The Army Black Knights defeated the Navy Midshipmen 17-11 on Saturday to claim the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy as the best service academy football team in 2023.
Army, who had won five of the previous seven editions of the classic rivalry, dominated the first half. The Black Knights scored 10 points and held Navy scoreless, taking a multi-possession lead into the break. The Midshipmen put together one solid drive deep into Army territory early in the first half, but starting quarterback Xavier Arline forced a risky throw that ended up in the hands of Army defensive back Max DiDomenico for an interception.
Navy didn’t score any points until the opening minutes of the fourth quarter when they kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it a 10-3 game. Tai Lavatai, who replaced Arline at quarterback, did provide the Navy offense with a little more juice, as he threw for 179 yards on 26 attempts for the game.
Then, disaster struck. Lavatai was stripped in the pocket by Army linebacker Kalib Fortner, who recovered his own fumble and raced 44 yards back to the end zone to make it a 17-3 game with less than five minutes left.
Miraculously, however, Navy still made it a game. Lavatai marched his offense down the field, picking apart soft Army coverage for a 59-yard touchdown drive. After an Army punt, the Midshipmen had the ball with a chance to tie the game in the final two minutes.
Lavatai again picked up yardage in chunks as the Black Knights surrendered easy completions. Once the Midshipmen got into the red zone, however, Army stiffened. On Navy’s final goal-to-go sequence, they had two incompletions and a short throw down to the 2-yard line. The Midshipmen tried to run a quarterback sneak on the final play, but Army stopped them inches from the goal line to seal victory.
Here are the best images from Army’s rivalry victory.