It was Senior Day at Michie Stadium as Army West Point played host to the Minutemen of UMass. The Black Knights were heavily favored in the game, but a combination of Army errors and an inspired performance by the Minutemen kept the game a lot closer than most fans anticipated.
First Quarter - UMass scored first but Army responded for an 8-3 lead
Army West Point won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Army defense forced a three and out on the first UMass possession. Tyrell Robinson returned the punt to the UMass 47, but an offsides penalty brought the ball back for a second punt opportunity, and this time Robinson was stopped at the Army 35.
Brahaem Murphy was called for a chop block on the second play of the possession; so instead of a first down, Army faced a 2d and 15. The offense got 11 of those yards back but still had to punt on 4th down. Punter Zach Harding fumbled the snap and UMass recovered for a first down on the Army 28. The defense held there, but UMass kicked a 45-yard field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.
AJ Howard returned the UMass Kickoff to the 21, but an illegal block penalty set Army back to their own 11. After a two-yard gain on first down, Tyrell Robinson took a pitch and scampered 87 yards to put Army ahead 6-3 and Monken opted for the two-point conversion. Cade Barnard completed a pass to Josh Lingenfelter to give Army an 8-3 lead.
UMass picked up a first down to the Army 48, but on the next series, Andre Carter forced a fumble on his first of three sacks in the game, and Cedrick Cunningham recovered to give Army the ball in UMass territory. Army ran 5 plays to the UMass 25 before time ran out in the first quarter.
Second Quarter - Army added 8 but UMass scored again to close the gap to 16-10 at the half
The Black Knights continued their march that started in the first quarter, and William Catoe capped the 48 drive with a 3 yard TD run. Monken went for two again, and Christian Anderson completed a pass to Chris Cameron to give Army a 16-3 lead.
UMass drove to the Army 26, but on 4th and 4, Jaylen Jacobs intercepted and returned the ball to the UMass 48.
Army picked up 2 first downs to the UMass 18, but then Robinson came up a yard short on a fourth-down conversion attempt to turn the ball back over to UMass on their own 9-yard line.
UMass was held to a loss on their first two plays from the 9, but Merriweather broke loose for a 35 yard gain to the 41 on third down, and UMass continued the march to a first and goal at the Army 7. Merriweather gained 6 to the 1, but a false start set them back to the 6. Army held on the next two downs, but on 4th and 5, Garrett Dzuro ran to the right sideline and then threw a looping pass across the field to Jacob Orlando for a touchdown to close the gap to 16-10.
With 1:41 left in the half, Anderson went to the air to try for another score but after completing one pass to Isaiah Alston, Anderson’s next three passes fell incomplete and Harding had to punt it away. UMass was content to let the clock run out to end the half.
First Half Statistics
• Total Offense: Army 226 yards; UMass 188 yards
• Rushing Offense: Army 25 attempts for 184 yards; UMass 22 attempts for 122 yards
• Passing Offense: Army 2 completions in 9 attempts for 42 yards and no TDs with no INTs; UMass 6 completions in 10 attempts for 66 yards and 1 TD and 1 INT.
• Penalties: Army 3 penalties for 30 yards; UMass 1 penalty for 5 yards
• Turnovers: Army 1 and UMass 3
• Time of Possession: Army 13:30; UMass 16:30
Third Quarter - No scoring
Army received the opening kickoff in the second half and ran the ball to the UMass 19, but on 3d and 3, Mason Kolinchak was called for an illegal block that gave Army a 3d and 17 at the 33. Anderson’s two pass attempts were incomplete and UMass took over on downs on their own 33.
UMass was held to three and out, but a 47-yard punt gave Army the ball on their own 19. After picking up 4 yards in 2 plays, Anderson was Sacked for a 6-yard loss, and Harding had to punt it away. UMass took over on their own
45 and reached the Army 27 before time ran out in the third quarter.
Fourth Quarter
UMass closed to within 2 but Army scored two more touchdowns to close out the scoring.
UMass completed the drive they started in the third quarter with a 22 yard run that gave them a first and goal on the one. The defense held Merriweather to no gain on first down, but UMass scored on second down to close the gap to 19-17,
The Black Knights took a fair catch on the next kickoff and launched a classic 75 yard drive in 11 plays led by the hard running of Jakobi Buchanan to open their lead to 26 -17.
UMass went to the air with a long pass attempt that Cedrick Cunningham intercepted on the Army 37, and Army had the ball with a 9 point lead and 7:13 left on the game clock.
Tyhier Tyler came in to lead the rushing attack that ground out 63 yards in 9 plays to give Army an insurmountable 33-17 lead. With 2:33 left on the clock, UMass made no real attempt at a comeback and ran out the clock.
Final Statistics
• Total Offense: Army 419 yards; UMass 277 yards
• Rushing Offense: Army 377 yards on 59 attempts; UMass 199 yards on 39 attempts.
• Passing Offense: Army 2 completions in 12 attempts for 42 yards with no TDs with no interceptions; UMass 7 completions in 13 attempts for 78 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs.
• Penalties: Army 5 penalty for 50 yards; UMass 3 penalties for 20 yards
• Turnovers: Army won the turnover battle 4-1
• Time of Possession: Army 32:56; UMass 27:04
We will provide additional statistics and analysis in our Monday Morning QB article.
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