The teams combined to set an attendance record in 2010 when more than 48,000 fans flocked to Qualcomm Stadium to view the San Diego State University Aztecs defeat the Navy Midshipmen 35-14. The Aztecs and Midshipmen are set to rematch on Tuesday, Dec. 23, in the 10th annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
The 10th anniversary match-up appears to indeed be special.
Kick-off is set for 6:30 p.m., with the telecast on ESPN.
“This is a fantastic pairing of two teams that are well-known and loved, especially right here in San Diego,” 2014 bowl president Vincent Mudd stated in a media release. “It sets up to be a great game and we anticipate a fantastic turnout for this 10th anniversary game.”
This will be the fourth appearance by Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl — the most by one school — and the third for SDSU.
The Midshipmen are 1-2 in three previous Poinsettia Bowl appearances while the Aztecs are 1-1.
Both teams enter the game 7-5 on the season.
Red and Black
There is much to celebrate on Montezuma Mesa. SDSU is making its fifth consecutive bowl game appearance, a school record.
“Very few teams are going to a fifth straight bowl game and our players have worked hard to get there,” Aztec head coach Rocky Long stated in a prepared release. “It shows how successful our program has become. I’ve been lucky enough to have gone to several bowls and our fifth-year seniors have gotten to go to five straight bowls. The Poinsettia Bowl has been great to us and we know how well they treat us. Our players are excited about being home, so their family and friends can come watch them play.”
SDSU is hoping its Poinsettia Bowl fortunes are better than the last time they made an appearance in the traditional pre-Christmas post-season event. The Aztecs dropped a 23-6 decision to BYU in 2012.
Donnel Pumphrey, a First Team All-Mountain West selection this season, set a SDSU sophomore record with 1,755 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. He is averaging 146.2 yards per game, 6.2 yards per carry and needs just 87 yards to tie the school record of 1,842 single-season rushing yards set by George Jones in 1995.
The Aztecs’ running game has solidified behind the performance of the team’s offensive line, among those being former Mater Dei Catholic standout Nico Siragusa.
SDSU’s ball-carriers are averaging 219 yards per game with 25 touchdowns scored on the season.
“I think what’s most amazing about this is that they’re since the first two weeks of the season, everybody is stacking their defense to stop the run. And in order to still be able to run that well, you have to have good running backs, which we do, but good running backs don’t show up unless somebody’s blocking,” Long explained.
“I think I said this right at the start of the year. I was disappointed in the offensive line because, guess what, we’re big, we’re strong, we’re athletic. They ought to be blocking like that. There’s some big, strong, athletic lines that don’t block that well, but when you have that kind of size and talent on the offensive line, if they don’t block that well, that’s a coaching issue. That’s not a player issue. That’s a coaching issue.
“Now, if we weren’t big and strong and athletic up there, I’d say, I don’t know what they’re I don’t know how they’re doing it, but they’re plenty capable of doing what they’re doing right now.”
The SDSU defense has also performed ably, ranking 15th in the nation in points allowed (20.1), 20th in passing yards allowed (192.0) and 40th in rushing yards allowed (145.6).
Aztec cornerbacks Damontae Kazee (52 tackles, 13 pass break-ups, one interception) and J.J. Whitaker (58 tackles, six pass break-ups and two interceptions) were named second-team all-conference, while teammates Calvin Munson (78 tackles, 10.5 tackles for losses, four sacks, four interceptions and two forced fumbles), Josh Gavert (78 tackles, 4.5 tackles for losses, four pass break-ups), Malik Smith (58 tackles, seven pass break-ups, three interceptions) and Alex Barrett (39 tackles, nine tackles for losses, three sacks) were ache honorable-mention selections.
SDSU has 68 tackles for losses this season by 20 players and 24 sacks by 12 players.
Which team might have the edge? SDSU finished 6-0 in its six home games this season. The Aztecs are also 3-0 in three meetings against Navy. In fact, SDSU has won eight consecutive games against service academies (Air Force, Army and Navy) — the longest active streak in the country.
Go Navy
The Midshipmen, known for their penchant for running the option play, are led by quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who has rushed for 61 career touchdowns, the most in NCAA history by a quarterback and the seventh most by a player at any position.
Despite missing two games this season due to injury, Reynolds has rushed for 1,182 yards and 21 TDs.
Senior fullback Noah Copeland has rushed for 889 yards and five touchdowns, and is averaging 7.6 yards per carry.
The Midshipmen entered their final regular season game leading the national with a school record 357.8 yards per game.
The Navy defense is anchored by senior linebacker Jordan Drake (team-leading 85 tackles and two forced fumbles) and sophomore linebacker Daniel Gonzales (73 tackles, two interceptions). Senior safety/co-captain Parrish Gaines leads the Midshipmen with three picks.
Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo (55-35) is one win away from becoming the school’s all-time wins leader.
Niumatalolo said his team is “excited” to be participating in this year’s Poinsettia Bowl.
SDSU’s Long calls Navy’s triple option offense the “best type” of offense to run.
With such a strong military presence in San Diego County, it’s a fair guess that Navy might even be considered the “home” team for this year’s Poinsettia Bowl. The Rams have used Southwestern College’s refurbished DeVore Stadium as a training site for this year’s bowl game (Nebraska will do the same for the upcoming Holiday Bowl).
The Midshipmen defeated Colorado State, 51-30, in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl in 2005 and dropped bowl match-ups to Utah (35-32 in 2007) and SDSU in 2010.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Navy has a somewhat sizable contingent of San Diego area players on its roster. Five players hail from San Diego Section CIF schools, with another from nearby Temecula.
Senior long-snapper Joe Cardona attended Granite Hills High School while other county locals include junior kicker Nick Sloan (Scripps Ranch), sophomore cornerback Cameron Bryant (Mira Mesa) and senior defensive end Paul Quessenberry (La Costa Canyon). Also, freshman safety Dexter Bell attended Imperial High School while freshman safety Randy Beggs attended Vista Murrieta High School.
A returning three-year starter, Cardona was the only the second freshman to start in program history and has established himself as one of the nation’s top long-snappers on both punts and field goals.
A 2010 graduate of Granite Hills, Cardona attended the Naval Academy Prep School during the 2010-11 academic year. While at GHHS, he was a two-sport athlete who lettered twice in football and four years in lacrosse. He led the Eagles to a conference title in lacrosse in 2010, earned conference MVP honors and second-team all-section honors.
Quessenberry, an all-section honoree and San Diego CIF champion with the Mavericlks as a junior, has dedicated his 2014 season to older brother David, an offensive lineman with the NFL Houston Texans, who last May announced he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
David Quessenberry is the oldest of three football playing brothers. Youngest brother Scott is a sophomore lineman at UCLA.
Paul Quessenberry said the highlight for his older brother this season has been watching his two younger brothers play on TV every Saturday, giving him that extra strength “to keep fighting, keep pushing and get healthy,” the middle brother told the media.
“I couldn’t do anything more meaningful in my life than to play as hard as I possibly can,” Paul Quessenberry told The Capital Gazette.
Gaslamp march
March bands from both SDSU and Navy will participate in the Carrier-Johnson + Culture Gaslamp March, starting at opposite ends of Fifth Avenue at 6 p.m. on Sunday. The event comes to a crescendo at Fifth Avenue and Market Street, from 6:15 to 7 p.m. when both bands will perform holiday favorites. The event is free to the public.
For updates, visit the website at www.sandiegobowlgames.com.
Rising local talent to sing national anthem at San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
U.S. Naval Academy ‘March On’ also featured
Fifteen-year-old San Diego native and local standout Katriz Trinidad will perform the national anthem at the 10th annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The pre-game spectacular will also feature the “March On” of the Midshipmen by the U.S. Naval Academy.
The game historically features festive pageantry throughout.
Trinidad, from Chula Vista, was a contestant in Season Seven of “The Voice” in 2014. She entered and won her first singing competition at age eight and has won 14 championships since then. Trinidad performed at the 2012 California State Democratic Convention and also appeared at a San Diego Padres game during the 2014 season.
The SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl will open with a “March On” of the Midshipmen, a tradition when Navy is playing in the game. The Parade of Wishes follows, featuring children and families from Make-a-Wish® San Diego, and then Trinidad will sing the national anthem as a football field-sized “big flag” is unfurled by 250 Marines.
The pre-game show is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
Tickets for the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl can be purchased by visiting www.sandiegobowlgames.com.
Holiday Bowl preview: USC makes first appearance in San Diego
The Holiday Bowl has been judged as the second-best bowl game on the West Coast after the heralded Rose Bowl.
That’s saying something, and this year’s match-up shouldn’t disappoint. Nebraska has never beaten USC since 1969. The teams tied in 1970. Will this year’s meeting be a first for the Huskers?
The Trojans are among the nation’s premier bowl teams, with an overall post-season record of 32-16 (not including one win and one loss later vacated due to NCAA penalty). USC has lost just twice in its past 10 bowl games. Last year, USC defeated Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl 45-20.
USC, which has two losses this year that came on the opponents’ final play of the game, features an up-tempo offense that is highly ranked nationally in a number of passing categories and a strong defense that is in the national Top 25 in red zone defense, turnover margin and third down conversion defense.
Quarterback Cody Kessler, a finalist for the Unitas Golden Arm Award and Manning Award, is among the nation’s leaders in in passing efficiency, completion percentage, touchdown passes, completions and passing yards while hitting more than 70 percent of his throws with 36 TDs and just 4 interceptions. All-Pac-12 first team tailback Javorius Allen, a 1,000-yard runner has eight 100-yard rushing outings this year.
USC’s defense is headlined by All-American defensive end Leonard Williams, a Hendricks Award finalist, along with inside linebacker Hayes Pullard, who could be the first Trojan in 35 years to lead USC in tackles for three seasons, and All-Pac-12 first team safety-turned-outside linebacker Su’a Cravens, who has 16 tackles for a loss this year and six career picks.
USC has three players on its roster with San Diego County ties: sophomore place-kicker Matt Boermeester (Cathedral Catholic), freshman fullback Brett Sarem (Cathedral Catholic) and redshirt sophomore inside linebacker Nick Schlossberg (La Jolla Country Day).
Tickets for the National University Holiday Bowl can be purchased by visiting www.sandiegobowlgames.com.
Poinsettia Bowl
Scoring Summary
NAVY 17, SDSU 16
Dec.23, 2014 at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, Calif.
First Quarter
Navy: Keenan Reynolds 1-yard run (7:35 remaining). PAT successful by Austin Grebe. Score: Navy 7, SDSU 0
SDSU: Donnel Pumphrey 5-yard run (5:35 remaining). PAT successful by Donny Hageman. Score: SDSU 7, Navy 7
SDSU: Donny Hageman 43-yard field goal successful (2:53 remaining). Score: SDSU 10, Navy 7
Second Quarter
SDSU: Donny Hageman 37-yard field goal successful (6:34 remaining). Score: SDSU 13, Navy 7
Third Quarter
Navy: Keenan Reynolds 6-yard run (8:28 remaining). PAT successful by Austin Grebe. Score: Navy 14, SDSU 13
SDSU: Donny Hageman 30-yard field goal successful (4:16 remaining). Score: SDSU 16, Navy 14
Fourth Quarter
Navy: Austin Grebe 24-yard field goal successful (1:27 remaining). Score: Navy 17, SDSU 16
Poinsettia Bowl Recap
The Poinsettia Bowl has been decided by 10 points or less in six of the last eight games, and Tuesday’s game came down to a missed 35-yard field goal by SDSU’s Donald Hageman with 20 seconds to play to preserve a one-point Navy win.
There were five changes in the game overall, with SDSU erasing an early 7-0 Navy lead to go ahead 10-7, then Navy went ahead 14-13, SDSU went up 16-13 and Navy went ahead 17-16.
Chris Swain led Navy with 72 rushing yards on eight carries while Ryan Williams-Jenkins had 67 yards on eight attempts, Noah Copeland had 63 yards on 12 carries, DeBrandon Sanders had 24 yards on four carries, Geoffrey Whiteside had 20 yards on six attempts and Reynolds had 19 yards on six carries.
Reynolds scored both Navy TDs — the first on a one-yard run in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead and the second on a six-yard run in the third quarter to put his team on top 14-13.
SDSU’s Donnel Pumphrey led all ball-carriers in the game with 112 rushing yards on 21 carries, while Chase Price picked up 69 yards on 11 rushes and Aztec quarterback Quinn Kaehler rushed once for five yards.
Pumphrey scored SDSU’s one touchdown of the game on a five-yard run in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7.
Kaehler completed 11 of 27 passing attempts for 141 yards with two interceptions.
SDSU out-gained Navy 327-271 in total yards. The Midshipmen accumulated 254 rushing yards on 58 carries but tacked on just 17 passing yards.
Leading receivers included Pumphrey with four receptions for 42 yards, Larry Clark with three receptions for 45 yards, Price with two receptions for nine yards, Eric Judge with one reception for 32 yards and Chase Favreau with one catch for 13 yards. Navy’s Brendan Dudeck had two catches for 15 yards while Whiteside had one catch for two yards.
Navy’s Daniel Gonzales and George Jamison each recorded interceptions. There were seven turnovers in the game overall. The game featured six fumbles, with Navy losing all four and SDSU losing one of its two fumbles.
Devante Davis recovered a muffed punt to set up SDSU’s go-ahead field goal in the third quarter. Pumphrey returned the favor with a fumble near midfield that resulted in what proved to be Navy’s game-winning field goal.
SDSU had a chance to extend its lead by driving to the Navy 12-yard line midway through the fourth quarter before Kaehler was incomplete on fourth-and-five. A fourth field goal would have extended the Aztec lead to 19-13 at that point in the game.
Navy notepad
•The Midshipmen won back-to-back bowl games for the second time in school history.
•Quarterback Keenan Reynolds scored his 64th career rushing touchdown — fourth most in NCAA history.Reynolds was named the game’s Offensive MVP.
•Linebacker Jordan Drake was named the game’s Defensive MVP.
•Navy finished 3-for-3 on fourth-down attempts.
SDSU notepad
•San Diego State made its 13th bowl appearance, the ninth in 46 seasons as a Division I school and played in a school-record fifth consecutive bowl game on Dec. 23 when it faced Navy in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
•The Aztecs were one of just 27 schools nationally to play in a bowl game each of the past five seasons. From the state of California – college or pro – only SDSU and Stanford made the postseason each of the last five years.
•Among the “Group of 5” Conferences, San Diego State joined Boise State and Northern Illinois as the only schools to have played in a bowl game at the conclusion of each of the last five seasons.
•Rocky Long has guided SDSU to a bowl game in each of his first four seasons as the head coach. Long is one of 19 coaches to guide his current school to a bowl appearance in each of his first four seasons. His record is 1-3 in those four bowl games.
•Donnel Pumphrey broke George Jones’ single-season rushing mark of 1,842 yards set in 1995 with 1,867 yards. Pumphrey also set a new school record with his 10th 100-yard rushing game in a season, which ties a Mountain West Conference record.
•Donald Hageman set a school record with 20 field goals made in one season and set a school record with three field goals in one game. He also tied the bowl game record of three field goals in one game and set a new Poinsettia Bowl record with his 43-yard field goal in the second quarter, eclipsing the former record of 39 yards set by Navy’s Joey Bullen in 2007 and Utah State’s Nick Diaz in 2013.
•SDSU sets a school record with four fumble recoveries.
•Rashaad Penny’s kickoff return of 57 yards in the first quarter in the second longest in Poinsettia Bowl game history.
Peter Kluch assisted in the preparation of this story
A ton of memories for Eagles’ grad Cardona and victorious Navy Midshipmen in Poinsettia Bowl
With such a strong military presence in San Diego County, it seemed as if both the Navy Midshipmen and SDSU Aztecs shared equal billing as “home” teams in the 10th annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Dec. 23 at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Rams (8-5) used Southwestern College’s refurbished DeVore Stadium as a training site for the bowl game to further local ties to the team.
The 10th anniversary match-up proved special as Navy — the champions of the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl in 2005 — shook off two ensuing losses in the bowl game, including a 35-14 setback to SDSU in 2010, to prevail, 17-16, over the Aztecs in a heart-pounding finish.
Navy’s Austin Grebe kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:27 remaining in the fourth quarter to erase a 16-14 SDSU lead.
The Aztecs (7-6) got in position to win the game but Donald Hageman’s 35-yard field goal attempt with 20 seconds to play was wide right to preserve the Navy win.
Ironically, Hageman had set a new SDSU record with 20 field goals in one season after previously splitting the uprights from 43 and 37 yards in the game to boost the Aztecs to a 13-7 lead.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Navy had a somewhat sizable contingent of San Diego area players on its roster. Five players hailed from San Diego Section CIF schools, with another from nearby Temecula.
Senior long-snapper Joe Cardona attended Granite Hills High School, while other county locals included junior kicker Nick Sloan (Scripps Ranch), sophomore cornerback Cameron Bryant (Mira Mesa) and senior defensive end Paul Quessenberry (La Costa Canyon). Also, freshman safety Dexter Bell attended Imperial High School while freshman safety Randy Beggs attended Vista Murrieta High School.
A returning three-year starter, Cardona was the only the second freshman to start in program history and has established himself as one of the nation’s top long-snappers on both punts and field goals.
A 2010 graduate of Granite Hills, Cardona attended the Naval Academy Prep School during the 2010-11 academic year. While at GHHS, he was a two-sport athlete who lettered twice in football and four years in lacrosse. He led the Eagles to a conference title in lacrosse in 2010, earned conference MVP honors and second-team all-section honors.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “My final collegiate game … to come back to Qualcomm and get a win in front of my family, my friends, against the hometown team, is awesome. I couldn’t ask for more than that.”
Cardona is scheduled to graduate in May 2015 at which time he will be commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He said he and the other San Diego area players shared a special camaraderie on the team.
“A ton of instant friendships,” Cardona said.
