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Monday Morning QB - Charlotte

by: Gordon Larson10/13/25
MMQB BartoshA
Army Black Knights running back Briggs Bartosh (29) carries the ball against the Charlotte 49ers during the first half (Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

At Last a Win at Michie Stadium

Army returned home for their third game in Michie Stadium this season, hoping to reverse an uncharacteristic two game losing streak on their home field as they faced the 1-4 Charlotte 49ers. The first two games at Michie both went into overtime with Army coming out on the short end of the score. The Black Knights made it clear that would not be the case in this game as Army dominated 49ers to take a 17-0 lead at the half and added another 7 points in the third quarter to build an insurmountable 24-0 lead going into the final quarter. It appeared that Army was going to pitch a shutout until Charlotte finally scored a touchdown against the second string defense  with 8 seconds left in the game. It was an important win for Army, evening their record at 3-3 for the season, and breaking the two-game losing streak at home. 


It Started Out Like the Others

The first few minutes of the game looked a lot like what we’d seen in the first two contests at Michie, as Charlotte recorded 3 first downs to move the ball into Army territory at the 48, but that’s where the similarities to the Tarleton and North Texas games came to a screeching halt. The Army defense held Charlotte to 4 yards on their next two downs and the Charlotte quarterback was stopped for an 8 yard loss on third down to force a Charlotte punt. 


Army’s First Drive – Just Like the Old Days

Cale Hellums made his third start at quarterback, and he led the team on a classic 80 yard scoring drive to put Army on the scoreboard on their first possession of the game, always a good omen.  In the first few games this season, we observed that the offense struggled to stay on schedule, and by that we mean they were held to short gains on first and second down and faced a lot of third and long situations. 

Army Black Knights quarterback Cale Hellums (3) celebrates after a play against the Charlotte 49ers during the first half at Michie Stadium. (Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

That was not the case on Army’s first possession of the game. The Army rushers picked up 4 or 5 yards on each of their first 7 plays to reach the Army 49, and then OT Teddy Williams and OG Paolo Gennarelli pulled out and paved the way for a 50 yard run by Hellums to the Charlotte 1 yard line, and Hellums punched it over the top for the 1 yard score.  


An Ugly Turnover Between Two Good Defensive Stands

The defense held Charlotte to a three-and-out on their second possession, and Army got the ball back on their own 23. Running back Hayden Reed carried the ball  on the first play from scrimmage, but coughed it up at the end of his run, and Charlotte recovered to give themselves excellent field possession on the Army 36. The 49ers picked up one first down at the Army 24 and then gained 7 yards on their next two plays to bring up a third and 3. Safety Collin Matteson made a key stop on third down to bring up a 4th and 2, and fellow safety Casey Larkin sniffed out a pass to the flat on fourth down and dropped the receiver a yard short of the line of gain to turn the ball bak over to Army on downs.


Another Long Army Touchdown Drive & A Field Goal To Top Off A Great First Half

After taking possession on their own 15, Hellums came back in to lead the Army ground attack on another long drive, this time for 85 yards in 17 plays that took 10:51 off the clock. 

Charlotte came back on offense for an 11 play drive that took them to the Army 48 before the defense held them again on downs. 

With 1:14 left in the half, Hellums went into two minute mode to lead the team to the Charlotte 21, and Dawson Jones came in to kick a 38 yard field goal to give Army the 17-0 lead at the half. 

With the major exception of the turnover, it was a nearly perfect first half performance by the Black Knights. Army out-gained Charlotte 209 yards to 42, averaged 6.3 yards per rushing attempt and controlled the ball for 17:19. The defense held Charlotte to 2.7 yards per play. 


Second Half Offense Sputtered but Defense Stood Tall

Army received the second half kickoff with a chance to put the game out of reach on their first offensive possession, but the drive bogged down on the second series, when Charlotte held Army to two short rushing plays and an incomplete pass forcing Army’s only punt of the day.

The defense played their best series on the next Charlotte Possession, holding the 49er offense to three straight losses and forcing a punt from the end zone. Army got called for running into the kicker on the punt, but the five yard penalty was not enough to help Charlotte out of their hole. 

Army took over on their own 46 and Hellums led the team to another touchdown on a drive that featured a 44 yard pass from Hellums to Noah Short, one of just 6 pass attempts for Army in the game. 

Noah Short (15) (Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

The Army defense put on another sterling performance, holding Charlotte to 9 yards in 4 plays for another turnover on downs. 

Monken sent Dewayne Coleman out for the next Army possession which started at the Charlotte 34 but ended 4 plays later when the Black Knights failed on a 4th down conversion attempt.


Two Failed Field Goal Attempts and a Charlotte TD

Coleman remained in at QB to start the fourth quarter, and led the Army offense from the Charlotte 45 to the 21 where Kavon Pointer was unable to hold onto a third-down pass attempt in the end zone. Jones came on to attempt a 38 yard field goal, but it was wide right, and almost identical to the field goal Jones missed in regulation against Tarleton State. 

The 49er offense came back on the field and did only slightly better than their first two drives of the half, gaining 38 yards in 6 plays before Kalib Fortner forced a fumble that Stephen Nnadozie recovered on the Army 41 to end the drive. 

Black Knights cornerback Ish Taylor (25) poses with safety Stephen Nnadozie (3) (Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

Coleman led the team 31 yards in 11 plays to the Charlotte 38 where the drive stalled, and Jones came back out for a 45 yard field goal attempt. Someone missed an assignment up front and the kick was blocked. 

With a 24-0 lead, and 1:54 left in the game, Woody sent his reserves out on defense, and Charlotte took advantage with a 59 yard touchdown drive for their only score in the game. 


The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This may have been the best game of the season for the Black Knights, with the possible exception of the Kansas State game, and certainly their best home game so far. The first half was exceptional, and the second half was more than good enough to win. We saw a lot more Good than Bad, and we have to go a little out of our way to find any Ugly in the game. 

The Good

Superior Defense: The Army defense held Charlotte to 7 points and 178 total yards, which was Army’s best performance of the season, and Charlottes worst. The Army defense held Charlotte to 2.3 yards per rushing attempt and 2.7 yards and 4.2 yards per passing attempt. By way of comparison Charlotte gained 218 total yards against Appalachian State, 271 against North Carolina, 334 against Rice, and 279 against South Florida.

Charlotte 49ers quarterback Zach Wilcke (1) throws as he’s hit by Army Black Knights defensive lineman Jack Latore (92) – Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Staying on Schedule on Offense:  Army converted 8 of its 14 third down attempts and 2 of 3 fourth down attempts. This was largely due to avoiding third and long situations..In the first half, with Hellums at QB, the offense scored on 3 of their 4 possessions with the only exception being when Reed fumbled the ball away. The offense ws slightly less prolific in the third quarter, scoring on 1 of 2 possessions and reaching the Charlotte 45 on the other. The offense was less successful with Coleman at QB. He was at QB for the only failed 4th down conversion attempt and he got into several third and long situations including leading up to the failed FG attempts.. 

Punting:  James Wagenseller was sent out to put just one time in the game, and it was a short field situation; so he didn’t need to kick it far. Charlotte fielded his punt on their own 10, and were bottled up deep in their own territory. 

Penalties: Army had just one penalty in the game, a face-mask call on Noah Short, which was more of a stiff arm. 


The Bad

2 Failed Field Goals: We’re torn between rating this as Bad or as Ugly. The first failed attempt was a miss similar to the first one that Jones missed in Tarleton game. He missed a second field goal in overtime of that game, which got him an Ugly rating. We can’t blame Jones for the blocked kick, but Saturnio needs to take a look at the blocking on that play and get it corrected. Frankly we have no clue as to why Jones missed the first attempt, but it’s something he heeds to work out as well. 


The Ugly

Reed’s Fumble: We might have gone easy on Reed and included this in the Bad category, but it was Reed’s third fumble of the season, and all three have been in games at Michie. He’s a repeat offender and needs to get it together if he wants to continue to start at RB. 


Notable Performances

OFFENSE

Offensive MVP

  • A.M.’s Choice: My vote goes to QB Cale Hellums, who from start to finished was the key playmaker on offense and finished the game with 143 rushing yards.
  • Charles’ Choice: QB Cale Hellums 1st half performance was enough for offensive MVP honors this week.  He was named the starter and proved his worth, as he rushed for over 100 yards in the first half alone 
  • Joe’s Pick: QB Cale Hellums – for the second straight week Hellums laid claim to maybe be the permanent starter on the 2025 team – 21 carries for 143 yards, 2 TD’s and 2/4 passing including a 44-yard shot to Noah Short to set up the Black Knights’ only score of the second half.
  • Gordon’s Pick:  Cale Hellums is the clear choice in this game. Army scored on 4 of the 6 possessions when he was at QB and one of the two Army didn’t score on was on the turnover by Reed. Note the difference in offense with Hellums at QB in the first half and Coleman at QB for most of the second half. 

DEFENSE

Defensive MVP:

  • Joe’s Pick LB Kalib Fortner – led the team with 7 total tackles including a TFL and a forced fumble: .
  • A.M.’s Pick:  Safety Casey Larkin was all over the field on Saturday and ended the day with five total tackles and one pass breakup
  • Charles’ Choice: Forget stats for a moment, and I really thought defensive lineman Jack Bosom made his presence felt during the course of the game..
  • Gordon’s Pick: Once again, I find it difficult to single out one defender as the MVP since it;s always a team effort. I could cite several key plays and performances,  but I’m going to go with Casey Larkin, in part due to AM’s comment, but also for his heads up tackle to force the turnover on downs in the first half after Reed’s fumble. That was a huge play on defense. I would like to add that the defensive line showed up much better in this game. 

In Case You Missed It – GBK’s Joe Iacono’s Post-Game Analysis


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