Tulane’s struggles to find its first road win of the season continued Saturday in its farthest trip from home thus far this season.
Army (3-2, 2-1) scored on each of its final three drives with a game-tying field goal and touchdown and then game-winning 25-yard field goal as time expired to walk-off the Green Wave, 20-17, in the back-and-forth American Athletic Conference battle.
The Black Knights knotted the contest, 17-17, with a 58-yard breakaway by senior quarterback Cale Hellums with 6:54 remaining, then stopped a promising Tulane drive on a fourth-and-8 from their 33-yard line.
Hellums, senior running back Carson Smith and company pieced together a methodical 12-play, 58-yard drive to eat the remaining clock and set up the chip-shot kick by junior kicker Dawson Jones.
The second-year starting quarterback and his offensive line wore on the Green Wave on his way to 223 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries with Smith chipping in another 43 yards on 11 carries and senior receiver Zach Mundell’s 22-yard run early in the fourth highlighting a two-carry, 30-yard afternoon.
Army outgained Tulane, 348-280, and controlled the clock by a 35:34 to 24:26 margin.
The Green Wave (2-3, 0-1) coughed up the lone turnover, an early interception, in a game in which the margin for error was expectedly razor-thin.
Hellums eventually cashed in that miscue for a 7-0 Black Knights lead later in the first quarter to cap a 12-play, 74-yard drive that would stand and the longest of the game by either team.
Tulane responded well overall with a series of stops, a Cooper Helmke (St. Martin’s Episcopal) field goal to get on the board late in the half and a 68-yard drive and Kadin Semonza goal-line keeper to take its first lead, 10-7, late in the third quarter.
But Army had the necessary answers with a 31-yard Jones field goal and then, following a 39-yard pass-and-run from Semonza to senior speedster Jaylin Lucas (Terrebonne, Edna Karr), the Hellums breakaway for the longest play of the contest at a brutal time for the Green Wave.
And the critical plays in all three phases with the defensive stand and final drive and kick also provided the Black Knights the last laugh.
Semonza finished 14-for-26 for 158 yards, the passing and rushing touchdowns and the interception.
Senior running back Johnnie Daniels carried eight times for 67 yards, and former Edna Karr star Destyn “Fatt” Hill caught five passes for a game-high 54 yards.
Junior linebacker Dickson Agu (Dutchtown) had a game-high 12 tackles, and junior safety Jack Tchienchou and senior linebacker Makai Williams had eight stops each.
Tulane, now 0-3 on the road and 2-0 at home, returns to Yulman Stadium for games next Friday against Memphis (4-1, 1-0) and Saturday, Oct. 24, against UTSA (5-1, 2-0) before traveling again for an Oct. 30 date with Charlotte (0-5, 0-1).
