Army takes down UConn 34-17 on Senior Day at West Point

Army won the turnover battle, 2-0. Army rushed for 320 yards on 58 carries for a 5.5 yard/carry average, with most of this offense coming in the last 32 minutes.U Conn had a costly 11 penalties for 78 yards.A-back Braheam Murphy led all Army rushers with 7 carries for 124 yards and a 75-yard touchdown run.Co-Captain S Marquel Broughton led the team with 12 total tackles, 1 TFL and an interception.

• UConn received the opening kickoff and Army’s defense held them to a 3-and-out. Freshman Jabril Williams from Jeff Monken’s hometown of Joliet, IL followed with Army’s biggest play of the first half (and maybe the game). He blocked the punt and Miles Stewart pounced on it in the end zone to put Army ahead 7-0.

• UConn’s prolific rushing attack got untracked on the next drive as the quartet of Victor Rosa, Devontae Houston, Robert Burns and Zion Turner gashed the Army defense for big runs down to the Army 7-yard line. On the next play, Rosa broke left and broke contain for what appeared to be a U Conn touchdown, but instant replay showed that Rosa’s left foot touched the pilon and he went out of bounds with the ball at the 1-foot line. That 1-foot became super important as Nate Woody’s defense came up with 3 big stops in a row aided by a U Conn false start. Army held the Huskies to a field goal and the score was 7-3 Army.

• The Huskies held the Black Knights to a 3-and-out on their next possession and their offense took over after a Billy Boehlke punt at the U Conn 35-yard line.At this point in the game, Army’s defense began to tire as U Conn had possessed the ball for almost the entire first quarter. The Huskies drove the ball down to the Army 1-yard line again on big running plays. This time, they decided to go for it on 4th and goal from the 1, and the Army defense stuffed Robert Burns for a 1-yard loss and Army took over on downs at their 1-yard line to start the 2nd quarter. To this point, Army had run 3 offensive plays through a little over a quarter; had two huge goal line stands; had a blocked punt touchdown and despite being dominated on both sides of the ball, led 7-3.

• Army was able to pick up two first downs on their next drive mixing FB dives and QB zones, but they bogged down again after a costly holding penalty on Isaiah Alston on a big Braheam Murphy run that was followed immediately by a false start to put the Black Knights behind the chains. Army was forced to punt again, and Boehlke boomed one 58 yards into the end zone.

• On UConn’s next drive, a 43-yard Rosa TD run prevented them from having to worry about another goal line stand from Army and they went ahead 10-7.

• Army got the ball back with 3:12 left in the first half. After a 5-yard sack of QB Tyhier Tyler brought up 3rd and long, Jemel Jones came in at QB and Isaiah Alston was able to draw a pass interference call to keep the Army drive alive. Braheam Murphy followed with a 34-yard run on an option play. Jones and the offense did a masterful job moving the ball into scoring position and working the clock. Army finally scored on a 1-yard goal line plunge by Jones to take a 13-10 lead with 0.18 left in the half after Quinn Maretzki’s extra point attempt was blocked.

• Tyhier Tyler came back in to lead the offense to start the second half for Army. The Black Knights were stymied by the U Conn defense and went 3-and-out on their first possession of the half.

• UConn got the ball back after the Army punt at their own 30. They preceded to go 70 yards on 9 plays for the go-ahead score. The drive was highlighted by a 33-yard pass to Kevens Clercius. Army almost came up with another huge play in the red zone as Austin Hill stripped Rosa on the 5-yard line, but the fumble was recovered by UConn.Two plays later, Zion Turner scored from the 1 on a QB sneak to give UConn a 17-13 lead.

• At this point in the game, things were looking somewhat bleak for the Black Knights as UConn seemed in complete control on both sides of the ball despite their narrow 4-point cushion. Little did we know they wouldn’t get on the scoreboard the rest of the afternoon and Army’s offense would come alive.

• On Army’s first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Braheam Murphy took a reverse that was put in as a halftime adjustment by Army’s offensive staff 75 yards to paydirt to give Army a 20-17 lead that they would not relinquish.

• On the ensuing UConn possession Army Defensive Coordinator Nate Woody’s adjustments started to take effect as Army held UConn to only their 2nd 3-and-out of the afternoon.

• Both teams then exchanged punts as neither offense could do much. However, UConn committed a penalty on their next punt and Army elected to have them re-kick.It was a great decision by Jeff Monken as the next U Conn punt netted 17 yards and set Army up with a short field. After a nifty fake pitch QB keep by Tyhier Tyler that went for 25 yards, Tyler scored on a QB zone run 3 plays later to put Army up by two scores, 27-17.

• Army forced UConn to punt again to start the 4th quarter before punting themselves. UConn got the ball back down ten points with 7:13 left in the game. That’s when Safety Marquel Broughton stepped in front of a post that Turner probably wishes he could have back. Broughton intercepted the pass and returned it to the U Conn 27-yard line. Army began to bleed the clock and scored 8 plays later on a Tyhier Tyler 2-yard run to put the game out of reach at 34-17 with 4:23 left and U Conn out of timeouts.

• On the next possession, Senior Safety D’Andre Tobias recorded his first career interception and Senior QB Cade Ballard came in to get the last few first downs and line up in victory formation to secure the 34-17 victory.

In the postgame press conference, both Marquel Broughton and Jeff Monken said that was probably the most complete game the team had played all year. There are still things to fix and improve but Army eliminated many of the costly mistakes that had plagued them last week against Troy and all season in close games to come away with an impressive victory against a talented team from the University of Connecticut. It was Army’s first win over an FBS team with a winning record this season.

It was a fitting senior day victory for the Black Knights as many Firsties (Seniors) contributed to the victory and left Michie Stadium for the last time with a great feeling and great result.

• Sr. QB Jemel Jones led Army’s first touchdown drive and capped it by scoring the touchdown on his 1-yard run.Sr.

• QB Tyhier Tyler scored 2 touchdowns and led the Army offense most of the day.

• Sr. Safety/Co-Captain Marquel Broughton led the team in tackles; made a crucial interception; and although he always plays with a lot of passion and emotion, was playing at another gear today as he also had huge contributions in both goal line stands in the first half.

• Sr. D’Andre Tobias recorded his first career interception.

• Sr. Cade Ballard finished the game at QB and took the final snap in victory formation.Sr. Braheam Murphy had a career day and that huge 75-yard run in the 3rd quarter to put Army ahead for good.He and fellow Sr. SB Maurice Bellan also stepped up big-time in relief of the injured Tyrell Robinson and Ay’Juan Marshall and both sprung each other with big blocks throughout the game.

• Sr. Center/Captain Connor Bishop and G Sam Barczak both contributed with big blocks on scoring drives.

• Sr. Kicker, Cole Talley once again helped Army’s field position with deep kickoffs all day.

I’m probably leaving a few Seniors out but suffice it to say they left Michie the way they wanted to. They also gained some positive momentum heading into next week’s road tilt at U Mass before what has become a one-game season the second Saturday in December against the school from Annapolis.

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