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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Army uses air attack to down Mansfield 52-6 in 12th Annual Josh Palmer Pigskin Classic

MANSFIELD – Quarterback Javie Sustaita passed for 390-yards and four touchdowns to lead Army to a 52-6 win over Mansfield in the 12th Annual Josh Palmer Pigskin Classic Saturday afternoon at Karl Van Norman Field.

“Despite the outcome we were pleased with the way our kids continued to play hard rep-after-rep for all 60 minutes,” said first-year head coach Graham Johnsen. “Even when things got tough, they played the game with composure. There are things we need to fix on both sides of the football and when you face the best team in the conference, things can become glaringly apparent.”

Mansfield held Army to a missed field goal on the Cadets first drive but the Mountaineers' offense, as it did for much of the afternoon, struggled to sustain any momentum and turned the ball over to Army after a quick three and out.

Army marched down the field, driving to the Mansfield 13-yard line before a penalty pushed them back five-yards. A fumble off a double-reverse on the next play resulted in a 79-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by senior defensive lineman Justin DiMatteo and a 6-0 Mansfield lead after a missed extra-point attempt.

It looked as if Mansfield may improve on its lead during the next series when Army again fell victim to a fumble, giving the Mountaineers the ball on their own 49. Mansfield moved the ball to the Army 42-yard line two plays later, but a penalty and sack forced Mansfield to put the ball away from some of their best field position of the afternoon.

Army then capped off a nine-play, 80-yard drive on a nine-yard pass from quarterback Javie Sustaita to Tom Jeffers to take a 7-6 lead with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter.

Army, using its no-huddle, Tony Franklin-type of offense rolled to a 14-6 lead four minutes later when Sustaita hits Tom Jeffers for a 7-yard touchdown pass.

The Mansfield defense dug in and dodged another bullet when an Army field goal attempt went wide left with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half.

With Army holding a slim 14-6 lead, Sustaita found  Cody Nyp on a 40-yard pass with just over two minutes remaining in the first half to up the lead to 21-6.

Mansfield thought it has dodged another Army score when Anthony Colon intercepted a pass in the end zone but a Mansfield fumble gave the Black Knights one more shot, this time from the Mansfield 19-yard line with 21 seconds before halftime.

Army scored with two seconds remaining when Sustaita hit John Herina who outwrestled the defender for a 15-yard touchdown grab and a 28-6 halftime lead.

Mansfield was never able to seriously threaten in the second half as Army got off an amazing 114 offensive plays for 628 yards compared to Mansfield's 52 offensive plays for 66-yards.

Freshman John Brockington led the offensive for Mansfield picking up 24 yards rushing a 11 carries while Mike Maiscalco completed 7-13 passes for 46 yards but was intercepted twice. Junior David Wallace caught six passes for 34 yards.

Army got 94-yards rushing from Marquis Morris and the Cadets, who passed the ball 56 times, had 10 players catch passes including 13 for 141 yards by Tom Jeffers.

Senior Michael Wang led the defense with 17 tackles including 14 solo while Jake Myers had 13 tackles and Justin DiMatteo and Tim Carr recorded 11 tackles each.

Mansfield falls to 1-1 overall and in CSFL play while Army improves to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the CSFL.

Mansfield travels to Philadelphia on Friday to play the Penn Quakers at historic Franklin Field.