Navy football seniors hope to end skid vs. Troy in final home game

Starting in 2006, each class of Navy seniors graduated with 35 career wins, one short of the most by any senior class in program history.

That streak is guaranteed to end this season, with Navy having lost six in a row and heading for its first non-winning regular season since 2002, when the triple option was installed. Even if the Midshipmen (2-6) win their final four regular season games and triumph in a bowl, their seniors would end up one victory shy of the previous five graduating classes.

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Considering the confounding ways in which Navy has lost over the past month and a half, winning out appears the most improbable of long shots. The Midshipmen, though, have grown accustomed to defying convention by routinely beating teams with bigger and faster athletes, deeper rosters and more resources.

So this week, Navy’s players certainly are paying attention to Saturday’s game against Troy. This year’s seniors will be making their final appearance at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, but the message also has been about closing with a flourish.

“I’d say never really count us out,” senior defensive end and co-captain Jabaree Tuani said. “Don’t get me wrong. We haven’t shown it. We haven’t proved it. We definitely have to prove it to ourselves before we prove it to anybody else, so it’s going to have to come from inside of not just the seniors, but every leader on this team.”

The Midshipmen figure to draw inspiration from at least two seniors in line to play despite injuries. The first is starting quarterback Kriss Proctor, who missed Saturday’s 56-14 loss to Notre Dame with a dislocated left (throwing) elbow. Proctor was injured the week before — in the second quarter of a 38-35 loss to East Carolina — after landing hard on his arm following a late hit.

Proctor went into the locker room for examination and came back to the sideline where he watched the rest of the game. The initial thinking was perhaps Proctor could re-enter the ECU game, but Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo held him out rather than risk further damage to the elbow.

Proctor missed practice last week but began working out with the team again on Monday, when he said he would be ready by this weekend. The original prognosis was for Proctor to miss up to three weeks.

“Absolutely, this game definitely means something to me,” said Proctor, who leads Navy in rushing with 591 yards and eight touchdowns and has passed for 557 yards with six touchdowns.

Aaron Santiago’s recovery is even more noteworthy. The starting slotback broke his left forearm just before halftime of Navy’s 40-14 victory over Western Kentucky on Sept. 10, and it was thought at the time the earliest Santiago would be able to come back would be Dec. 10 against Army.

But Santiago has been cleared to play, Niumatamolo said earlier this week, and appears ready to start on Saturday. Santiago was working with the first-team offense this week, taking pitches from Proctor. The real test for Santiago, however, will be when he absorbs the first hit to his arm.

“I definitely told myself I was going to be back by the end of the season,” said Santiago, who has 116 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns in six quarters. “I mean right when I got hurt, [the team doctor] said I’m pretty much done until spring, but I thought otherwise and kept pursuing it.”