Navy falls to No. 15 Rutgers, 41-24

PISCATAWAY, N.J-- Mike Teel passed for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns and Ray Rice rushed for 175 yards as Rutgers handed Navy its first loss of the 2007 season, 41-24. Navy was forced to pass by the tough Scarlet Knight defense resulting in 3 costly interceptions of Mids quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada including two that were intercepted in the end zone.

Mike Teel's 12-yard pass to Shamar Graves put the Scarlet Knights up 7-0 with 8:29 remaining in the first quarter.

Later Rutgers’ George Johnson intercepted a Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada pass, which gave Rutgers the ball at the Navy 20-yard-line. Five plays later Rutgers Ray Rice rumbled in from 4-yards out to extend the home team's lead to 14-0 with 4:58 left in the initial quarter.

Navy answered back with a 11-play drive which culminated with a 3-yard scoring pass from Kaheaku-Enhada to Reggie Campbell to cut the lead to 14-7.

Rutgers' Jeremy Ito added to the Scarlet Knight lead with 9:49 remaining in the half when he booted a 28-yard field goal to put his team up by 10, 17-7.

On the ensuing possession Navy drove from its own 32-yard-line to the Rutgers 4-yard-line only to see Ron Girault intercept a Kaheaku-Enhada pass in the end zone. Rutgers took over with 3:41 remaining. Rutgers then proceeded to march down the field to the Navy 22 and then Tice found Ray Rice for another score to put the home team up 24-7 with seconds remaining before the half.

Navy opened the second half with a 9-play, 67-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 2-yard Kaheaku-Enhada scoring run to bring the Mids back to within 10, 24-14.

Buffin later intercepted a Teel pass and returned to Rutgers' 34. However, the Navy opportunity was killed after Rutgers’ Courtne Greene intercepted another Kaheaku-Enhada pass in the end zone.

Rutgers' Ito then made his third field goal of the day to put the Scarlet Knights up 27-14. Navy answered with a Matt Harmon field goal to make it 27-17 with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Kinney Britt scored on a 53-yard pass from Teel to make the score 34-17 and seemingly put the game out of reach for Navy. Rice added to Navy's misery with a 2-yard run with 2:17 remaining in the game to make it 41-17 Rutgers.

Navy's Jarod Bryant scored on a 4-yard run with less than a minute remaining in the game to make the final score Rutgers 41, Navy 24. Navy finished with 254 yards total rushing. No Navy player had over 40 yards rushing.

Kaheaku-Enhada completed 5 of 12 passes for 32 yards and 1 touchdown along with the 3 interceptions.

Navy falls to 1-1 on the season. The Mids will next host Ball State next Saturday at 5 p.m. It's the 2007 home opener for Navy. Rutgers improves to 2-0. The Scarlet Knights next host Norfolks State on Saturday.