Navy hangs on to beat San Diego St. 17-16 in Poinsettia Bowl

SAN DIEGO — Austin Grebe kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1 minute, 27 seconds left and Navy beat San Diego State 17-16 in the sloppy Poinsettia Bowl on Tuesday night after Donny Hageman was wide right on a 34-yard field goal attempt with 20 seconds left.

Hageman had made his first three field goal attempts for the Aztecs.

The winning drive was set up when Navy’s Chris Johnson forced and recovered a fumble by Donnel Pumphrey, who earlier set San Diego State’s single-season rushing record.

Fullback Chris Swain converted on a fourth-and-1 and Ryan Williams-Jenkins took a pitch and ran 28 yards to help set up the game-winner by Grebe.

San Diego State then got to the Navy 17 before Hageman missed. Hageman earlier made field goals of 43, 37 and 30 yards. His third field goal gave SDSU a 16-14 lead late in the third quarter.

Pumphrey gained 112 yards on 21 carries to set SDSU’s single-season rushing record with 1,867 yards. The old record was 1,842 yards by George Jones in 1995.

Navy (8-5) lost four fumbles. SDSU (7-6) had three turnovers.

Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds ran for two touchdowns, extending his own NCAA record for scores by a quarterback to 64.

He scored on a 1-yard keeper for the game’s first score and then somersaulted into the end zone at the end of a 6-yard run to give Navy a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Midshipmen won their fourth straight and for the sixth time in seven games. They’ve won consecutive bowl games for the second time in history. They were playing just 10 days after beating Army for the 13th straight time.

Leading 16-14, SDSU went for it on fourth-and-5 from the Navy 12 but Quinn Kaehler’s pass to Mikah Holder was incomplete.

Navy punted on its next possession but got the ball back after Pumphrey fumbled.

The Midshipmen rushed for 254 yards, led by Swain with 72 yards on eight carries.

Navy improved to 2-2 in the Poinsettia Bowl. It avenged a 35-14 loss to SDSU here in 2010.