By Ava Wallace Dec. 14, 2019 at 11:26 p.m. CST
Navy senior quarterback Malcolm Perry led the Midshipmen to a 31-7 win over Army — their first victory over the Black Knights since 2015 — on Saturday at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, and he broke a slew of program records along the way.
Perry is one of the most prolific quarterbacks Navy has ever seen, and he isn’t finished yet. The Tennessee native will play the final game of his college career in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on New Year’s Eve, when the Mids face Kansas State. Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo was asked Saturday what makes Perry such a gifted runner. The 12th-year coach said he only wished he could take credit for the senior’s skills.
“That’s God-given,” Niumatalolo said. “There’s no drills. I wish I could do like a clinic, like him doing this and then us showing him some cone drills — that’s him. Either you have that or you don’t.”AD
Here are some of the most eye-catching numbers from Saturday’s game:
304: Perry ran for a career-high 304 yards, making him the second player in program history to rush for 300 or more yards and the first to do so against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent — Shun White ran for 348 yards against Towson in 2008. Perry’s previous career high came against SMU in 2017, when he ran for 282 yards. The senior’s 304 yards were also a single-game rushing record for an Army-Navy game.
2,831: Perry set a record for yards of total offense in a season at Navy. The senior has 2,831 yards of total offense (and counting), which surpassed Will Worth’s record of 2,595 in 2016.
1,804: It’s no surprise considering the previous statistic, but Perry also holds Navy’s single-season rushing yards record with 1,804. He broke Hall of Fame fullback Napoleon McCallum’s record of 1,587 set in 1983.AD
10: Perry’s 10 games in which he has rushed for 100 yards or more this year are the most in a season in Navy history. He has 20 career 100-yard games, which are the second most in program history behind Keenan Reynolds. He also has nine consecutive 100-yard games, a program record.
606: In the three Army-Navy games in which he has played, Perry has rushed for 606 yards. That makes him the all-time leading rusher in Army-Navy game history.
4,000: Perry is the third player in Navy history to break the 4,000-yard career rushing mark. He joins Reynolds (4,559, 2012-15) and McCallum (4,179, 1981-85).
Read more college football:Sporting ‘Keep America Great’ hat, Trump performs coin toss at Army-Navy gameThe crowd at the 120th Army-Navy football game cheered as President Trump waved from the field in Philadelphia on Dec. 14. (Reuters)