‘The Game’ Last Shot for Navy Seniors

For Bob Weissenfels and James Bradley and almost every other senior at Navy, this is it.

It’s the last chance to beat Army. It’s the last chance to avenge three straight losses. It’s the last chance to win The Game that is everything at the Naval Academy and West Point.

“There is one game on the line right now,” said Weissenfels, Navy’s free safety and co-captain. “This is the most important one, especially for the seniors, since we haven’t won. Not to beat Army would be very disappointing.”

The Cadets (6-4) appear to have the statistical and talent advantages over Navy (2-8), which has lost four in a row. But that will be forgotten when the teams meet at Giants Stadium on Saturday.

Bradley, a halfback and co-captain, has spent all season getting ready for this game.

“I don’t want to say to my kids or my grandkids, ‘Well, son, I went to the Naval Academy and we never beat Army,’ ” Bradley said.

Beating Army would also help make up for three straight losing seasons under Coach Elliot Uzelac, who was hospitalized last month for testing of an internal problem.

“When you have a disappointing record, beating Army takes everything out of the way,” Weissenfels said. “Years down the road, when people say how did you do, we could say we beat Army and that makes everything OK.”

The game will have the added attraction of Army halfback Mike Mayweather, a junior, looking to break the Cadets’ single-season and career rushing records. He needs 56 yards to break Doug Black’s single-season mark of 1,148 yards, set in 1984, and 81 yards to snap Glenn Davis’ career mark of 2,957 yards, set in 1943-46.

Mayweather was expected to break the mark in Army’s previous game, against Colgate, but he suffered a groin injury and left in the second quarter.

Defensively, Army has given up an average of 19.3 points per game, compared to Navy’s 25.5. The Cadets are averaging nearly 30 points per game, while Navy has averaged only 12.6 points per game and been plagued by turnovers near the opposition’s goal line.

“I think this is the greatest rivalry,” Army Coach Jim Young said. “Nothing I know compares to it.”

Young also said Navy is better than its record.

“They beat Boston College and Boston College beat us,” Young said. “I think that says it all. It shows what they are capable of. All the recent contests have been very close, hard-fought games.”

This is the 90th meeting between the service academies. The Cadets evened the series at 41-41-7 last year with a 20-15 victory at Philadelphia, where the game will return next year.

Giants Stadium is the 12th site to host the game and the first new one since the game was played in the Rose Bowl in 1983.