Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
                         November 2, 2001

Army heads west to face Air Force

By Jim Fox
Staff Writer

Army travels to Air Force Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Falcon Stadium. The Black Knights begin their portion of the annual round-robin competition between the three service academy football teams.

The game will not be televised, but can be heard on the radio by tuning in to 1050 ESPN Radio (1050 AM), WBNR (1260 AM), WLNA (1420 AM) and WKDT (89.3 FM).

A win will earn them at least a tie in the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy hunt.

The Falcons (4-3, 2-2 in the Mountain West Conference) are coming off back-to-back blowout losses at the hands of Brigham Young 62-33 and New Mexico 52-33.

Army (2-5, 2-4 C-USA) is fresh off a 42-35 come-from-behind-win versus Tulane and looks to snap an 11-game losing streak at Air Force dating back to 1977.

The Black Knights offense erupted for 506 yards against the Green Wave, including a career-best 192 yards rushing and four touchdowns from sophomore C.J. Young.

Army senior quarterback Chad Jenkins threw for 228 yards connecting on 18-of-31 passes, including one TD pass and a TD run.

Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry raved about the play of Army senior quarterback Chad Jenkins.

"He has done a great job throwing the ball on the run and knowing where his receivers are," DeBerry said.

DeBerry, who is 13-4 versus Army, respects the Black Knight receiving corps.

"They have the right people in the right positions and they use them extremely well in mis-directions and bootlegs," he added.

DeBerry said his senior signal caller, Keith Boyea, for the most part has been consistent all season.

"He is a good runner," DeBerry said. "At times he has thrown very well. At other times he has been a little inconsistent.

"Keith has gotten better and better each week," he added.

On the injury front, the Falcons top receiver, senior Ryan Fleming, broke his right hand Saturday.

Though listed as questionable Monday, DeBerry said Fleming was improved at practice.

Furthermore, Falcons sophomore free safety Jeff Overstreet was upgraded to probable as his sprained left ankle injury improves.

The Falcons will need a healthy Overstreet and all the help his defensive brethren can provide to stop an Army offense that has found its stride of late.

"We are growing up as a football team," Army second-year coach Todd Berry said. "Our younger players are maturing at a good rate. They are starting to gain some confidence."

The Black Knights offense, which converted 6 of 13 third down attempts against Tulane Saturday, will try to keep the Falcons just as off balance.

"I like the confidence our offense is playing with right now," Berry said. "We are becoming more dynamic. Our offense is starting to show some consistency. We took care of business (last week). We kept responding. When our offense needed to score, it scored."

Berry doesn’t lend any thought to the troubles Army teams of the past may have had in Colorado.

"(Air Force) has a real good offense," he added. "They are running four different styles of the option. They are the only team left who is still running out of the wishbone.

"(Air Force) grinds the clock to the point where you feel that you have to score on every possession. We have to maintain discipline," Berry explained. "Everybody has to understand what they are supposed to do and we have to tackle well."

"Part of turning the corner and becoming a good football team is going on the road and winning a big game," he said.