ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Army attackmen John Glesener and Garrett Thul combined to score 11 points to lead the Black Knights (7-4, 3-2 Patriot League) to a 14-7 victory over the Navy men’s lacrosse team (3-9, 1-4 PL) Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.  It was Army’s fifth straight win in a series that Navy leads, 57-32-3.

“There’s no amount of words to make you understand how it feels to lose to Army,” said Navy junior attackman Sam Jones (Annapolis, Md.).  “You play to win this game.  I love how hard my teammates play.  We just have to keep fighting, but playing hard isn’t a consolation for winning.”

“I congratulate Army,” said Navy second-year head coach Rick Sowell.  “They played on heck of a game.  We didn’t have an answer for some of the individual matchups.

“Great players can supercede good schemes and they certainly did that today.”

The story of the game from the get-go was possession.  Army nominated the faceoff category, taking 19 of the 23 draws on the afternoon.  Rookie Alex Daly was responsible for all but one faceoff as he single-handedly won the majority of the draws and keyed a pair of Black Knight goals including the game’s first goal which was scored just six seconds in.  That goal, the first of three goals by John Glesener, sparked a four-goal run by the Black Knights.

“We threw everything but the kitchen sink out there to find something that would work, but we just had no answer,” said Sowell regarding the Mids’ faceoff woes.

Navy finally got on the scoreboard with 4:03 remaining in the opening quarter when freshman Patrick Keena (Vienna, Va.) fed junior attackman Tucker Hull (Charlotte, N.C.), who faked Army keeper Sam Somers high, then low and back high for the first of his three goals.

The Mids trimmed Army’s lead to one at 4-3 scoring the first two goals of the second period.  Jones found a wide-openT.J. Hanzsche (Berwyn, Pa.) standing on the crease for an extra-man strike at 11:09 and two minutes later Jones came up with a loose ball and fired in the first of his two goals on the afternoon.  Hanzsche has now scored a goal in each of the last five contests for the Mids.

Army, however, put together its own run that featured a pair of extra-man goals including senior attackman Kip Haddock’s first goal of the season.  Meanwhile, five seconds after Army’s second extra-man goal in the run, Daly won another faceoff and fed Garrett Thul for a goal to put the Black Knights up 7-3 at the end of the half.

Navy came out of the locker room with the hot hand and rallied, scoring a pair of goals in the first 90 seconds of the game and just 30 seconds apart.  Hull slipped defenseman John Burk and threaded the needle past Somers at the 14:00 minute mark.  Junior middie Pat Durkin (Germantown, Md.) took advantage of rookie iddie Shea Mullins losing his footing and fired in his 11th goal of the season to get Navy within two at 7-5.

The Black Knights answered quickly when Thul, the nation’s second-leading goal scorer, sent a highlight reel wrap-around shot past two defenseman which triggered a five-goal run by Army to take a 12-5 lead into the final quarter.

Each team scored a pair of goals in the final quarter of play for the final, 14-6.

Hull paced the Mids with his 11th career hat trick and second of the season as he moved into 24th on Navy’s all-time scoring list with 105 points.  he now trails 23rd-place Matt Pawlikowski (1990-93) by just one point.  Meanwhile, Jones joined Hull among Navy’s 100-point scorers as he registered a pair of goals and an assist.  It’s just the fourth time in program history that classmates have reached 100 points – Brendan Schneck and Mike Hannan from the Class of ‘78, Mike Herger and Brian Keith from the Class of ‘90 and Ian Dingman and Billy Looney from the class of ‘07.

Jones is the 31st player in Navy’s 106-year history of lacrosse to score 100 points and is just the 14th to score 100 points in three seasons.  With 102 points, he stands 26th on Navy’s all-time scoring list.

Senior captain Nolan Hickey (Chaminade, N.Y.) played his final game on his home field and gave an admirable effort with 15 saves.  It was his seventh double-digit save performance of his career and the fifth game with 15 or more saves.

Glesener guided the Black Knights with seven points on three goals and four assists, while Thul punched in a team-best four goals.  Seven players were responsible for the remaining seven goals.

Navy will play its season finale next Saturday when it pays a visit to Homewood Field to face longtime rival Johns Hopkins.  Game time is slated for 4:00 pm and will be nationally televised by ESPNU with Quint Kessenich and Mark Dixon calling the action.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - I hope those watching the 113th Army/Navy game Saturday afternoon didn’t come away from the game thinking “if (Navy QB) Keenan Reynolds is doing this already, imagine what he could do for the next three years.”

It’s not as if it isn’t possible that the true freshman from Antioch, TN doesn’t have grand heights attainable during his next three years of eligibility in Annapolis. It’s just that when a teenager accomplishes what Reynolds did Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, it deserves to stand alone without any future context.

The United States Naval Academy has made wins over the United States Military Academy a bit of habit in recent years, claiming 11 straight victories. Most haven’t been quite as gut-wrenching as Saturday’s 17-13 victory.

Before Saturday, Navy hadn’t trailed Army in the fourth quarter of any game since 2001-the year Army last defeated the Midshipmen. This time the contest moved past the midway point of the fourth quarter with the Black Knights not only leading Navy 13-10, but also in possession of the football inside the Navy 20 yard line.

It was a situation wholly unprecedented for any Navy player, but it would take only eight plays for the nervous energy hanging over the Brigade of Midshipmen to turn into an exuberant celebration. More importantly, it would take four particularly key plays from Reynolds that won’t soon by forgotten by military faithful. It would take an uncommon level of confidence, moxie and ability from a young man his age to make it happen.

“Before the drive started, I told the guys, ‘this is the one’” Reynolds explained after the game. “We have to go down and score. They all looked at me and were like, ‘Let’s go!’”

“Keenan comes in, uses his man voice and calls the play, and does a really good job” WR Brandon Turner added. “And the way he talks and the way his huddle prescense is, because I played quarterback in high school so I know how important that is to what extent, he makes you want to believe in him.”

Facing 4th & 5 from the Navy 19 yard line, Army chose to trot out K Eric Osteen for a 37 yard field goal attempt instead of attempting a conversion that would leave them tantalizingly close to a game sealing touchdown. The kick would sail wide left and give the Midshipmen the ball back with 6:57 to play. The Mids would immediately find trouble, but Reynolds connected with Geoffrey Whiteside for 10 yards on 3rd & 8 to reverse fortune and gain momentum. He wouldn’t look back.

Two plays later, Reynolds escaped a crowded pocket and juked a defender before tip-toeing down the right sideline to gain 11 yards and another first down. He then through a beautiful downfield ball to Turner that the 6’4″ receiver would easily haul in 49 yards downfield to set up a 1st and goal from the Army 8 yard line. The receiver would later describe the throw as the best he had received from Reynolds all season.

On the very next play, Reynolds waltzed into the endzone on a quarterback follow to punctuate an incredible game-turning drive and fully etch his name in Army-Navy lore.

The situation was unusual for Navy against Army, but it wasn’t the first time in Reynolds’ short tenure as Navy’s starting quarterback that he was faced with adversity. In fact, Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said after the game he wasn’t surprised at all by the remarkable heroics of the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“If he can come into the Air Force game down by eight in the fourth quarter with eight minutes left at their place and have clear eyes and not miss a beat and not seem nervous, I don’t know if he can be in a tougher situation.”

Reynolds worked mop-up duty for the Mids in early season blowout losses to Notre Dame (in Dublin, Ireland) and at Penn State. He entered a hopeless situation in the 4th quarter of a shutout loss to San Jose State in the Mids’ fourth game of the season as well. But he didn’t officially become the Naval Academy’s starting quarterback until the Midshipmen were desperate.

Sitting at 1-3 on the season, the Midshipmen found themselves 9:03 away from losing grip on their most significant preseason goals in Colorado Springs, CO October 6. They trailed Air Force 21-13, with a loss assuring they could not win back the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy from the Falcons and meaning they would have to finish the season 5-2 just to get bowl eligible. Niumatalolo benched then starter Trey Miller in favor of Reynolds, who quickly navigated a six play, 75 yard drive that would tie things up after a two point conversion by FB Noah Copeland. Reynolds would put together another TD drive in overtime to finish off the Falcons and completely turn Navy’s season around.

Niumatalolo described Navy’s win Saturday as “indicative of the season” they had. Perhaps in no way more than in the resolution of their freshman quarterback. When everything mattered most, the young man was absolutely unflappable.

Keenan Reynolds isn’t even yet 19 years old.

It’s hard to fathom the type of poise it took to author a comeback. It’s hard to put into words the intensity of an Army/Navy game. It’s hard to imagine a young man roughly six months removed from prom clinging to the term “I.M.A.N-It’s Not About Me” in the waining moments to give his team salvation. (Reynolds said I.M.A.N. has been a rallying cry for the entire Navy football program this season.)

“There’s something about the kid, and just the way he led us on that last drive, it was unbelievable” Turner described. “In one of the biggest games as a freshman, he came in and beat one of the better Army teams the last few years. That’s incredible. That’s remarkable.”

I couldn’t say it any better.

-G