Army Upsets Kansas State 24-21With 4th Qtr TD Drive, InterceptionBy John Chuhran for CaMMVetsMedia
Manhattan, KS – Army Head Coach Jeff Monken will probably never experience a more satisfying victory than those his Army teams achieve against Navy and Air Force, but Saturday night in the middle of this nation he certainly deserved to be happy.
A true team effort carried the Black Knights (1-1) to a 24-21 come-from-behind, upset victory over Big12 powerhouse Kansas State (1-2). And it was achieved in the Army Way as preached by Monken ever since he arrived at West Point.
Everybody on the Army team played hard on every play. Nobody ever gave up when that would have been the easy thing to do. As fatigue caused their opponents to stumble and make mistakes, the Black Knights had the drive and stamina to maintain a high level of play. And, ultimately, that Maximum Effort produced a victory over a team that was ranked in the pre-season Top 25 college football rankings.
Fittingly, the victory was sealed by some big plays from an unexpected source – Sr. Safety Collin Matteson. Matteson – whose grandmother was a big Kansas State fan and whose father was born at Fort Riley (barely 40 miles from Bill Snyder Family Stadium where Saturday’s game was played) – finished the night with four tackles (all solo), three pass breakups, and most importantly grabbed the game’s only interception late in the fourth quarter moments after Army lost an apparent fumble recovery… caused by Matteson.
This was the ultimate example yet of what Army must do to win – minimizing mistakes and penalties, winning the turnover battle and controlling the clock. For the record, Army committed two penalties for 10 yards (Kansas State committed two for 15 yards), Army had zero turnovers to K-State’s 1, and the Black Knights dominated time of possession (40:44 to Kansas State’s 19:16).
The offensive star of the game was Army quarterback Cale Hellums, making his first start for the Black Knights. Hellums was an offensive star in high school, throwing for more than 8,000 yards and scoring 83 touchdowns. Though Monken hoped that Game 1 start Dewayne Coleman, who was sustained a leg injury in the final minute of regulation a week ago, would be healthy enough to play Saturday, he was limited in practices prior to game.
Hellums, who replaced Coleman after the injury last week, had a week to get more comfortable with the starting players and during the game his confidence and performance continued to improve. By the end of the game, Hellums had set a record for most rushes by a West Point quarterback in a single game (41) and he had a game-leading 124 yards and two touchdown runs to go with seven completions from 11 attempts for 43 yards and the third Army TD.
Running back Noah Short gained 61 yards on just 10 carries and caught a pair of passes for 15 yards. He added a 52-yard pass to Bryan Anderson (who finished with three receptions for 64 yards and a TD). Samari Howard had the other two catches for 16 yards).
Strong early play by Kansas State gave the hosts an early 13-0 lead on a pair of field goals and a touchdown, but as Hellums gained confidence and offensive coordinator Cody Worley adjusted his play calling, Army began to be more effective. Hellums finally looked comfortable during the last 2:25 before the break. He directed a 16-play, 75 yard drive that ultimately resulted in Army getting its first touchdown. Beginning the drive with 11 straights runs that advanced the ball to the K-State 23, Hellums hit an 18-yarder to Short with just 18 ticks on the clock. Hellums had the look of a poised veteran the rest of the way, running for a yard, finding Samari Howard for a two-yard reception, missing a toss over the goal line to Parker Poloskey but following with a strong throw to Brady Anderson near the back right corner of the end zone. Dawson Jones delivered the PAT kick to make it 13-7 on the final play before intermission.On Army’s second possession after the break Hellums executed a classic Army drive, a 14-play, 89-yard, drive that lasted 11:40. It ended with Hellums plunging through the left-side A-gap to tie the score 13-13. Dawson Jones’ second PAT gave Army a one-point lead. The joy felt by the Black Knights finally felt lasted exactly 12 seconds. That’s how long it took for Army to kickoff and the Wildcats’ Bryce Noernberg to charge through a massive hole in the middle of the field and race 99 yards into the Army end zone. Kansas State elected to try for the two-point conversion and sophomore QB Avery Johnson (15-for-25 for 172 yards and a TD) found Jaron Tibbs with completion that gave the Wildcats a 21-14 lead. Most other teams would be crushed by such a turn of events, but Army, after another touchback, simply buckled down and started another grinding, methodical ground attack. Three plays into the drive Army was in a fourth-and-1 on its own 34, but there was no consideration of punting the ball away. Hellums ripped through a left side hole and gained 16 yards to gain the Black Knights a new set of downs at midfield.
Manhattan, KS – Army Head Coach Jeff Monken will probably never experience a more satisfying victory than those his Army teams achieve against Navy and Air Force, but Saturday night in the middle of this nation he certainly deserved to be happy.
A true team effort carried the Black Knights (1-1) to a 24-21 come-from-behind, upset victory over Big12 powerhouse Kansas State (1-2). And it was achieved in the Army Way as preached by Monken ever since he arrived at West Point.
Everybody on the Army team played hard on every play. Nobody ever gave up when that would have been the easy thing to do. As fatigue caused their opponents to stumble and make mistakes, the Black Knights had the drive and stamina to maintain a high level of play. And, ultimately, that Maximum Effort produced a victory over a team that was ranked in the pre-season Top 25 college football rankings.
Fittingly, the victory was sealed by some big plays from an unexpected source – Sr. Safety Collin Matteson. Matteson – whose grandmother was a big Kansas State fan and whose father was born at Fort Riley (barely 40 miles from Bill Snyder Family Stadium where Saturday’s game was played) – finished the night with four tackles (all solo), three pass breakups, and most importantly grabbed the game’s only interception late in the fourth quarter moments after Army lost an apparent fumble recovery… caused by Matteson.
This was the ultimate example yet of what Army must do to win – minimizing mistakes and penalties, winning the turnover battle and controlling the clock. For the record, Army committed two penalties for 10 yards (Kansas State committed two for 15 yards), Army had zero turnovers to K-State’s 1, and the Black Knights dominated time of possession (40:44 to Kansas State’s 19:16).
The offensive star of the game was Army quarterback Cale Hellums, making his first start for the Black Knights. Hellums was an offensive star in high school, throwing for more than 8,000 yards and scoring 83 touchdowns. Though Monken hoped that Game 1 start Dewayne Coleman, who was sustained a leg injury in the final minute of regulation a week ago, would be healthy enough to play Saturday, he was limited in practices prior to game.
Hellums, who replaced Coleman after the injury last week, had a week to get more comfortable with the starting players and during the game his confidence and performance continued to improve. By the end of the game, Hellums had set a record for most rushes by a West Point quarterback in a single game (41) and he had a game-leading 124 yards and two touchdown runs to go with seven completions from 11 attempts for 43 yards and the third Army TD.
Running back Noah Short gained 61 yards on just 10 carries and caught a pair of passes for 15 yards. He added a 52-yard pass to Bryan Anderson (who finished with three receptions for 64 yards and a TD). Samari Howard had the other two catches for 16 yards).
Strong early play by Kansas State gave the hosts an early 13-0 lead on a pair of field goals and a touchdown, but as Hellums gained confidence and offensive coordinator Cody Worley adjusted his play calling, Army began to be more effective. Hellums finally looked comfortable during the last 2:25 before the break. He directed a 16-play, 75 yard drive that ultimately resulted in Army getting its first touchdown. Beginning the drive with 11 straights runs that advanced the ball to the K-State 23, Hellums hit an 18-yarder to Short with just 18 ticks on the clock. Hellums had the look of a poised veteran the rest of the way, running for a yard, finding Samari Howard for a two-yard reception, missing a toss over the goal line to Parker Poloskey but following with a strong throw to Brady Anderson near the back right corner of the end zone. Dawson Jones delivered the PAT kick to make it 13-7 on the final play before intermission.On Army’s second possession after the break Hellums executed a classic Army drive, a 14-play, 89-yard, drive that lasted 11:40. It ended with Hellums plunging through the left-side A-gap to tie the score 13-13. Dawson Jones’ second PAT gave Army a one-point lead. The joy felt by the Black Knights finally felt lasted exactly 12 seconds. That’s how long it took for Army to kickoff and the Wildcats’ Bryce Noernberg to charge through a massive hole in the middle of the field and race 99 yards into the Army end zone. Kansas State elected to try for the two-point conversion and sophomore QB Avery Johnson (15-for-25 for 172 yards and a TD) found Jaron Tibbs with completion that gave the Wildcats a 21-14 lead. Most other teams would be crushed by such a turn of events, but Army, after another touchback, simply buckled down and started another grinding, methodical ground attack. Three plays into the drive Army was in a fourth-and-1 on its own 34, but there was no consideration of punting the ball away. Hellums ripped through a left side hole and gained 16 yards to gain the Black Knights a new set of downs at midfield.
Six more runs followed by a pass-for-loss and an incompletion left Army with a fourth-and-11 on the Kansas State 18. Jones came on to boot a 35-yard field goal and cut the lead to 21-17 with 10:46 to go.
Three seconds later, Army’s Anderson Britton made an intentional low onsides kick that caromed off the Wildcats’ front line and was recovered by Army. The relentless Black Knights advance resumed and small gains came as the clock continued to run down.
With only 4:40 on the clock in a fourth-and-inches situation, Hellums pushed ahead for the first down and four new opportunities. Briggs Bartosh took the next handoff and rolled left for a gain of six. Hellums then pushed straight ahead for no gain. There was 2:56 on the clock, Army was in a second-and-4 situation on the K-State 14, when Hellums zoomed through a gap and raced across the goal line to give Army the lead. Jones’ PAT kick made it 24-21, but there was still 2:52 left and that was plenty if Johnson could be accurate with his throws for the Wildcats.
In seven plays, Johnson completed four passes as the Wildcats advanced from their own 25 to the Army 41 as the clock dropped to 1:47. Feeling the pressure, Johnson tried to force a pass to Adonis Moise, who grabbed the ball and apparently took three steps while in possession. But Army’s Andon Thomas had a hand coming from in front of the ball while Matteson was making contact with Moise’s right shoulder. The contact knocked the ball out and onto the ground where Army’s Justin Weaver grabbed it. However, the officials somehow ruled that Moise never had control of the ball, so there was no fumble and Army had not created and recovered a turnover.
Johnson still needed to gain yards quickly and on the very next play he zipped a bullet to Joe Jackson, a toss so hard and fast that Jackson could only deflect the ball up in the air with an outstretched left hand. As the ball came down, Matteson was again in range and he grabbed it with his left hand, pulling the pigskin to his chest and soon dropping to a knee as he tried to pivot.
There was just 1:34 left on the game clock and Hellums simply ran around a little on each of the next three plays as time expired and the Black Knights sealed the win.
Army has a bye next week. The Black Knights will play their third game of the season on Sept. 20 when they host their first American Athletic Conference game of 2025 against North Texas. Game time is set for 12 noon with TV coverage on the CBS Sports Network.
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Three seconds later, Army’s Anderson Britton made an intentional low onsides kick that caromed off the Wildcats’ front line and was recovered by Army. The relentless Black Knights advance resumed and small gains came as the clock continued to run down.
With only 4:40 on the clock in a fourth-and-inches situation, Hellums pushed ahead for the first down and four new opportunities. Briggs Bartosh took the next handoff and rolled left for a gain of six. Hellums then pushed straight ahead for no gain. There was 2:56 on the clock, Army was in a second-and-4 situation on the K-State 14, when Hellums zoomed through a gap and raced across the goal line to give Army the lead. Jones’ PAT kick made it 24-21, but there was still 2:52 left and that was plenty if Johnson could be accurate with his throws for the Wildcats.
In seven plays, Johnson completed four passes as the Wildcats advanced from their own 25 to the Army 41 as the clock dropped to 1:47. Feeling the pressure, Johnson tried to force a pass to Adonis Moise, who grabbed the ball and apparently took three steps while in possession. But Army’s Andon Thomas had a hand coming from in front of the ball while Matteson was making contact with Moise’s right shoulder. The contact knocked the ball out and onto the ground where Army’s Justin Weaver grabbed it. However, the officials somehow ruled that Moise never had control of the ball, so there was no fumble and Army had not created and recovered a turnover.
Johnson still needed to gain yards quickly and on the very next play he zipped a bullet to Joe Jackson, a toss so hard and fast that Jackson could only deflect the ball up in the air with an outstretched left hand. As the ball came down, Matteson was again in range and he grabbed it with his left hand, pulling the pigskin to his chest and soon dropping to a knee as he tried to pivot.
There was just 1:34 left on the game clock and Hellums simply ran around a little on each of the next three plays as time expired and the Black Knights sealed the win.
Army has a bye next week. The Black Knights will play their third game of the season on Sept. 20 when they host their first American Athletic Conference game of 2025 against North Texas. Game time is set for 12 noon with TV coverage on the CBS Sports Network.
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