Game StatsPostgame QuotesPhoto GalleryMOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football program tried to send its 32-man senior class out with a victory in their final home game Friday at Ladd-Peoples Stadium, scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter — including a pair of touchdowns in the last five-and-a-half minutes — in an attempt to rally from a 15-point deficit. The Jaguars even were successful twice on the two-point conversion following Jeremé Jones' 10-yard scoring reception with 39 seconds remaining.
But penalties were called on both occasions, and when Brendan Clements intercepted USA's final attempt from the 18-yard line to collect the two points and tie the contest it secured a 42-40 non-conference football victory for Navy.
"It's obviously pretty tough when you have a team that fights its guts out to get down there," Jag head coach Joey Jones observed. "The defense came out and stopped them, and the offense drove down and scored and went for two. They fought their tails off to win the ballgame."
The Midshipmen won back-to-back contests for the third time this season to improve to 6-5 and secure bowl eligibility. The Jaguars fell to 6-6 overall and will now wait to discover if they will earn the program's first-ever invitation to a postseason bowl game.
A pair of true freshmen — Jeremy Reaves and Caleb Butler — combined on a turnover on the next-to-last play of the third quarter that gave the Jags the ball at the Navy-37, with the former forcing a fumble that was recovered by the latter. On third-and-two Brandon Bridge hit Shavarez Smith for an 11-yard gain and two plays later Terrance Timmons added an 11-yard rush two plays later; after Kendall Houston moved the chains with a three-yard run on third-and-two, Bridge hit Danny Woodson II for a touchdown that cut the Navy lead to 35-27.
Keenan Reynolds' third touchdown of the day extended the Midshipmen's advantage back to 15 points with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, but USA required less than three minutes to reach the end zone again when Bridge and Smith hooked up for a 48-yard touchdown pass. On Navy's next possession, with the Midshipmen facing third down, Montell Garner forced a fumble — on his only tackle of the contest — that was recovered by Theo Rich at the USNA-48.
Timmons picked up a first down with carries for six and five yards, but was stopped for a loss of two yards on third-and-one. Bridge kept the drive alive with a nine-yard pass to Smith, and he hit Woodson II again, this time for a gain of eight on third-and-seven, to set up first-and-goal for the Jaguars. After Quincy Adams broke up a pass in the end zone intended for Woodson II, Bridge found Jones who was able to cut back toward the middle of the field and cross the goal line.
It was Bridge's four touchdown pass of the day, setting a school game record.
On the Jags' first attempt to tie the contest at 42, Bridge hit Smith in the right corner of the end zone, but USA was called for an ineligible receiver downfield. On the next try, the senior quarterback escaped pressure in the pocket and leaped close to five yards out over one Navy defender before falling across the goal line; this time a holding call was whistled on the Jaguars.
"This is probably the proudest I've ever been of a football team. I told them that they are a bunch of great young men, and that I am as proud of them as any team I have ever been around," stated Jones. "I mean that to the bottom of my heart. They fought their tails off to get there. It's tough to get it taken away from you like that. It's just tough to lose one like that. Our guys fought, but my hat's off to Navy; they won the ballgame."
"It was on us. We told the defense to give us the ball, we would make plays, and that's what we did," Timmons said. "It just hurts when you know you gave it all you have and still end up with that outcome. I'm proud of each and every one of the seniors for going out there, I appreciate them; we played this game for them. For us to lose is tough, but we will get through it."
Timmons finished with his first career 100-yard game, gaining 124 yards on 15 carries to lead all players. Houston had 73 on a season-high 21 attempts, and Xavier Johnson supplied 34 as the Jags' 238 rushing yards were the most they recorded this month. Bridge was 19-of-28 passing for 172 yards, finding Smith six times for 80 yards and two scores and Woodson II on five occasions for an additional 49. Jones and Wes Saxton had three receptions each as well.
USA had 415 yards of total offense in the contest.
Trailing 17-7 after being held to just 24 yards over the opening 15 minutes, the Midshipmen responded midway through the second quarter by following a George Jamison interception with a 67-yard touchdown run from Reynolds that made it a 17-14 contest. On its next series, Navy was facing third-and-six when Reynolds found Demond Brown for a 42-yard completion for the only completion of the day. On their next snap Chris Swain went up the middle for a 34-yard scoring run, giving the Midshipmen their first lead, 21-17, with just over three minutes left in the first half.
Navy recorded 188 yards of total offense in the quarter.
The Midshipmen drove 76 yards and took nearly six minutes off the clock on their opening drive of the second half, going up 28-17 on a three-yard Noah Copeland touchdown run. They faced just two third downs and one fourth down in running 13 plays on the possession. Aleem Sunanon made it a one-possession game nearly three minutes later with a field goal from 40 yards out, but Copeland broke off a 42-yard run to move the ball to the USA-1 and Reynolds dove over the goal line one play later as Navy answered in less than two minutes for a 35-20 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Reynolds posted 119 yards on 10 carries and Copeland finished with 112 on 17, while Swain recorded nine rushes for 64 yards. In all, Navy racked up 388 yards on the ground — surpassing the opponent-record 351 it posted in last fall's 42-14 win over the Jaguars — and 430 total.
"It's a very tough offense to stop, they have been putting up points on teams all year," explained Maleki Harris, who shared team-high honors with 10 stops for the Jags. "I think we played them pretty well for the most part. We just didn't make all of the plays and when they had holes they took advantage of it."
Terrell Brigham matched Harris with 10 tackles for USA. Roman Buchanan and Jesse Kelley equalled career highs with nine and eight stops, respectively — the former was credited with a pair behind the line of scrimmage — while Jerome McClain set one with eight as well. Theo Rich and Reaves chipped in with five tackles apiece, and Butler ended up with four.
The Jaguars scored first — the first time that's happened since defeating Troy on Oct. 24 — after marching 73 yards in eight plays and four minutes and four seconds after receiving the opening kickoff. Facing third down, Bridge connected with Woodson II twice for gains of 13 and 14 yards; with a 15-yard penalty on the Midshipmen after the first, USA had the ball at the Navy-30. Johnson followed with an 18-yard rush to move the Jags into the red zone, and on third-and-goal Timmons crossed the goal line from four yards out to make the score 7-0.
Harris recovered a fumble at the Midshipmen's 25-yard line, which would lead to a Sunanon 34-yard field goal less than a minute-and-a-half later, extending the USA lead to 10-0. On Navy's ensuing possession McClain stopped Reynolds for no gain on fourth-and-one, once again allowing the Jaguars to begin a drive in Midshipmen territory, but on their second play Myer Krah intercepted a pass and ran it back 31 yards; with a USA penalty on the play, Navy took over at the USA-14. Thirty-six seconds later, Copeland scored on a 13-yard run to pull the Midshipmen with three points, 10-7, with just under five minutes to go in the opening quarter.
The Jaguars extended back to a 10-point edge 35 seconds before the end of the period on a three-yard scoring pass from Bridge to Smith; the drive — which covered 74 yards in nine plays — was keyed by a 44-yard rush from Timmons that moved USA into the red zone.
The Midshipmen had three individuals post a double-digit tackle total, with Jordan Drake recording 13, Will Anthony 12 and Krah 10; Anthony made 2½ stops behind the line. Daniel Gonzales posted eight stops, and the trio of Bernard Serra, Adams and Clements collected six each.
USA ran a total of 79 plays — 21 more than Navy — and were able to hold the ball for nearly 35 minutes. Coming into play the Jags were converting 35 percent on third downs, but against the Midshipmen they were able to move the chains on 10-of-18 — a season-high 55.6 percent — occasions.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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