within the second quarter, dashing for 74 yards and finishing 16 of 26 passes for 176 yards. Lavatai drove Navy into subject place early within the fourth to make it 10-3.
But with about 5 minutes left, Fortner punched the ball out, picked it up on one bounce and scampered 44 yards for a landing that gave Army a 17-3 lead.
ARMY-NAVY GAME HONORS VALUES THAT BIND US TOGETHER AS ONE NATION
Lavatai hit Jayden Umbarger from 14 yards out to make it 17-9 with beneath 5 minutes left; the two-point conversion failed. After an unsuccessful onside kick, Navy pressured a punt and got here inside inches of a possible game-tying rating.
For its 124th version, America’s Game made its first journey to Massachusetts, the place George Washington first took command of the Continental Army and the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned naval warship.

Army Black Knights cadets react after a landing in the course of the 124th Army-Navy recreation Dec. 9, 2023, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Images)
Organizers squeezed in a weekend of actions at historic websites within the space, together with a pep rally, a pull-up competitors and debate at Faneuil Hall, a ceremony to mark the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and a tug-of-war on the Old North Bridge in Concord, the placement of “the shot heard ’round the world.”
Nearly 100 buses carried college students from West Point and Annapolis to Foxborough, the place they took the sector of their gown grays and blues in a pregame “march-on of the Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets.” Ultramarathon relay groups ran recreation balls from their campuses, and parachute groups dropped onto the 50 yard-line. New recruits had been sworn in throughout a third-quarter timeout.
Representatives of the 2 academies gathered at midfield for the coin toss; the Army cadets taped onto their grey overcoats “EAT SQUID”; Navy countered with “NUKE ARMY.”
With the Patriots getting the weekend off after their Thursday evening victory in Pittsburgh, Belichick participated within the pregame present, pulling on a Roger Staubach-era Navy helmet to provide his prediction. Belichick, who grew up in Annapolis whereas his father labored as a Navy assistant coach for 34 years, spoke to the gamers Friday evening.
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