Navy looks beyond injuries as it readies for Army

BALTIMORE — Toneo Gulley winces when he thinks on the play now, but he can admit that in some ways what happened to Navy in the American Athletic Conference championship game fits with the story of his final season.

“Losing two of our best players on the same play, in a championship game, the week before Army?” Gulley said, shaking his head Tuesday at M&T Bank Stadium, site of this year’s annual Army-Navy game. “You can’t ever imagine that. But resilience, fighting through, relying on the next guy up — that’s the story of our season. That’s who we are.”

The Midshipmen were down 21-0 to Temple early in the second quarter, and had yet to figure out how to confuse the Owls’ run defense with their triple option attack. They faced second-and-6 from their 29, and as they lined up, television analyst Todd Blackledge said: “Here’s what you do know about Navy: They’re not going to quit, they’re going to play for 60 minutes no matter what it says on the scoreboard.”

Then Will Worth, who started the year as the team’s backup quarterback and finished with more running touchdowns than any player in the country at the position, took the snap. He darted left, swooping into the lane left behind as Gulley charged forward from his slot back spot.

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As Worth went down, his momentum carried him and several tacklers toward Gulley, who still was blocking. Gulley’s left leg buckled, and he stayed down. Worth got up limping, unable to put weight on his right foot.

Gulley was taken to the locker room immediately, and Worth tried to keep going. By the time Worth went to the locker room a few minutes later, Gulley already had been told he was out for the year with a broken bone in his foot. Worth positioned himself next to the same X-ray machine, and received the same news.

“At that point I think we were mostly quiet, trying to come to terms with it,” said Gulley, a senior co-captain from Akron, Ohio. “It’s our last year and the Army game means so much to us. At the same time, we were starting to think about being there for the guys who were going to take our spot.”

Navy lost the game, 34-10, and its chance to crash the Cotton Bowl. Instead, the Midshipmen will play Louisiana Tech in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

Navy (9-3) has little time to regroup; for the first time since 1941 (in a game played eight days before the attack on Pearl Harbor), Navy has only one week to prepare for Army (6-5), which hasn’t played since Nov. 19.

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The Midshipmen are attempting to extend their series-best winning streak to 15. They have an overall series lead of 60-49-7, and Army enters the game with a winning record for just the second time since 1997.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said the Midshipmen have been preparing for Army piecemeal throughout the season.

“It was kind of weird preparing for a future opponent when you were trying to get ready for the next game, but it was something we had to do,” he said last week. “We spent a little time every week getting ready for Army, hoping we would be right where we are today.”

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He didn’t count on relying on a sophomore quarterback, Zach Abey, in his first career start. Or for the rapid turnover at slot back — two other regulars were injured against Temple and are being evaluated this week. Niumatalolo’s system can appear simple and straightforward — Worth’s 264 carries were more than the next five top rushers combined — but it is predicated on making complicated reads quickly at the line of scrimmage.

“I’m fired up for Zach. I know he’s going to do a great job,” Worth said.

In a year where Navy beat then-No. 6 Houston, beat Notre Dame at a neutral site and scored 183 points in three wins leading up to the AAC championship game, confidence in the system is at an all-time high. The Midshipmen were supposed to struggle with quarterback Keenan Reynolds gone to the NFL, and were expected to take a step back when replacement Tago Smith tore his ACL 43 seconds into the second quarter of the season. Worth isn’t nearly as dynamic a runner as either of those two, meaning the offense should have been easier to decipher.

Instead Worth set a school record for total offense and became a leader on a team full of them. Gulley said he felt no panic in the moments before the fateful play that would end two football careers.

“We thought then that we would figure it out,” he said. “And that’s how we feel now. Will and I, we’re mentors now. We’re there for whoever is next. That’s how this team works.”

Follow Korman on Twitter @ChrisKorman

Contributing: Erik Brady