QB runs for 176 yards in season-opening win ANNAPOLIS — Kriss Proctor made inheriting the burden of leading Navy’s vaunted option offense look easy.
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Having waited until his senior season to become the permanent starting quarterback, Proctor amassed 176 yards rushing and three touchdowns while throwing for another in a dominant 40-17 win over Delaware. The Blue Hens sacrificed their own starting quarterback, Trevor Sasek, to a right knee injury in the defeat.
Proctor made his presence known in front of the 34,117 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with a career-long 75-yard touchdown run on the third play from scrimmage. Keeping the ball on the option left, he burst upfield through the Blue Hens’ secondary. With a downfield block from Bo Snelson, he cut back at the Delaware 30 to finish his run untouched and signal to the crowd that he was ready for more.
Linebacker Matt Brewer set up the Midshipmen (1-0) for their second score, poking the ball from wide receiver Mark Schenauer’s hands. Mason Graham made the recovery, and Aaron Santiago later took a pitch from Proctor for a 13-yard touchdown.
The Blue Hens were down 16-0 by the time Sasek stepped up in the pocket and made a dash for the end zone with his long-legged stride, using all of his 6-foot-6 frame to lay out and hit the pylon in full stretch to complete a 21-yard touchdown run.
But Navy struck again in record-breaking fashion just before halftime. Kicker Jon Teague belted the ball through the uprights with room to spare for a 54-yard field goal, the longest in Navy history, besting Todd Solomon’s 52-yarder against Princeton in 1984. It also gave Navy a 19-7 halftime lead.
Sasek had a chance to give the Blue Hens (0-1) their second touchdown after catching a pass from wideout Rob Jones. Instead, he went down awkwardly after an open field tackle by David Wright at the Navy 8.
Proctor, who completed four of seven passes for 46 yards, added scoring runs of 27 yards and 1 yard in the second half and hit Santiago with a 12-yard strike for his first career touchdown pass. That helped to ease the pain of his only mistake of the afternoon, an interception in the final minute of the third quarter.
