Army and Navy brought the inspiring spectacle of America’s Game to Gillette Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The affair was an astonishing blend of service academy pomp and circumstance with a healthy dose of collegiate boola-boola from the enthused uniforms in the stands. Getting visualized on the giant scoreboard was a victory in and of itself.

The 124th encounter was held outside the Mid-Atlantic states for just the third time and the 65,878 in attendance were blessed with filtered sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures.

The playing surface was color-schemed in Army black and Navy blue and the game’s insignia dominated midfield. What the football game lacked in athletic execution, the players made up for with toughness and fourth-quarter drama.

“It was definitely a great experience out there with great weather,” said Army inside linebacker and team captain Leo Lowin. “It was an awesome experience because Army-Navy is a big deal for us players and the atmosphere was awesome.”

Army inside linebacker Kalib Fortner sealed the victory for the Black Knights when he strip-sacked the ball from Navy quarterback Tai Lavatai and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-3 with 4:49 to play in the game.

“We saw on film that they were kind of loose with the ball in the pocket,” said Fortner. “I hit the ball and it was kind of like I planned it the way because it bounced in my hand.

“I looked up at the Jumbotron and saw a sea of gold jerseys behind me. It was a surreal moment.”

Navy regrouped and cut the Black Knights’ lead to 17-9 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Lavatai to Jayden Umbarger with 2:47 to play. Lavatai’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete. Navy mounted an inspiring last-minute drive that ran its course on a failed quarterback sneak inside the Army 1-yard line with three seconds to play. Army took an intentional safety for a 17-11 final.

“You could tell it was going to be a quarterback sneak the way they were lining it up,” said Lowin. “We had to fire out and stop him. We had to make it interesting at the end but definitely a good way to go out.”

Army claimed its 55th win overall and sixth in the last eight meetings. The Cadets claimed sole possession of the Commander in Chief’s Trophy and the honor of the “second sing” for winning the rivalry game.

“We didn’t need any extra motivation,” said Fortner.

Army upped its lead to 10-0 on the final play of the second half. Daily moved the ball 34 yards on seven plays to set a 47-yard by senior place kicker Quinn Maretzki as time expired. The boot was Maretzki’s third field goal of over 45 yards this season.

Navy made it 10-3 on a 37-yard field goal by Nathan Kirkwood at the end of Navy’s first sustained drive of the game. The Midshipmen went 70 yards on 10 plays and quarterback Tai Lavatai’s 25-yard run was the longest gain by either camp at that point of the game.

Bag of tricks

Navy resorted to some chicanery from the back pages of the playbook on its second snap from scrimmage. On second and six from the Navy 29, quarterback Xavier Arline was in shotgun and handed off to halfback Eli Heidenreich on a sweep right. Heidenreich pulled up to pass and threw a long ball down the right sideline to slotback Brandon Chatman, who got behind the defender on a go route. Heidenreich’s pass fell out of bounds incomplete but you can’t blame them for trying. Arline’s first pass was intercepted by free safety Max DiDomenico on the Army five and was returned 30 yards.

The dusty trail

The Black Knights converted Navy’s turnover into the game’s first scoring drive, a model Army march that went 65 yards on 12 plays and consumed 7:13 off the clock. The longest gain was a 15-yard run by running back Kayne Udoh. Quarterback Bryson Daily completed the trip with a 4-yard touchdown toss to tight end Tyson Riley to make it 7-0 at 14:19 of the second. It was Daily’s seventh touchdown pass of the season and Army’s first against Navy since 2015.

“No one lined up over there, they were still making their call and Tyson did a got job not drawing too much attention to himself,” said Daily. “I was trying to get our guys lined up to get the ball to him and I got him the ball before their safety came over.”

My Tai

After moving the ball 24 yards with an interception in four possessions, Navy coach Brian Newberry lifted Arline in favor of senior Tai Lavatai with 5:21 to play in the second. Lavatai moved the ball 46 yards on 10 plays but turned the ball over on downs on a keeper at the Army 37 with 1:05 to play.

“We knew they were going to play multiple guys but they would start with Arline,” said Fortner. “We were able to bottle him up in the first few drives and we knew it would be either or and we prepared for that all week.”