EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A play so out of character in the buttoned-up, disciplined world of Service Academy football actually revealed just that: character. You could see it in the eyes of Navy senior linebacker Diego Fagot.
It wasn’t just a botched punt play that he turned into a key first down carry late in Saturday’s 17-13 win over Army. It was what it represented.
“They [Army] think their culture is better than ours,” said Fagot, a senior tackling machine from South Florida who was playing his last game. “You can clearly see how they scored on the opening drive and they thought it was going to go their way throughout the whole entire game. We’re not going to lay down for them.”
At the end of all the patriotism and pomp and military might displayed in this rivalry, it’s still that: a bitter rivalry. It doesn’t have the hate associated with the teams in the Iron Bowl or The Game, but it’s nevertheless an absolute desire to out-hit the other guy on this annual December Saturday.
“Our toughness has come into question,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “I have been doing this a long time. The guys on our team are some of the toughest in the world. That’s wrong for people to question their toughness.”
And so the Midshipmen didn’t lay down at the end of what was a dreadful 3-8 season, at the end of what looked like a fifth loss in six seasons to Army. Instead, Navy almost shut down Army completely after its opening drive. Trailing 13-7 at halftime, Navy never let Army sniff the end zone again. And then came that character.
In his only carry of the game, 190-pound Navy slotback Chance Warren set up the go-ahead third-quarter touchdown by trucking 6-foot-7, 265-pound Army linebacker Andre Carter II, who is headed at some point to the NFL….
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