By Michael Hoffman

Military Times staff writer

WASHINGTON D.C. – Having already beaten Wake Forest once this year, it looked like Navy would waltz to an easy victory over the Demon Deacons in the inaugural EagleBank Bowl on Saturday at RFK Stadium after senior cornerback Rashawn King scooped up a fumble and sprinted into the end zone putting Navy ahead by 20 in the first half.

However, the touchdown, much like Navy’s lead, only proved temporary as Wake Forest, led by a perfect performance by quarterback Riley Skinner, rallied to beat Navy 29-19 as the Midshipmen finished the season 8-5.

King’s touchdown was called back after the referees reviewed the play and ruled Wake Forest fullback Mike Renfrette’s knee hit the turf before the ball squirted loose. It would have been King’s second touchdown of the afternoon in his first game back since his father, Drexel King, died suddenly two days before the Army-Navy game.

A Demon Deacon offense that has struggled all season and looked half asleep up to that point seemed to wake up once they got a second chance. Skinner and junior running back Kevin Harris, who ran for 136 yards, led Wake Forest on a 98-yard touchdown drive right before halftime cutting Navy’s lead to 13-7.

Up to that point, Navy had dominated every facet of the game.

“We wanted to jump on them early as we did last time,” said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo whose team led Wake Forest 17-0 at half in the two team’s first game of the season in which Navy won 24-17.

But like the first game, Wake Forest owned the second half and Skinner, who threw four interceptions in the first game, finished this afternoon without an incompletion on 11 attempts for 166 yards and a touchdown.

He torched Navy’s defense by evading the rush and giving his receivers time to sneak behind Navy’s secondary for multiple long completions.

Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green said he thought his defense had a coverage sack on the 44-yard pass Skinner had to wide receiver Chip Brinkman that set up a touchdown pass three plays later to tight end Ben Wooster in the fourth quarter, which put Wake Forest ahead to stay, 22-19.

“He did a good job of keeping the ball alive and scrambling. We had good coverage initially and I thought we had a sack, but then [Brinkman] comes all the way across the field. I give Skinner all the credit in the world,” Green said.

Before Wooster’s touchdown, Navy had wrestled back momentum and the lead after Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada ran in a touchdown from two yards out on third and goal. It was Navy’s first drive after Wake Forest had taken their first lead, 14-13, in the third quarter. The senior quarterback and three-year starter, who finished the day with 85 yards rushing, willed the Midshipmen back when he scampered 35 yards on the drive’s first play.

However, it wasn’t enough.

A fumble by Kaheaku-Enhada on fourth down with 1:51 remaining and Navy trailing by three ended the Midshipmen’s comeback effort. Two plays later, Wake Forest fullback Rich Belton put the Demon Deacons up by ten with a 35-yard touchdown run. Navy fans started heading to RFK Stadium’s exits shortly after.

“We just let it slip out of our fingers,” King said.

Despite the loss, King’s teammates and coaches said how happy they were to see King score a touchdown with his mother sitting in the stands watching.

“When he scooped up that ball and scored I had to hold back tears. If he would have gotten the second one, oh my gracious,” said Green, who holds a special bond with King and his family since he recruited and coached him.

King, who sat out the Army-Navy game to be with his family in Raleigh, N.C., said he received no pressure from coaches to play in the bowl game, but he knew he would have the strength when his mother traveled to D.C. to see her son play.

Immediately after he scored, King found his mother in the stands where they made eye contact on his way back to the sideline after scoring Navy’s first touchdown of the afternoon.

King makes up a senior class Niumatalolo described as “special” as it’s the third group of Navy seniors who have played in bowl games all four of their years at the Naval Academy.

Standing outside his team’s locker room shaking hands with his players as they walked out to the team bus, Niumatalolo reflected on those seniors and his first year as Navy’s head coach following Paul Johnson who left to coach at Georgia Tech.

“I knew If we just continued to do what we were doing we’d be okay and hopefully be successful so there could be some pride” in the football team throughout the Navy, Niumatalolo said.

Next year he said he is confident Navy’s football program will remain successful despite losing most of its offense to graduation including Kaheaku-Enhada, fullback Eric Kettani and slotback Shun White. However, backup quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who showed the potential to be Navy’s next star during games against Temple and Notre Dame, returns next year as a junior.

“We got some younger guys that can play,” Niumatalolo said. “I feel good about the guys that are coming up.”

Fighting back tears, he said this game didn’t change how he felt about those seniors and how it hurt to watch them take off their pads for the last time before pursuing careers in the Navy or Marine Corps.

“It’s pretty emotional because there is a finality to it,” he said. “Every year after a bowl game it’s pretty emotional in the locker room…We know they’ll be in harm’s way.”

Photo by Amy McCullough. Two important members of the Navy football team huddle on the sidelines to confer about their strategy for dealing with Wake Forest’s offense.

Senior fullback Eric Kettani has been invited to the 2009 Senior Bowl on Jan. 24 in Mobile, Ala. and the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 17 in Houston, Texas.

Kettani needs only 68 yards to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark, which his teammate, slotback Shun White has already accomplished this season.

These all-star games are packed with NFL scouts as many middle-round draft picks play in these games. The first round picks tend to bow out and wait for their personal workouts.

It’s just a shame that Kettani will not have a chance to play in the NFL next year after the Defense Department decided academy graduates will have to wait atleast two years before they can play. This came to light after all the attention West Point graduate Caleb Cambpell was drafted by the Lions last year.

Kettani would have a great chance to make an NFL roster and he could bring a lot of positive attention to the Navy. As writer John Feinstein pointed out when he spoke to Navy Times before the Army-Navy game: The two best Navy recruiters ever were NBA star David Robinson and NFL quarterback Roger Staubach. Both graduated from the Naval Academy.

Navy will again wear the Nike “Enforcer” jerseys this Saturday after they were unveiled two weeks ago at the Army-Nave game. The jerseys feature the traditional blood stripe from the Marine Corps elegant dress uniform pant and the symbols of the Navy and Marine Corps.

After Saturday, though, the jerseys will not be worn again. Navy players will be allowed to keep the jerseys as the team will return to their previous jerseys.

But why kill the jerseys that players and alums, who spoke to me at the Army-Navy game, seem to like? They are flashier, but not over the top like the Army uniforms with the digital camouflage pants and helmet. The blood stripe on the uniform pants is especially classy.

Firstie Derik Rothchild (#94) served four years as an enlisted sailor before getting accepted to the Naval Academy and joining the football team. He played nose guard through his junior year. This year you can find Rothchild with his signature mullet wig on the sideline firing up fellow midshipmen.

Still close to a lot of Navy’s players, Rotchild took a few minutes to break down the rematch with Wake Forest on Saturday.

Bill’s Bowl Blog: Who has the edge in the rematch?

Derik: “Really, I think we have the upper hand due to the fact we already beat them earlier in the year. But, we did have a lot of turnovers go our way. So either Wake is going to think: ‘Oh no, not this again, or if we just hold onto the ball we can beat these guys.”

“I have a lot of faith in our defense too. It’s a hard hitting defense and I love how they are playing right now.” (Editors note: Navy’s defense has shut out their last two opponents so that might be a bit of an understatement at how well they are playing.)

“With Kaipo back that really helps to. He’s healthy again, and with him leading the triple option we’re really running well. It also allows Jarod Bryant to go back to slot back and he’s got wheels.” (Editors note: With quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada running the team before he got injured and didn’t play in the second half against Wake Forest, Navy led 17-0 at halftime.)

Bill’s Bowl Blog: How does the team feel about playing Wake again?

Derik: “Since it’s a local venue at RFK I know a lot of people were gunning to play Maryland, but they turned it down because they have finals, which I don’t buy because our guys had finals this week too and we can somehow play.  I know some guys wanted to play a MAC team. I was hoping to play Miami, but no on really wanted the rematch.”

Bill’s Bowl Blog: Who has the advantage with the early kickoff time of 11 a.m.?

Derik: “The advantage will definitely go to us on that end. Knowing the Navy schedule, we practice early in the mornings on Saturday. I bet most of the Wake players don’t have classes that start some days until 1 p.m. We are up at 7 a.m. every morning so we’re used to it. We’ll finish the game and then go eat lunch. It’ll be normal.”

Bill’s Bowl Blog: You played in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, do you think some guys were disappointed to stay in the local area?

Derik: “From a players standpoint they don’t care. They don’t have that much free time with the game and everything else. I think most of the grouchiness came from the student body because they wanted to go somewhere nice. About a quarter of the student body will still go to the bowl game. Most students finished finals by Thursday so they went home after that and not many will want to just come back here.”

Bill’s Bowl Blog: How has the team responded to new coach Ken Niumatalolo?

Derik: “I think it’s working fairly well. He’s definitely different than coach [Paul] Johnson. Everyone responds differently though. Everyone likes coach Niumat (sic) like when he was the offensive coordinator. I think you could call him a player’s coach, but there are always times the nicest coaches, if you do something wrong, will make you feel the pain.”

Who knows if anyone is reading considering Navy Times isn’t exactly THE destination for sports news, but myself (Michael Hoffman) and Phil Ewing will be cranking the football blog back up to cover Navy’s trip to the inaugural EagleBank Bowl to play Wake Forest.

Both of us will be attending the game tomorrow at RFK stadium in Washington D.C. bright and early at 11 a.m. We plan to blog through the game for all those sailors who might have ESPN blocked on their work computers but hopefully not Navy Times’ site.

For the rest of the day we’ll be breaking down the rematch against Wake Forest including insight from former nose guard Derik Rothchild.

Army’s team just ran out onto the field with their new Nike “enforcer uniforms that feature digital camouflage pants. The rumors about camouflage helmets to go along with the pants turned out to be untrue. Army stuck to the gold helmets.

Walking into the game today and talking to some alums about the potential change to cammie pants, there was mostly a negative sentiment about it.

Photo by Jason Watkins

Sailors and Marines spelled out Go Navy Beat Army! on the flight deck of the assault ship Boxer.

Photo courtesy of Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen.

Billy the Goat and the Naval Academy cheerleaders stopped by Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter’s office for the annaul Beat Army! pep-rally held in the Naval wing of the Pentagon on Thursday afternoon.

Dec. 3: The pep rally will start at 7 p.m. at Farragut Field on Wednesday that will include fireworks and a bonfire.

Dec. 5: Midshipmen with the 13th Company will start the relatively new tradition of midshipmen and cadets running the game ball to the site of the game. It’s the 26th year of the tradition with this year’s running beginning at Bancroft Hall.

Newly minted starting quarterback Ricky Dobbs’ much anticipated first start didn’t open up the way he or Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo would have like with a fumble on the first snap in the shadow of Navy’s endzone.

Dobbs fell on the ball, though, and regrouped to lead the Midshipmen to a 16-0 win over Northern Illinois on a frigid Tuesday night in DeKalb, Illinois.

The shutout was Navy’s first since it blanked Tulsa 29-0 in 2004.

Dobbs finished the night rushing for 124 yards and one touchdown on 25 carries. Fulback Eric Kettani ran in the second touchdown from one yard out in the third quarter rushing for 92 yards on the night.

But it was Navy’s defense that led the Midshipmen to a win that clinches their sixth straight winning season and keeps them alive to reach the nine-win plateau with wins over Army on Dec. 6 and the Dec. 20 EagleBank Bowl game in Washington D.C.

Down 16-0, Northern Illinois marched down to Navy’s three on a 20-play drive that ate up 10 minutes of clock in the fourth quarter. Running out of time and still trailing two touchdowns along with two 2-point conversions, Navy’s constantly improving pass defense stood strong on fourth down causing an incompletion in the endzone forcing the Huskies to turn the ball over on downs.

“The key stops allowed us to settle down and take our time to score,” Dobbs said.

Navy’s defense will now prepare for a Army team still trying to master the triple-option offense that has been installed this year.