Army Shows Fight, Edged By Michigan in OT

ANN ARBOR, MI – It took two overtimes, but the Army West Point football team fell to No. 7 Michigan, 24-21, in front of 111,474 fans at Michigan Stadium.

Michigan’s Jake Moody kicked a field goal in the second overtime to put the Wolverines up 24-21 and then the home team forced a fumble on third down to come away with the win.

Army saw Connor Slomka rush for a team-high 92 yards on the ground and quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. ran for 41 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. Elijah Riley finished with a career-high 13 tackles, including two tackles for loss. Cole Christiansen racked up 12 tackles and a forced fumble.

The Black Knights were on the board first after being set up by a sack and forced fumble by Arik Smith with the recovery from Kwabena Bonsu at the 10:13 mark of the opening quarter.

The drive stayed alive thanks to a two-yard rush by Slomka with Army facing 4th-and-1 on its own 49.

Kell Walker set up the scoring play with a season-high 31-yard carry to the Michigan 18-yard line.

Sandon McCoy powered into the end zone for the score from two-yards out to put the Cadets ahead of Michigan 7-0.

With 24 seconds on the clock in the first, the Wolverines evened the score with Zach Charbonnet finding the end zone.

The two teams traded turnovers when Riley sacked Shea Patterson for a loss of seven yards and then recovered the ball to set up the Black Knights in the second quarter.

On the next Michigan drive, Christiansen forced another Wolverines fumble which was recovered by Cam Jones at the 9:37 minute mark.

Army ate up a chunk of the game clock in the second during a 40-yard, 11-play and 6:46 minute drive to re-take the lead.

Army was 4th-and-5 on the Michigan 35 and attempted a pass, but it was a holding call against Michigan that kept the Black Knights’ drive alive with 7:35 on the clock.

Then two minutes later, Slomka was successful on a 4th-and-2 play on the Michigan 14 setting up the Cadets for the score.

Hopkins punched it in for the touchdown with 2:51 remaining in the first half to gain a 14-7 advantage over the Wolverines.

Michigan re-tied the score after a 5:19 minute drive in the third quarter.

It was Charbonnet in the end zone again for the Wolverines to bring the score to 14-14.

The Cadets made big 4th-and-2 stops on back-to-back Michigan drives in the fourth quarter.

Five minutes in, Army stopped Michigan on its own 25 during when Jaylon McClinton perfectly anticipated the play to secure the stop.

With 2:32 remaining in regulation, Christiansen and Cedrick Cunningham Jr. combined for the stand to provide the Black Knights an attempt to take the game.

With two seconds on the clock, Army attempted a 50-yard field goal from the Michigan 33-yard line, but it was just short to send the game into overtime.

Army was first up on offense and scored on five plays to go ahead 21-14. Hopkins scored on the 6-yard keeper.

Michigan answered with a touchdown of its own on four plays to force another round of overtime.

The Wolverines were up first this time and settled for a 43-yard field goal which turned into the game-winning scor.

The Black Knights continue their road series with a competition at UTSA on Sept. 14. Kick off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT.