How Diego Fagot's Quick-Thinking Energized Navy in Savvy, Accidental Fake Punt Conversion

Against the teams greatest rival, the linebacker's play would prolong a game-winning drive to give the Midshipmen a 17–13 win over the Black Knights.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — All season, both Army and Navy build toward this game. They run plays over the course of the season to lay traps during film study for their counterpart, and they have plenty of time to scheme up trick plays in the bye week before America’s Game. But what nobody counted on, was something like this happening:

“We were kinda checking the protection because they gave us a certain look,” linebacker Diego Fagot said after the first carry of his career. “Once I checked it, the snapper must have misheard something and so he snapped it to me instead. … I went to a small private school in Ft. Lauderdale, and I played offensive line in high school, so I’ve never really touched the ball. “

On the biggest stage either team ever gets to be on, Fagot’s stroke of luck prolonged what would become a 15-play, nearly nine minute drive that ended in a field goal and helped keep the ball out of Army’s hands, leading to a 17–13 win.

"Sometimes it is good to be lucky. A little miscommunication there,” Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said after the game. “Players have to make plays. I didn't know we were going to do it either. I just looked at [special teams coach Joe] Coniglio. He has been doing our punting and has done a great job. Thank goodness it worked. … Players make plays. It was a heck of a play.”

Fellow punt-teamer Chance Warren joked that Fagot, a senior, might come back for a fifth year and play b-back in the Midshipmen backfield, but Fagot’s intention was actually that of a savvy special teams player. He walked to the line of scrimmage and saw that the right side of Navy’s punt protection unit was out-manned with six Army rushers and four navy blockers in addition to long-snapper Ethan Nguyen. Navy had early issues with punt protection in the game and had almost had one blocked earlier. Had they actually ran this punt as designed, it likely would have been picked clean off punter Riley Riethman’s foot. 

“He was my hero,” Nguyen said of his quick-thinking teammate. “I couldn’t quite hear him because the stadium got really loud, but I saw his mouth moving, and I was like I only know one other check to do and I just snapped it to him … I’m really thankful he saved me.”

For three of the last four years, this has been Army’s rivalry after a prolonged stretch of Navy dominance with 14-straight going to the Midshipmen starting in 2002. Army did retain the Commander-In-Chief’s trophy due to neither of the three service academies winning it outright, and it’s the first split in thhe triumvirate rivalry (including Air Force) since 1993.

This has been an up-and-down season for Navy, which ends with a 5–7 record. After an 0–2 start, athletic director Chet Gladchuk fired long-time assistant coach Ivin Jasper, only to have Niumatalolo lobby for his reinstatement. Also in September, assistant coach Bill Ray Stutzmann was fired for his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine, a violation of Naval Academy policy. On the field, the Midshipmen continued to struggle as a young team that also dealt with multiple injuries and were 1–5 at the season’s halfway mark. 

“Yeah, it started off rocky, but to end it this way it doesn’t get better than this,” Niumatalolo said. “This is what everything in our program is about, to beat those guys in football. After this, we’ll serve together, but on this day we have one goal and that’s to crush Army.

They entered this game seven-point underdog and immediately took it on the chin allowing a 56-yard touchdown run to the Cadets on a 75-yard drive. But from there, Navy locked Army up allowing 157 for the rest of the game. Army’s 232 in total was a season-low.

And at the end, on Army’s last offensive play, Fagot was partially credited with the tackle although he was there along with, as he said, “everyone else.”

"They think they're the last of the hard, but it's just not the case,” Fagot said. “They're our little brother.”