Army Battles For Win
In the long and storied history of Army football, Thursday night's victory over Louisville was one of the Cadets' wildest wins ever.
Quarterback Joe Gerena scored on a 7-yard run in the second overtime, and Michael Wallace rushed for a school-record 269 yards and four touchdowns as Army beat Louisville 59-52.
It was the first overtime game for either school.
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Louisville overcame a 45-17 halftime deficit to force overtime, but came up just short in the second extra period.
"I told the team that I was totally embarrassed in the first half, but I've never been more proud of the way we came out in the second half," said Louisville coach John L. Smith. "This was an unbelievable game."
After Gerena scored in the second OT, Louisville started from the Army 25 and gained a first down at the 12. But the drive stalled and, on a fourth-and-7 from the 8, Louisville quarterback Chris Redman threw a pass to Lavell Boyd near the back of the end zone. Boyd jumped and seemed to have the ball in his hands but dropped it under pressure from several Army defendes.
"Derrick (Goodwin) made a great play to be there and put pressure on the receiver," said Army linebacker Nate Hunterton.
In the first overtime, Louisville (3-3, 0-1 Conference USA) took the lead on Frank Moreau's 10-yard TD run but Army (2-3, 1-2) tied it on Gerena's 9-yard scoring pass to Brandon Rooney.
Wallace, who carried 19 times, broke Army's single-game rushing record of 253 yards set by Charlie Jarvis against Boston College in 1968.
"I'm on cloud nine right now," Wallace said. "It feels great to be part of Army history. I just want to credit the offensive line. They did an awesome job."
Wallace, a junior fullback, rushed for four TDs in the first half as Army built a 45-17 lead. The scoring runs covered 32, 1, 78 and 67 yards.
But Louisville rallied to tie it with four touchdowns in the second half two 1-yard scoring runs by Moreau and two TD passes by Redman, an 18-yarder to Ibn Green and a 5-yarder to Boyd.
Army gained 564 yards, while Louisville had 489.
Redman completed 36 of 50 passes for 366 yards.
"We came out with a lot of emotion (in the second half) and were determined to come back and pull it off," Redman said. "We almost did, so you've got to give us credit for that."
Gerena completed 5 of 10 passes for 84 yards and one touchdown. He also ran 25 times for 98 yards and three touchdowns.
Moreau carried 27 times for 150 yards and four TDs.
Green caught 11 passes for 153 yards, and teammate Arnold Jackson had 10 receptions for 97 yards.
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