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Sept. 10, 2006

Box Score

BALTIMORE - Navy senior quarterback Chris Marsh (New Alexandria, Pa.) threw for 230 yards and rushed for two touchdowns to lead the Midshipmen to a season-opening 28-12 victory over Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field on Sunday afternoon in sprint football action.

"It feels good to get that first victory," stated Navy head coach Maj. Joseph R. Clearfield, USMC, after recording his first-career win as a head coach. "I feel we are right where we need to be at this point. We played a good, physical team today and thought we did alright."

Making his first-collegiate start, Marsh connected on 11 of 17 pass attempts, five of which went for more than 20 yards. The senior also ran for a pair of one-yard touchdowns on the afternoon.

"We had a lot of good work in practice coming into today's game," stated Marsh. "I felt pretty comfortable starting. Coach really had us ready to play."

"I was quite pleased with his performance today," Clearfield said. "He has confidence and is our offensive leader right now."

Johns Hopkins received the ball first to start the game and marched 69 yards in 14 plays, capped off by an Eric Callocchia four-yard touchdown pass to David Rokeach. However, Andrew Kase missed the point-after attempt and the score remained at 6-0.

After the Mids fumbled on their opening drive to give the Blue Jays possession inside Navy territory, sophomore James Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) picked off a pass and returned it 39 yards to the Johns Hopkins 48-yardline. Six plays later, Marsh dove into the endzone from a yard out and freshman David Reifenberg (Ft. Wayne, Ind.) booted the extra point to put the Mids ahead, 7-6.

Navy scored twice within the last five minutes of the second quarter to carry a 21-6 lead into halftime. Sophomore Enrique Harris (Crawfordville, Fla.) capped off a four-play, 63-yard drive, with a one-yard touchdown run to push the score to 14-6. On its next possession, Navy traveled 40 yards in four plays, highlighted by junior Richard Engel's (Medford, N.J.) three-yard touchdown run to push the Midshipmen lead to 21-6.

The Mids ran its unanswered scoring streak to 28 points with its opening drive in the second half. Navy's offense used over five minutes in the third quarter to travel 80 yards in 11 plays, finishing with Marsh's second touchdown of the contest.

A total of five different receivers caught a pass from Marsh on Sunday. Sophomore Tommy Tellson (Bedford, Texas), junior Todd Barriger (Prescott, Mich.) and senior Mitchell Dow (Yorktown, Va.) each hauled in three passes and combined for 210 yards receiving on the afternoon.

Engel led all Midshipmen rushers with 70 yards on 11 carries. However, Navy's rushing attack could only muster 112 yards on 43 attempts (2.6 ypc) and lost three fumbles.

"We definitely need to take better care of the football," commented Clearfield. "We could have scored much more today if we could have just held onto the ball."

Navy's defense forced two turnovers, made seven stops in the backfield and broke up six passes. Senior defensive captain Ryan Engle (Reed City, Mich.) led the way with 14 tackles, two for a loss and a sack. Sophomore Brian Smith (Gainesville, Fla.) chipped in with nine tackles and a sack, while sophomore Andrew Wright (Baltimore, Md.) made eight stops and deflected away two passes in his first-career game.

Sunday's victory pushed Navy's winning streak to 14-straight games since the start of the 2004 season. The Midshipmen have also come away victorious in 31-consecutive season openers and 10-straight contests against non-CSFL teams.

Navy (1-0) next heads to Union, N.J., to take on Army in Pride Bowl XXVIII on Sunday, Sept. 24. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Kean Alumni Stadium.