Navy continues upset streak over AFA

Paul Johnson took a sip of his Diet Pepsi, gathered his thoughts and then broke out into a grin.

"Proud to be the coach of the luckiest team in America," the Navy head coach said after the Midshipmen's 24-17 win at Air Force on Saturday.

All week long, the Midshipmen have reportedly read press clippings from Air Force players saying how "embarrassing" it was to lose to Navy. But for the fourth year in a row that's what happened.

"You get tired of hearing that every year," Johnson said. "Every day you pick up the paper and read that. It gets old after a while."

Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry isn't sure where the bulletin-board quotes came from.

"He didn't hear it from my football team," he said.

Regardless of who said what, Navy (5-1) takes its first step toward retaining the Commander-in-Chief Trophy, given annually to the best of the three service academies. Navy has won three straight trophies.

Navy's senior class is one step from becoming the first in school history to go 4-0 against both Air Force (2-2) and Army. All that stands in the way is Army on Dec. 2.

"That would be a huge honor," senior David Mahoney said. "We want to leave our mark here."

Air Force, trailing 24-7 midway through the fourth quarter, pulled within a touchdown with 3:06 left and recovered the onside kick.

Navy's defense ended the comeback attempt when Rashawn King broke up Shaun Carney's pass to Victor Thompson on a fourth-and-6 at the Navy 47.

The Midshipmen weren't the least bit worried. They practice a similar late-game drill every day — only the ball's placed at the 2-yard line.

"We had a little more room," Keenan Little said. "It feels good to have the defense win one."

Navy's offense also did its share. The inside-outside rushing attack of Adam Ballard and Brian Hampton helped the Midshipmen methodically move the ball all afternoon. Ballard rushed 134 yards on 27 carries and Hampton contributed 105 yards and two touchdowns. The Midshipmen totaled 317 yards on the ground, down from their 357-yard average.

Ballard, who was named the game's MVP, gained the tough yards inside. Afterward, the economics major had a simple explanation for his success.

"A lot of it is just momentum," he said. "You know, mass times acceleration. It comes down to that."