Skip to content
Bay Area Examiner

Bookmarks

No bookmarks yet.

Bookmarks are saved locally on this browser.

Van Buren Jr.’s late touchdown pass stuns Army in West Point

Late heroics by the Bulls offense propelled them to a thrilling victory on Saturday afternoon

Author
Collin Sherwin
Save
Share

    WEST POINT — It looked bleak for the Bulls, down 10 with 4:59 left in the game.

    That’s when junior quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. and sophomore wide receiver Joshua Porter came to the rescue.

    Subscribe

    The South Florida Bulls (2-0) stunned the Army Black Knights (1-1), 28-24, on Saturday afternoon.

    Vanessa Wenzl | Bay Area Examiner

    Van Buren Jr. found Porter for a 38-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left to give the Bulls their first lead in the second half.

    The throw capped off a day where Van Buren completed 19 of his 30 passing attempts for 239 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 45 yards and two more scores on the ground. It’s his first career game with four touchdowns.

    “Mike is one of them ones,” USF senior linebacker C.J. Hicks said after the game.

    Porter had catches of 22 and 38 yards on USF’s game-winning, 10-play, 81-yard sprint down the field in 1:27. Porter had three catches for 67 yards total.

    Senior wide receivers Bryson Rogers and Arhmad Branch added 64 and 53 receiving yards, respectively.

    Army led for the majority of the second half. The Black Knights had three drives of 90 or more yards end in touchdowns.

    Senior quarterback Cade Hellums had 91 passing yards, 55 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Godspower Nwahuihe led Army with 20 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.

    Army ran for 219 yards on 4.3 yards per carry. The Bulls countered on the ground with 130 yards on 5.2 yards per rush.

    The Bulls’ defense came up huge on their final drive with sophomore Zavier Hamilton sacking Hellums on third-and-9 to force the Black Knights to punt the ball back to USF with just under two minutes remaining in the game.

    “They did a great job responding with those late TFLs. Those changed the game,” USF head coach Brian Hartline said after the game.

    Overall, the Bulls recorded six tackles for loss and held Army to 4-for-11 on third-down attempts.

    The win improves USF to 2-0 for the second season in a row. USF’s win gave them the first conference victory in the American this season.

    “We understood how precious each possession was,” Hartline said after the game. “We always talk about not rising to the occasion, but just doing what we do.”

    USF will head back home and host Delaware State next week on ESPN+ at 7 p.m.

    Subscribe