Air Force Football: Falcons have a chance for redemption

Air Force senior outside linebacker Hunter Altman still thinks about the play.

Early fourth quarter last season against archrival Navy. Air Force down 24-20 and needing a stop. Second-and-8 from the Navy 22-yard line.

Altman was assigned to Navy's quarterback, Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada. But if the ball was given to the fullback - who had been chewing up yardage methodically through the heart of the defense - Altman could help there.

So when Kaheaku-Enhada stuffed the ball in the gut of fullback Eric Kettani, Altman turned his shoulders and went inside to lend a hand with the powerful runner.

"But (Kaheaku-Enhada) ended up pulling (the ball) and running," Altman said.

And running. And running. Seventy-eight yards for a back-breaking touchdown.

He's still running through Altman's memory.

"Every time I watch Navy film or even see them on TV or anything, my heart beats a little faster and I kind of get a little worked up over it," Altman said.

"You think about those plays. Even if you make huge plays in a game where you lose, you only remember the ones you screw up on."

On Saturday, when Navy visits Falcon Stadium at 2 p.m., Altman and his teammates have a chance for redemption. Not just for that play and that game. But for five years of heartache.

The Midshipmen have won five straight games over Air Force - their longest streak in the series. And service academy supremacy has shifted to Annapolis, where the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy (given to the winner of the academies' round robin) has resided since 2003.

Most frustrating to fans and players is that all the games in the Midshipmen's streak have been close, and many have pivoted on plays like the one described above. Air Force lost the first three games in the stretch by three points each and the fourth by a touchdown.

Last season Navy won 31-20 even though Air Force outgained the Midshipmen, 474-381.

"To me it seems like last year was closer than any of them even though the points were furthest away," Air Force senior defensive end Ryan Kemp said. "Just because at times we were stopping them on defense, we were dominating. And then we gave up one big play here, one big play there."

That's been a theme throughout Navy's five-year winning streak.

"There hasn't been a sizeable difference in turnovers," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. "In sacks, there hasn't been huge differential. And first downs have been fairly even. The thing you pinpoint next is big plays."

Trying to recall big plays Air Force made during Navy's current run, Calhoun could name Shaun Carney's 54-yard touchdown pass to Greg Kirkwood with 6 seconds left in the first half in 2005. But that was "the only one you can really remember," he said.

More memorable are the three trips inside the Navy 25-yard line in 2003 that resulted in three points and four trips inside the Navy 25 last season in which Air Force came up empty.

Navy, meanwhile, returned a fumble 37 yards for a touchdown in the 2006 game and in 2005 scored on a 61-yard pass and a 40-yard run. In 2004, a 66-yard pass set up a touchdown and a 32-yard scramble set up the winning field goal.

Those painful memories - like the one that haunts Altman - have made each of Navy's victories that much harder to swallow.

But they don't change five straight final scores.

"Close doesn't cut it in football," Calhoun said. "A lot of times guys are 2 inches away from making a play. I like those guys that are 2 inches past. ... That's the difference between winning and losing."

-

Contact the Writer: 636-0365 or jake.schaller@gazette.com. Check out our Air Force blog at gazetteafasports.freedomblogger.com