ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It was the Keenan Reynolds show in East Carolina’s conference-opening loss to Navy Saturday afternoon, 45-21.

Reynolds, a senior quarterback, carried the Midshipmen (2-0, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) with five rushing touchdowns — an AAC record in his first game in the conference. He picked up 142 yards on 24 carries and completely controlled the game and tempo for the Naval Academy.

The ECU (1-2, 0-1 AAC) defense was futile against the triple option attack, allowing 416 yards on the ground. A mix of speed on outside runs and dashes up the middle kept the Pirate defense on its heels and left the ECU offense playing catch up the whole game.

Keeping pace with Reynolds’ yardage was full back Chris Swain. Swain added to the attack with 123 yards on 29 carries with one touchdown in the victory. From there, four other Midshipmen rushed for more than 20 yards in the form of Quentin Ezell (45 yards), Dishan Romine (45), Toneo Gulley (24) and DeBrandon Sanders (20).

The ECU front seven struggled to contain the option attack and could not slow down the pace of the game as Navy marched its way to its first-ever conference win. Senior linebacker Montese Overton led the way with 12 tackles, followed by fellow strong side linebacker Zeek Bigger with 11.

The Pirate offense moved decently over the air, though the rushing game was mostly scrapped to keep up with the fast-paced scoring of the Midshipmen. Senior back Chris Hairston picked up 38 yards on 10 carries while sophomore Anthony Scott picked up 20 yards on five carries. Junior quarterback Blake Kemp followed up an impressive showing against Florida with a strong outing against Navy.

Kemp threw for 325 yards on 36-of-49 passing with three touchdowns and one interception. Isaiah Jones again was Kemp’s top target, reeling in 10 passes for 130 yards. Junior receiver and Washington-native Jimmy Williams hauled in seven passes for 55 yards and opened the scoring up for ECU with a two-yard touchdown reception with 2:45 remaining in the first quarter.

Bryce Williams caught two touchdown passes from Kemp, accounting for a 17 yarder at the end of the first half and an eight-yard touchdown reception to make it a two-score game with 10:20 remaining.

Tough the game was in reach for ECU late, Reynolds and the Navy offense responded with a long touchdown drive capped off with a 17-yard touchdown run by the senior quarterback.

ECU could not capitalize on its next possession and gave the ball back to Navy, a drive that ended with a 25-yard field goal with 35 seconds left on the game.

The Pirates return home next week to face Virginia Tech in their second-to-last non-conference match up.