JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – How you look at the streak for the upcoming Army vs. Navy flag football game 1 p.m. Dec. 10 at Cowan Stadium depends on which side of the ball you’re lined up on. The Navy has won the last seven games since 2013.
The Navy team, made up of players from Naval Bases Kitsap and Everett, may look at it as a seven-year winning streak. The Army team, comprised of players from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, may look at it as a seven-game losing streak.
“As the head coach, you really cannot predict who the winner will be,” said Robert Pierce, a sergeant first class from the 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, who also serves as the team’s defensive coordinator. “I can say that this year’s team has a lot of great weapons in our arsenal. The team's morale is very high. As a team, we are all extremely motivated and really want to beat Navy.”
That motivation may come from the fact the Army hasn’t beat the Navy since its 18-13 win in 2012. The last game in the series was in 2019 when Navy won 20-12 in Everett – a game where three Army touchdowns were called back for penalties. The teams didn’t play in 2020 due to COVID-19.
“We’re a very different team than we were in 2019,” said Dennis Suggs, a sergeant with the 508th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade at JBLM, who was on the Army team the last time the two rivals faced off. “We’re a much younger team this year, and we are all meshing together well.”
Suggs, a defensive end and running back from Wilson, South Carolina, may be the ringer for the Army team. He plays semipro football for the South Sound Seminoles.
“We’re winning on Friday,” he said. “I’m putting it on the line. I’m catching bodies – I’m checking everybody, and I’m going to start from the opening kickoff.”
Milton Lunsford, a staff sergeant with the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force at JBLM, is a returning player from the 2018 Army team that lost to Navy 20-14 in overtime at JBLM.
“The chemistry of the team this year is unbelievable,” Lunsford said. “We have a lot of good players who are good people on and off the field. I think the biggest difference with this team and the one in 2018 is just the hunger we all have to win this year. We are all willing to do what it takes to make ourselves better as well as those around us.”
Lunsford, a lineman from Richardson, Texas, is out to change course for the Navy win streak.
“I think we’re going to kill the Navy,” he said. “Demolitions is what it’s about. That little streak – it stops Friday.”
From the coach’s perspective, what does the team from JBLM have to offer this year to end the losing streak?
“Our offense sells the tickets, and our defense wins the game,” Pierce said. “I think the offense will provide an entertaining game. Our offense is like a box of chocolates – the Navy's defense won't know what they are going to get on every play. (Defensively), I can say that we are going to be like the Grinch that stole Christmas. Meaning we are going to be aggressive and steal every pass that the Navy lobs in the air.”
The Army-Navy flag football series started in 2000 to coincide with the Army-Navy college football game. Now going into its 21st year, the Navy leads the flag football series 14-6.
“Our defense is tired of the Navy coming to our house and kicking us around,” Pierce said. “It is time that we set the story straight and take back what is ours – the trophy.”
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