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Each week here at Against All Enemies, we hand out an award to a football player who had the best performance over the weekend and call them our Commander-In-Chief MVP. When I’m slated to pick the winner of the weekly award, I go back through the box scores of each Service Academy football game from the weekend, and combine that with what I saw with my own eyes to decide who the award goes to. This week, I didn’t need to look at the box scores. All I needed to see was this.
Perry going ↕️ pic.twitter.com/n8qHRUVZ5j
— Patrick Schneider (@PSchneiderPhoto) October 6, 2019
But I looked at the stats anyway. And it is beyond obvious that Navy quarterback Malcolm Perry was the best player in Service Academy football this past week.
The pint-sized quarterback put up 255 yards of total offense — 144 yards passing and 111 yards rushing — and scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner. He completed 5-of-7 passes with no interceptions for a QBR of 92.6, and averaged 4.8 yards per-carry when he decided to keep it himself and scamper around the Air Force defense.
And Perry did all of that after a limited week of practice, due to a shoulder injury suffered in Navy’s loss to Memphis. Perry even left the Air Force game briefly after a hard hit, but returned to lead his team to a victory.
Without Perry, Navy doesn’t beat Air Force. With him, they’re 3-1 on the season (matching their win total from last year’s abysmal campaign) and have an early edge in the C.I.C. race.
Malcolm Perry slipping through the entire defense for a @navyFB TOUCHDOWN!
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) October 5, 2019
Midshipmen 21
Falcons 9 pic.twitter.com/yRcQzhYAH1
"Awh, man. I think it's the happiest I've been in a long time." Check out our exclusive postgame interview with Senior Quarterback Malcolm Perry who had two touchdowns in tonight's 34-25 win over Air Force. #RaiseTheSail pic.twitter.com/5DBbeEADQy
— Navy Athletics (@NavyAthletics) October 6, 2019
Malcolm Perry TOUCHDOWN @NavyFB with 23 seconds left on the clock to take the LEAD
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) October 5, 2019
Midshipmen 28
Falcons 25 pic.twitter.com/yAvQCW18xv
Quotes
“I thought Malcolm willed us to a win.” - Ken Niumatalolo, via Washington Post
“He’s the leader of our pack. When he comes in confident in the huddle knowing we’re going to get this done, it’s contagious.” - Navy center Ford Higgins, via Washington Post
“He’s a tough kid, man. He refused to lose. We were going to ride him at the end.” - Ken Niumatalolo, via The Athletic
C.I.C. honorable mentions
- DJ Hammond III, Air Force — 205 yards passing, 77 yards rushing, one touchdown
- Diego Fagot, Navy — 12 tackles, two for loss, two QB hurries, one pass breakup
- Kelvin Hopkins Jr., Army — 170 yards passing, 132 yards rushing, three touchdowns