Knocked Out: Wake roughs up Navy 44-24

For the second year in a row, Navy lost its starting quarterback and the game before a huge crowd on homecoming weekend. Wake Forest took advantage of 3 Navy fumbles and amassed 409 yards in total offense en route to a 44-24 victory over the Midshipmen in front of nearly 37,000 fans in Annapolis.

Kenneth Moore had 15 catches for 181 yards and scored 2 touchdowns, and Sam Swank kicked three field goals and only had to punt once for the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner also had a good day against the porous Navy defense, completing 22 of 28 passes for 213 yards and two scores.

As for Navy, homecoming once again included a scary moment for its option quarterback.  Last year, the Midshipmen lost its starting signal-caller, Brian Hampton, in the first quarter against Rutgers and would never get in sync in the 34-0 defeat.  This year, when Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada went down late in the first half with a neck injury after what appeared to be an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit, disaster came on the very next play.  With the score tied at 17, Wake Forest’s Alphonso Smith hit Navy back-up quarterback Jarod Bryant causing him to fumble the ball.  Matt Robinson picked it up and scampered 7 yards for the score to put the Demon Deacons ahead for good, 24-17.

According to Navy head coach Paul Johnson, the play was designed to be a screen pass.

“We should have been able to do it.  We should have had a guy picking up the guy rushing off the edge,” said Johnson.

Sam Swank would add a 52-yard field goal before halftime to stretch the lead to 27-17.

Navy opened the second half with an 80-yard scoring drive to cut the lead to 27-24, but Wake Forest answered with their own 60-yard drive that took under two minutes to put the Demon Deacons up by ten points again.

The Navy offense was poised to score once again on their next drive, but fullback Eric Kettani fumbled on the Wake Forest 24-yard line which led to another 52-yard field goal by Swank.  That’s when the back-breaker came.  On Navy’s next possession, Bryant fumbled the exchange from center Antron Harper and Wake Forest marched right down the field as Ryan Skinner found Moore for a 4-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach.

“Right now, we can’t make mistakes,” said Johnson.  “We have no margin for error.”

Navy slot back Shun White concurred with his coach, “The turnovers were the difference [in the game].”

Wake Forest set the tone early with an 80-yard kick-off return on the opening play of the afternoon.

“It’s not exactly the way you would like to start the game,” said Johnson.

Kettani led Navy with 75 yard rushing and White scored twice for the Mids who will look to get off to a better start next week against Delaware.