UTSA Hosts Army – Halftime Report

The Roadrunners returned home to the Alamodome after two games on the road for Military Appreciation Week against the Army Black Knights.

FIRST QUARTER

The Black Knights won the coin toss and elected to defer til the second half. The UTSA offense got started at the 25 after a touchback, and Lowell Narcisse got the start at quarterback. The first play from scrimmage was a 26 yard run by Sincere McCormick, the nation’s leading rusher through five games, setting up the Roadrunners at midfield. The drive would stall there after four plays, three of which were unplanned runs, one got called back for a holding penalty.

UTSA was forced to punt, which got Army started with the ball at their own 10. Not surprisingly the Black Knights came out running, the focal point of the triple option offense they operate. What was surprising was on the fifth play of the drive, when Army running back Anthony Adkins broke a 66-yard run for six points. An extra-point would set Army up with a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the first quarter.

UTSA went 3 & out on the next drive, forcing a punting situation. Army received a rough kick from Lucas Dean, followed by a great return from #21 Tyrell Robinson for 31 yards. Two penalties were called on the punt and return, both on Army. The running into the kicker penalty was declined, but a blindside block penalty was accepted, backing the Black Knights to their own 25. Army couldn’t get going either and were forced to punt the ball back to UTSA.

Starting from Roadrunner 14, Lowell Narcisse put the first passing yards of the game for either team on the stat sheet and the offense started to hum behind his arm, leading the team down to the Army 33, set up to with 3rd & 9 as we moved into the second quarter.

Second Quarter

After an incompletion on 3rd down, Coach Traylor strutted out Hunter Duplessis, who hit from 50 yards out to continue his nation-leading streak of consecutive field goals made to 21, and bringing UTSA a little closer on the scoreboard; 7-3 in favor of Army.

Army would start their 3rd drive at their own 24, but the Roadrunner defense looked energized by getting points on the board and forced a 3-and-out, which was capped off by a key break-up on third down by Antonio Parks.

The Roadrunner staff looked to get Sincere McCormick more involved, and after a pass to him was incomplete on first down, last year’s Conference Freshman of the Year carried the ball for 14 yards on 2nd down, and added four more on the next play. Possibly hoping the run would open the pass, UTSA tried to go to the air, but incomplete passes would cause the drive to end in a punt.

Starting from their own 26, Army would take 13 plays and 6 ½ minutes to march 74 yards down field and score from five yards out on a rush by Jakobi Buchanan, giving the Black Knights a 14-3 lead with five minutes left in the half.

On the last drive of the half, the Roadrunners started at their 13 following a kick-ff return attempt. With a healthy dose of passing and key runs from Narcisse and McCormick, UTSA worked their way down to the 28 yard line with a fresh set of downs 47 seconds left on the clock.  A pass interference penalty from Army’s Cameron Jones gave the Roadrunners 1st & Goal from the two with 19 seconds left in the half, and another interference call on the next play on Army setup 1st & Goal from the 1 yard line. From there Narcisse zipped a pass inside to wide receiver Zakhari Franklin, making the halftime score Army 14 – UTSA 10 after Duplessis made the extra point.

HALF TIME STATS