Navy 38, Duke 13

Saturday, November 4th 2006, 3:50 pm

By: News On 6

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada ran for 119 yards and a touchdown and threw for a score Saturday to lead Navy to a 38-13 victory over Duke, clinching a 4th straight bowl appearance for the first time in program history.

Adam Ballard added 103 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns for the Midshipmen (6-3), who secured a berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent on December 30th in Charlotte. Navy had no trouble ending a 2 game losing streak or finding plenty of running room against the winless Blue Devils (0-9). Navy ran for 435 yards, threw just 5 passes and didn't punt all day.

Re'quan Boyette ran for a short touchdown for Duke, which scored on its first possession before succumbing to Navy's relentless ground attack.

The Midshipmen had lost consecutive games to Rutgers and Notre Dame, and lost senior quarterback Brian Hampton to a season ending knee injury against the Scarlet Knights on October 14th. Kaheaku-Enhada made his first career start last week, running for a pair of scores in the 38-14 loss to the Fighting Irish.

He had a much easier time against the Blue Devils, directing the Midshipmen to touchdowns on their first three drives en route to a 24-6 halftime lead. Navy opened the 2nd half with a long TD drive, with Kaheaku-Enhada throwing a 19 yard score to Reggie Campbell, that took the last bit of drama out of the game.

The Blue Devils talked this week of trying to get off to a solid start after spending the past two weeks failing to rally from big early deficits in losses to Miami and Vanderbilt. And they put together an impressive drive to open the game, moving 70 yards in 5 plays, 38 coming on a pass from Thad Lewis to a diving Eron Riley, to take the lead on Boyette's 1 yard TD less than 2 minutes in.

But that's as good as it got for the Blue Devils. Joe Surgan missed the extra point, a sign of things to come.

Navy answered with a 72-yard drive, all on the ground, to take a 7-6 lead on Kaheaku-Enhada's 1 yard run with 8:31 left in the period. Then, after a 44 yard punt return by Campbell gave Navy a short field, the Midshipmen pushed the lead to 14-6 on Ballard's 1 yard TD. Navy also got a 39 yard TD run from Shun White on an option pitch and a 30 yard field goal from Matt Harmon for the 18 point halftime lead.

The Blue Devils finished with 294 total yards on offense. Their second touchdown, a 13 yard pass from Lewis to Jomar Wright, came with 1:53 to play and the outcome long since decided.

The game also included the ejection of Duke defensive end Greg Akinbiyi for kicking at Kaheaku-Enhada after a play to start the 4th quarter.