Field Level Media
Dec 14, 2019
Malcolm Perry set Army-Navy Game career and single-game rushing records with 304 yards, and No. 23 Navy beat Army for the first time since 2015 with a 31-7 victory on Saturday at Philadelphia.
Perry carried 29 times, including a 55-yard touchdown run in the early second quarter, to ignite Navy to 31 straight points. Perry concludes his time in the 129-year rivalry with 611 yards rushing over the last three games.
He put the finishing touches on the rivalry's most lopsided decision in six years with a 15-yard touchdown rush.
Navy (10-2) used a stifling defense, ranked No. 17 nationally coming into Saturday's matchup, to hold Army almost 200 yards below its per-game rushing average. The Black Knights finished with 123 yards on 47 carries.
Defensive tackle J'arius Warren routinely plugged running lanes, and capped his 11-tackle day forcing a fourth-quarter fumble that spoiled any hope of an Army rally.
With the defense shutting down Army, Navy's offense took the lead seconds before halftime on a trick pass play.
Perry pitched the ball to Chance Warren, who lobbed a high floating pass to Jamale Carothers in the right side of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 14-7. It was just the ninth passing touchdown of the Midshipmen's season
Carothers also scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Navy already earned a bid to the Liberty Bowl, where it will face Kansas State on Dec. 31. Saturday's win added the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Midshipmen's standout 2019. They had not won the prestigious award for which the service academies compete since 2015, coinciding with their last defeat of Army.
The Black Knights (5-8) won three straight in the series from 2016 through 2018 after losing the previous 14 in a row.
Army opened Saturday's contest with the first score, a 5-yard Christian Anderson touchdown carry to cap an 18-play, 78-yard drive that consumed 10:41 of the first quarter.
--Field Level Media