Navy Sinks Army In 100th

Soon after the 100th Army-Navy football game, a man with a howitzer-like water hose washed the "1-0-0" from the 50-yard line at Veterans Stadium.

The game itself will not be so easily forgotten.

With Heisman Trophy winners Roger Staubach and Joe Bellino on hand to close out a century of this great rivalry, Navy beat Army 19-9 Saturday in a game it dedicated to two fallen Midshipmen.

"They can sit there and tell their grandkids on day, 'We beat Army in the 100th Army-Navy game," Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie said. "They can say, 'I don't remember what the score was, but we kicked their tail.' I'm sure the lies will grow and grow."

Navy's seniors played their final game with heavy hearts after losing a teammate two years ago. All Midshipmen at the game also wore a patch in memory of fellow Middie Chris Wilson of Dayton, Tenn., who died Tuesday after collapsing during a physical test.

Marchetti, a senior who broke down crying after the game, said he was thinking about former teammate Jason McCray, who collapsed and died while playing basketball two summers ago.

Senior Scott Burton beseeched his teammates at a senior meeting Friday night, "Do it for Jason McCray," Marchetti said. "I just kind of lost it there, and I've been emotional ever since."

Madden, voted the MVP, wore the No. 8 version of Navy's throwback uniforms that were revived from Staubach's era for the game. He ran for Navy's only touchdown on the Middies' first possession. Tim Shubzda provided four field goals, tying the series record, and the Navy snuffed out a fourth-quarter comeback try by the Cadets (3-8).

Although Navy stopped a two-game losing streak, Army still holds a 48-45-7 edge in the series, whih began in 1890.

"It's a game that never leaves you," said Army coach Bob Sutton, who faced questions about his job being in danger after the game. "Winning this game is the greatest feeling in the word. Losing it is the exact opposite."

Sutton, entering the final year of his contract, said, "Nothing has been said about my future. I have a contract. I am anticipating that the contract will be honored."

"I work for an institution where one of our pillars is honor, so I have great trust and confidence with that."

Army couldn't duplicate last season's heroics, when it came back from a 30-19 deficit at the start of the fourth for a 34-30 victory. Joe Gerena, MVP of last year's game, was held to 28 rushing yards and was 7-for-19 for 95 yards and an interception by John Chavous that sealed it with 3:01 left.

"The blue chips go to Florida and Florida State and they probably say we're a bunch of rejects," Chavous said. "They feel like they're doing a service to their school. We feel like the school has done a service to us."

Navy, the top-ranked rushing team in the nation, amassed a relatively modest 216 yards. But in all five starts for injured Brian Broadwater, Madden topped 100 yards.

Madden said winning the MVP "means nothing to me."

Asked if he got a chance to meet Staubach, who joined four of the academies' Heisman Trophy winners for the coin toss, Madden said, "No sir, I didn't. I'd like to do that."

Marchetti, whose father player running back for Navy in 1970, recovered two fumbles in the third the last one with Army driving at the Navy 15.

"I'm set for life now," Marchetti said. "I've got bragging rights for life."

Trailing 13-3 at halftime, Sutton sent Chad Jenkins in to replace Gerena. The experiment lasted only one series, as Jenkins fumbled on a second-and-7 play. Marchetti forced and recovered it to set up Shubzda's 37-yard field goal to make it 16-3.

"I may not be making all the tackles, but for some reason I'm a magnet to the ball," said Marchetti, who has the same name as the former Baltimore Colts player but isn't sure he's related.

After Shubzda's fourth field goal made it 19-3, Army made its comeback bid. Gerena hit halfback Calvin Smith for 18 yards on third-and-2 with 6:34 left, then passed to a wide-open Shaun Castillo for a 2-yard touchdown that cut it to 19-9. It was Castillo's first touchdown and third catch all season.

"I'll never forget that," Castillo said, "but it wasn't enough."

At the all-Heisman coin toss, Navy was represented by Bellino, who won the Heisman in 1960, and Staubach, who won it in 1963 and went on to a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

For Army, it was halfback Pete Dawkins, the 1958 Heisman winner who went on to a career as a brigadier general, and halfback Glenn Davis, the 1946 Heisman winner. Only Felix Blanchard, "Mr. Inside" to Davis' "Mr. Outside" during Army's glory years of the 1940s, did not attend. Blanchard was the Heisman winner in 1945.

Philadelphia hosted the game for the 75th time in front of a crowd of 70,049 at Veterans Stadium.

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