'There's always next year'

BALTIMORE - Two couples walked together yesterday outside M&T Bank Stadium.

Two of the four wore Notre Dame sweatshirts, one wore a Navy fleece and the other a University of Maryland shirt.

From the looks of things, they were old friends.

"We just now met, on the street," said Notre Dame supporter Teresa Mills of Glen Burnie.

The women discussed how much they had in common - both are in the food service business, and Mrs. Mills went on to predict that Notre Dame was going to win the game. Her new friend, Karen Worthington, from Western Maryland and the one wearing the Navy shirt, disagreed and said, "Navy is going to win. Of course."

The goodwill that breaks out during the annual Navy-Notre Dame game is nothing new.

One Navy officer, whose name would fit right in among the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, recalled what it was like visiting Indiana.

"I went to a game at Notre Dame as a midshipman, and I couldn't buy a drink in that town. Even when I'd try to, the bartender wouldn't take my money, and everybody just kept buying us mids drinks," said Navy Capt. Joseph McGettigan, who graduated from the academy in 1980.

Capt. McGettigan, director of the Engineering and Weapons Department at the Naval Academy, was at the game with his son, Navy Lt. Joseph McGettigan, operations officer for the Naval Academy Offshore Sailing Team.

Capt. McGettigan predicted that yesterday's game was "going to be close," but predicted that Navy would win, "30 to 28."

"Navy's going to extend the streak today," Capt. McGettigan said, referring to last year's game, when Navy eked out a win over Notre Dame.

No sooner than Capt. McGettigan uttered his prediction for victory than a stranger walking by in a green Notre Dame sweatshirt chimed in with a grin, "In your dreams ... No way."

This was the 84th year of the Navy-Notre Dame rivalry, and when the 4,300-member Brigade of Midshipmen marched onto the field, 30 companies strong, the crowd of 70,932 in the stands erupted in cheers and applause.

People wearing green shirts and green Mardi Gras beads, and celebrating the "luck of Irish," were some of the loudest fans, and some even yelled, "God bless the midshipmen!"

It's little wonder that Notre Dame and the Naval Academy have had a long, friendly rivalry.

Notre Dame was founded in 1842, the Naval Academy in 1845. And in 1858, or less than a decade after the Naval Academy graduated its first class of midshipmen, the Notre Dame student body formed the Continental Cadets.

In 1917, the college won War Department approval to create an Army training corps, but because of some court cases involving training facilities, according to the university's literature, the effort was abandoned.

In 1941, as World War II was heating up, the college began a Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit.

Today, Notre Dame is one of only a handful of colleges that offers Army, Air Force and Navy officer training.

The football teams, when they got down to business yesterday and crouched in formation at the line of scrimmage, even looked alike.

Notre Dame's colors of white jerseys, blue lettering and gold helmets, and Navy's colors of blue jerseys, white lettering and gold helmets, seemed almost like mirror images of each other.

At halftime, the score was close, with Notre Dame leading Navy 10-7.

Parents and sponsors waited on the landing at halftime, and hugged their mids as they came out of the stadium.

"Bring out No. 4 (Midshipman 3rd Class Ricky Dobbs, the sophomore quarterback) and break out the passing plan," Don Greulich, a sponsor parent from Annapolis Cove, said of the winning strategy he thought would give Navy the victory.

Mr. Greulich, and his wife, Sherry Greulich, said they have been season-ticket holders for Navy's games for 20 years, even though neither has close family ties to the academy.

The Greulichs often have mids over to their Annapolis Cove home, they said, and had eight on Friday evening.

The mids come from Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, California and Ohio, they said.

"Our daughter has become the sister of a lot of midshipmen," Mr. Greulich said of the couple's daughter, Lauren, 15.

Before long, Midshipman 1st Class David Schultz, from Fort Myers, Fla, and his girlfriend, Kerri Scala, from Virginia, arrived. Mrs. Greulich gave them a round of hugs and kisses, as if they were all family.

After the half, Notre Dame jumped out to a good start with a quick field goal followed by a touchdown.

Notre Dame enjoyed a 24-7 lead at the start of the fourth quarter and added a field goal, making the score 27-7.

But Navy was not done, and looked like it was going to stage one of the greatest comebacks in college football history.

With less than 2 minutes remaining, Navy scored on a 22-yard run, then recovered an on-side kick and scored two plays later.

The teams kept slogging through a downpour, and like everything else about these two schools - the fans, the rivalry, the team colors - the final score was close: 27 to 21, Notre Dame.

Last year, Navy won, 46-44 in triple overtime.

"In the last seconds, I thought we would have a celebration like last year," said Janet Bridger of Gaithersburg and mother of Ensign Paul Bridger, who played tackle for Navy last year.

"Oh, well," she said. "There's always next year ... and I'll be back."

Both teams have a 6-4 record, and are eligible to play in bowl games.