Mids' Shun Towson in new football era

Ken Niumatalolo can thank Shun White for the first victory of his head coaching career.

White put forth the finest rushing performance in Navy history, gaining 348 yards on 19 carries to lead a season-opening 41-13 rout of visiting Towson. White electrified the crowd of 31,613 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with touchdown runs of 87, 73 and 33 yards en route to breaking the single-game school record for rushing.

"We gave Shun a challenge earlier in the week and he said 'Coach, just give me the ball. I'm very proud of Shun. We were going to ride him as long as we could today," Niumatalolo said.

White surpassed the previous mark of 298 yards, set by legendary running back Eddie Meyers in 1981 against Syracuse. Meyers carried the ball 42 times that day, but White needed just 19 yesterday. The Tennessee native, a conference champion sprinter on the Navy track team, averaged an astounding 18.3 yards per attempt.

"I just wanted to go out there and give my best for my team and my teammates. Every time I got the ball, I wanted to run as hard and as fast as I could," White said. "I'm glad that I got the record, but records are made to be broken."

White's phenomenal effort made a winner out of Niumatalolo, who was beginning his first season as head coach. Niumatalolo succeeded Paul Johnson and made his debut last December in the Poinsettia Bowl, which Navy lost to Utah.

"I'm really proud of our football team. Someone said this was my first win, but this isn't about me. It's about the players. They competed hard all game," Niumatalolo said. "I didn't win this game, our whole team did. Everyone involved with the program - from the trainers to the equipment staff - had a hand in this win."

See a video for some of the game's sights and sounds at:
http://media.hometownannapolis.com/flash/080830fbb.swf

Assistant coach Ivin Jasper replaced Johnson as the play-caller and yesterday's game provided proof that Navy's vaunted triple-option offense has not missed a beat. Quarterback Jarod

Bryant did a superb job of reading and distributing as the Midshipmen piled up 558 yards rushing, third-highest single-game total in program history.

"I feel great, I'm on a cloud right now," Jasper said. "Everyone has been wondering how this thing was going to look without Coach Johnson running the show. I'm just glad to get this out of the way."

It didn't take Jasper long to figure out that Towson was determined to stop the fullback dive. The Tigers committed too many defenders inside, which left the perimeter wide open and allowed White to run wild. The Tigers won the battle by holding fullback Eric Kettani to 33 yards, but lost the war.

"We're an option team. We take what the defense gives us," Niumatalolo said. "I knew they would try to take away Eric. Shun is the fastest kid on our team and he stepped up."

Bryant, who started in place of the injured Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown. He also threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to slot back Bobby Doyle, but drew the wrath of Niumatalolo by blowing a scoring opportunity with a fumble at the Towson 3-yard line.

"Jarod was playing phenomenal until the fumble. He got a little nonchalant out there," Niumatalolo said. "We need Jarod to stay focused, stay consistent."

Quarterback Sean Schaefer had an impressive passing day for Towson, completing 29 of 47 attempts for 330 yards and two touchdowns. Schaefer threw a 22-yard scoring strike to Casey Cegles and connected with Marcus Lee on a 4-yard touchdown toss as the Tigers got within 21-13 with 2:56 remaining in the second quarter.

However, Navy regained momentum going into halftime as Matt Harmon kicked a 31-yard field goal. The Midshipmen then came out of the locker room and scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the second half as Bryant's pass to a wide-open Doyle boosted the lead to 31-13.

Towson hurt itself with mistakes as most of its nine penalties were offensive violations. The Tigers opened the game with a promising drive that was snuffed out at the Navy 23-yard line when cornerback Rashawn King intercepted a Schaefer pass in the flat.

"We had some opportunities. I thought we were able to move the football very well. We had good time of possession. We just didn't cash in a couple times," said Towson head coach Gordy Combs, who felt the field goal just before halftime was a killer.

Inside linebacker Clint Sovie had eight tackles and two pass breakups for a Navy defense that looked much-improved over last year. The Midshipmen buckled down after halftime, holding Towson scoreless in the second half. The Tigers managed just 108 total yards after intermission.

Niumatalolo was annoyed that Towson converted several third-and-long situations in the first half and said that was the subject at halftime. Freshman Jabaree Tuani was credited with 1½ sacks as the Mids did a much better job of putting pressure on Schaefer.

"We had them in third-and-long and couldn't get them off the field. At halftime, that was the biggest concern. We needed to do a better job of getting them off the field," Niumatalolo said.

"In the second half, we came out with a different attitude. We told ourselves we were not going to let them score this half," Sovie said.

Towson 0 13 0 0 - 13

Navy 14 10 7 10 - 41

First Quarter

Navy-Bryant 20 run (Harmon kick), 6:10.

Navy-S.White 33 run (Harmon kick), 2:55.

Second Quarter

Tow-Cegles 22 pass from Schaefer (kick failed), 6:39.

Navy-S.White 87 run (Harmon kick), 6:20.

Tow-M.Lee 4 pass from Schaefer (Bencivengo kick), 2:56.

Navy-FG Harmon 31, :00.

Third Quarter

Navy-Doyle 38 pass from Bryant (Harmon kick), 11:37.

Fourth Quarter

Navy-S.White 73 run (Harmon kick), 8:40.

Navy-FG Harmon 20, :51.

A-31,613.

Tow Navy

First downs 21 26

Rushes-yards 26-30 58-558

Passing 330 44

Comp-Att-Int 29-47-1 2-5-0

Return Yards 0 0

Punts-Avg. 5-31.6 1-32.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 9-60 6-50

Time of Possession 30:28 29:32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Towson, Castor 10-22, Rouson 5-21, Kinchen 2-6, Schaefer 7-1, Cegles 1-(minus 3), Team 1-(minus 17). Navy, S.White 19-348, Bryant 17-75, Dobbs 5-56, Kettani 9-33, Finnerty 2-19, Teich 3-9, Doyle 1-7, James 1-7, Jones 1-4.

PASSING-Towson, Schaefer 29-47-1-330. Navy, Bryant 2-4-0-44, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Towson, Newsom 7-84, Cegles 6-98, Holmes 5-69, Breaux 4-42, Waddy 3-17, Castor 2-10, Godlasky 1-6, M.Lee 1-4. Navy, Doyle 1-38, Kettani 1-6.