The rest of the second half was everything you could have wanted an Army-Navy game to be. If the officials made a mistake, neither side seemed to notice-these refs were every player’s new best friend.
Navy, which had been backed up on its 4-yard line before the break, couldn’t move and had to punt to Army, which took over at midfield. From there, the Cadets put together the first (allowed) scoring drive of the day, with quarterback Trent Steelman diving in from the 1-yard line. Navy answered right away, Dobbs matching his counterpart with his own run into the end zone, tying the game at 7-7 with 2:07 left in the third quarter.
It was Army’s ball again, but Alan Arnott stepped in front of his brother, made a one-handed interception of a Steelman pass, and got the ball back for Navy on the Army 32. On the very first play, Dobbs faked to Murray, pulled the ball back at the last minute, and found Greg Jones wide open in the middle. It was the exact play that had produced the called-back touchdown in the first half. But this time there was no flag, and Navy led 14-7.
Undaunted, Steelman fired a blistering pass through two defenders to Michael Arnott, who outraced his brother and two other defenders while sprinting forty-seven yards to tie the game again as the third quarter ended.
“This is the way Army-Navy is supposed to be,” Taylor said to Stevie. “You have your heart in your throat on every play.”
After the gun sounded to end the third quarter-the new officials had apparently taken possession of Dowling’s starter pistol-Stevie looked up and saw Susan Carol walking in his direction.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I missed you. This is too good to watch without my partner.”
The fourth quarter was the same as the third: back and forth. Navy put together a seven-minute drive to go up 21-14. Army responded by taking almost five minutes off the clock and tying the score again with 3:08 left.
Everyone in the stadium was on their feet. Dobbs, cool as ever, drove his team to the Army 33, finding slotback G. G. Greene on a key third and eight for twenty-seven yards. Two running plays moved the ball to the 24 with the clock ticking toward a minute. Army called time out with 1:21 to go.
“They don’t want to let the clock run all the way down and let Navy kick a field goal to win the game at the buzzer,” Susan Carol said.
“Then they have to stop them on this play, or that will happen,” Stevie said.
For once, Kelly, Hall, and Taylor were all quiet. They knew what was at stake as Navy lined up on third and one. Dobbs brought his team up, waving for quiet from the Navy side. Navy didn’t try anything fancy. Dobbs handed the ball to Murray to drive up the middle. But Army had seen it coming and Murray never got to the line of scrimmage. He struggled forward for a second but was brought down at the 25-yard line.
Army immediately used its second time-out. Navy had fourth and two with the clock showing 1:09.
“Any chance they go for it?” Stevie asked.
Susan Carol shook her head. “No. Navy’s got a very good field goal kicker and Army’s only goin’ to have one time-out left either way. They go for the field goal here for sure.”
As usual, she was right. Navy kicker Joe Buckley trotted out with the field goal unit.
“Maybe we should call time here to ice him,” Hall said.
“Can’t,” Taylor said. “We need that last time-out when we get the ball back.”
Buckley lined up for the kick. The snap was perfect and he calmly kicked the ball cleanly through the uprights. Navy led 24-21 with 1:05 left in the game. Stevie could see the Navy sideline celebrating. He could also see Niumatalolo waving at his players to calm down. He knew the game wasn’t over yet.
Stevie could feel a chill in the air. Because of the delay, it was now almost four o’clock and the field was bathed in shadows.
But no one in the stands cared a bit. They were on their feet, yelling full throttle.
“Who do you want to see win?” he yelled at Susan Carol over the noise.
“I don’t know,” Susan Carol yelled back. “I can’t stand the thought of seeing either team lose.”
Stevie felt the same way. He’d found it much harder to be a die-hard fan since he started covering sports. He always rooted for his friends to do well. But in this case, he had friends on both sidelines.
Navy kicked off, and Army kick returner John Conroy found a little hole on the right side and got the ball to the 36-yard line.
“Gives us a chance,” Kelly said.
He was right.
Steelman ran an option to the right and picked up eleven yards and a first down. That stopped the clock with fifty-one seconds to go. On the next play, Army spiked the ball to stop the clock immediately.
“How far do you need to get the ball for Parker to have a chance at a field goal?” Stevie asked.
“Jay’s made one from 50 this season,” Hall said. “That’s the longest of his career. We have to get to the 33.”
Steelman ran left on the next play and pitched to Steve Carpenter. He picked up six, so they were in Navy territory now. On the 47. The clock was running and, because of the spike on first down, it was now third and four.
“Have to save the time-out as long as we can,” Kelly said.
Steelman got a quick snap with twenty-nine seconds to go and, surprisingly, handed it to the fullback Hassin, who went straight up the middle. Navy was surprised too. Hassin had a huge hole and he picked up nine yards-and, most importantly, the first down-steamrolling to the 38. Again the clock stopped for the chains to be moved. Again Steelman spiked the ball on the next play. There were seventeen seconds left in the game.
Stevie looked back and saw Jay Parker calmly kicking the ball into a net a few yards from where he was standing.
Steelman took the snap again, faked to Hassin, and went back to try a play-action pass. Navy had gambled, though, and Middleton was coming fast on a safety blitz. Steelman never had a chance to get off a throw. Navy defenders took him down at the 46. The clock ticked under ten seconds.
Coach Ellerson took Army’s last time-out with nine seconds left. It was third and eighteen. Army had to somehow pick up about twelve or thirteen yards to get into Parker’s range and stop the clock so there’d be time to get the field goal team onto the field.
“I think they may be done,” Susan Carol said.
“NEVER say that,” said Taylor, who had overheard her.
Army came back to the line after the time-out. TV hadn’t gone to commercial, so the time-out only lasted forty-five seconds. Steelman took the snap and quickly rolled to his right. He made a pump fake as if to throw deep, then threw a short sideline pass to Michael Arnott, who had curled underneath the Navy defense. Arnott caught the ball and was shoved out of bounds by his brother at the Navy 36. Stevie looked at the clock: there was one second left.
They had no choice but to hope that Parker could make the longest field goal of his life. He trotted onto the field.
“Well, at least we’ve got a shot at it,” Hall said.
“It’ll take a miracle,” Kelly answered.
“Miracles happen,” Taylor said.
As soon as Parker got into position to kick, Navy called time out. They had that luxury. In fact, they could call one more. Which they did. Parker had to wait close to two minutes before he finally had a chance to line up to kick. He was standing right on the 43-yard line, meaning he was fifty-three yards from the goalposts.
Susan Carol slipped her hand into Stevie’s and he squeezed.
The snap came back and the ball went down. When it came off Parker’s foot, Stevie thought it was wide right. But as it got closer to the goalposts, it was hooking. It hooked and hooked and began to wobble, and finally it hit the right goalpost-and bounced through!
It was good. Hall, Kelly, and Taylor were all pummeling each other. Susan Carol had her arm in the air and Stevie’s along with it. The Army bench went wild, and the stadium was exploding on both sides.
They had played sixty minutes-almost twenty-five of them with real referees-and the score was tied 24-24.
They would decide the game in overtime.
“NOW WHAT?” Stevie said.
“Now we watch them go at it some more,” she said. “Then we watch them stand together and cry during the alma maters no matter who wins the game.”
“I don’t want it to ever end,” Stevie said.
She nodded, her eyes shining. “It’s exactly the way it should be, isn’t it?” She smiled. “And best of all, you and I get to watch it together.”
As usual, she was right. Being a part of Army-Navy was like nothing else he’d ever done in his life. But seeing it up close with his arm around Susan Carol made it just about perfect.