Navy, Wake to meet

It won´t take much time for the teams in the EagleBank Bowl to become familiar with each other.

They already have played the past two seasons.

On Sunday, bowl officials confirmed a matchup of Navy and Wake Forest for the first bowl game to be played in the District. The Midshipmen (8-4), who finished their regular season Saturday with a 34-0 thumping of Army, were locked into the Dec. 20 game at RFK Stadium since becoming bowl eligible more than a month ago. But it took a while to finalize the Demon Deacons (7-5) in the season’s first bowl game.

The EagleBank Bowl held the ninth selection from the ACC, and nine conference teams finished with winning records. That meant the bowl would take whoever remained after the league´s other affiliated bowls made their selections, even if it conflicted with a no-rematch agreement it had with Navy.

As a result, Wake Forest will play Navy a second time. It will be the first time Navy has played an opponent twice in a season since defeating St. John´s College twice in 1907.

The Mids stunned the then No. 16 Demon Deacons 24-17 on Sept. 27. Navy fullback Eric Kettani ran for a career-high 175 yards; the Demon Deacons managed only 43 rushing yards.

The Demon Deacons will play in their third straight bowl game for the first time in school history. Coach Jim Grobe has led Wake Forest to four bowl games in eight seasons. Before his arrival, the school made five bowl appearances in 98 years.

Wake Forest, known for its misdirection-based offense when it won the ACC title in 2006, is using a more conventional attack this season. The Demon Deacons also have several standouts on a senior-laden defense, notably linebacker Aaron Curry and cornerback Alphonso Smith.

Navy is making its school-record sixth straight bowl appearance and its second against an ACC school; the Mids lost 25-24 to Boston College in the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl. A victory would let coach Ken Niumatalolo join Joe Reeves (1907) and Frank Berrien (1908) as the only first-year Navy coaches to win nine games.

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