Late fumble sinks Navy

By Bob Wilson  |   Tuesday, January 02, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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Navy had the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl won. The Midshipmen had the ball with fewer than two minutes to go, up 24-22, and Boston College was out of timeouts. The Golden Eagles had already given up 322 rushing yards, so it seemed a foregone conclusion that the offense would successfully run out the clock.

Then, a funny thing happened. Navy opted to pitch out rather than hand it off and Reggie Campbell fumbled the ball. BC fell on the ball at its opponent's 40-yard line and took full advantage of the gift.

Quarterback Matt Ryan completed a 16-yard pass to put the team in field goal range and walk-on kicker Steve Aponavicius atoned for missing an extra point by nailing a career-best 37-yard field goal on the last play of the game. The former soccer player's boot allowed BC to extend its impressive bowl win streak to seven straight.

Early in the game Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada kept the defense off balance with his passing. Although the Midshipmen only had five touchdown passes coming into the bowl, the sophomore tossed a pair of scoring strikes. BC's defense couldn't contain the option attack and this allowed Navy to use play-action fakes off its triple option. The safeties were crowding the line and consistently bit on the deception, leaving the receivers in single coverage.

BC was also led by its quarterback. Ryan completed 20 of 29 throws for 242 yards and a pair of touchdowns (one passing, one rushing). He overcame two interceptions, three sacks and a dropped two-point conversion that would have tied the game at 24.

The Golden Eagles escaped with the win, but Navy gave them all they wanted and then some. While BC eventually stuffed the interior runs, the Midshipmen were able to hit several big plays on the perimeter.

Navy's defense played admirably. Although it was significantly smaller than its opponent, the unit swarmed to the ball and slowed down BC enough to put its team in a position to gain its first win over a ranked team this year. In the end, though, the Navy 'D' was put in a bad position after the fumble and couldn't stop Ryan and the BC offense with the game on the line.
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