SAN DIEGO: The Navy football team overcame four turnovers and uncharacteristic penalties Tuesday night to outlast San Diego State, 17-16, and close its season with a dramatic triumph in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium.

The difference was Austin Grebe’s 24-yard field goal that gave the Midshipmen the lead for good with 1 minute 27 seconds left. San Diego State had a chance to reclaim the lead with 24 seconds to play, but the Midshipmen were able to celebrate a second straight bowl victory when Donny Hageman missed a 34-yard field goal try.

Navy won its fourth in a row and for the sixth time in seven games. The Aztecs had a streak of eight straight wins against service academies come to an end in front of an announced crowd of 33,077.

Navy’s offense scored on its first drive of the game but sputtered the rest of the first half. The Midshipmen went ahead, 14-13, on Keenan Reynolds’s six-yard run midway through the third quarter. The 13-play, 92-yard drive was reliant on fullbacks Chris Swain and Noah Copeland, a senior co-captain, combining for 64 yards on four carries.

Navy (8-5) avoided potential disaster shortly thereafter when DeBrandon Sanders called for a fair catch but had the ball bounce off his hands. San Diego State recovered at the Midshipmen 18, but an illegal formation on first down moved the Aztecs back five yards. On third and five, Quinn Kaehler threw out of bounds, and Navy escaped by allowing only a 31-yard field goal from Hageman.

Consecutive turnovers to start the fourth quarter could have doomed Navy for good, but the defense was up to the task. After slot back Ryan Williams-Jenkins fumbled on a muffed exchange from Reynolds to give San Diego State possession at Navy’s 41, safety George Jamison intercepted Kaehler to end the threat.

Then when Reynolds lost his second fumble of the game, the Midshipmen forced an incomplete throw on fourth and five and regained possession at their 12-yard line with 8:45 to play. Navy had to punt, but got the ball back when linebacker Chris Johnson stripped the ball from tailback Donnel Pumphrey, and safety Parrish Gaines recovered at the Midshipmen 47 to set up the decisive drive.

It was Navy’s second appearance in the Poinsettia Bowl in four years. The Midshipmen’s last trip here ended with a 35-14 loss to San Diego State in then-coach Brady Hoke’s final game before leaving for Michigan. The Aztecs got 228 rushing yards from then-freshman tailback Ronnie Hillman and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Ryan Lindley, who currently plays for the Arizona Cardinals.

This time Navy struck first, and it hardly could have scripted a better way to begin after linebacker Daniel Gonzales stepped in front of Kaehler’s throw for an interception on the opening series. The sophomore returned it 29 yards to the San Diego State 42, and 10 plays later, Reynolds scored from one yard out.

The lead lasted only briefly thanks to Pumphrey’s five-yard touchdown run that he bounced to the outside when the middle was clogged. Rashad Penny set up that tying drive with a 57-yard kickoff return, the second longest in the 10 years of the Poinsettia Bowl.

The Aztecs (7-6) were in business on their next drive as well when linebacker Cody Galea recovered a poor pitch from Reynolds intended for senior slot back Geoffrey Whiteside. Reynolds absorbed a jarring hit as he made the pitch, and the ball never made it to Whiteside, instead landing on the ground. Galea was able to scoop up the loose ball at the Midshipmen 29 before it rolled out of bounds.

Navy stiffened on defense though, and the Aztecs had to settle for Hageman’s 43-yard field goal that snuck just inside the left upright with 2:51 left in the first quarter.

Hageman added a 37-yard field goal for a 13-7 lead late in the second quarter. It was the junior’s 19th field goal this year, setting a San Diego State single-season record.