By Jeff Batzel for MASN
Annapolis, Md. – Nick Sloan split the uprights with a 30 yard field goal as time expired Saturday to give Navy a 24-21 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Panthers.
QB Keenan Reynolds who ran Navy’s well-oiled offensive machine like a magician on Saturday, was the catalyst. Reynolds 31 yard run on a 3rd and 5 situation put the Mids in the red zone with 4:00 left. Reynolds encore was a 2-yard scamper that allowed Nick Sloan to tie the contest with his conversion kick.
Then it was Navy’s defense that came up big. The Midshipmen defense bottled up Tom Savage, Pitt’s fine QB who had a 20-27, 203 yard day, on 3-straight plays to force a punt. Matt Yoklic shanked a 20 yarder against the wind giving Navy great field position at the Pitt 49 yard line with 2:17 left.
Two big third down conversions kept the Midshipmen moving toward field goal position as they mastered clock management and utilized all of their timeouts in getting three first downs to put them in position for Sloan’s game winner.
Other than a big pass play from Reynolds to Thomas in the 2nd quarter, Navy’s offense struggled early. “We had problems with (Aaron) Donald and couldn’t block #44 (Shane Gordon) in the first half,” stated Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo. “We just had to execute in the 2nd half and we did,” chimed in QB Keenan Reynolds.
“They found a way to win it,” said a disappointed Pitt Head Coach Paul Chryst. “We didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”
Senior Receiver Devin Street caught 9 passes for 96 yards and became Pitt’s all-time leading receiver during the game.
Pitt 3 10 0 8 - 21
Navy 0 7 0 17 – 24
P- Bewitt 25 yd. FG 3-0 7:28 1st
N- Reynolds 58 yd. pass to Thomas (Sloan PAT) 7-3 13:07 2nd
P- Blewitt 44 yd. FG 6-7 9:23 2nd
P- Savage 12 yd. pass to Street (Blewitt PAT) 13-7 1:41 2nd
N- Singleton 9 yd. run (Sloan PAT) 14-13 14:28 4th
P- Savage 3 yd. pass to Boyd (Pass Savage to Street) 21-14 8:07 4th
N- Reynolds 2-yd. run (Sloan PAT) 21-21 3:52 4th
N- Sloan 30 yd. FG 24-21 0:00 4th
No comments:
Post a Comment