Strong Navy Comeback, Goal-Line StandProduce 21-20 Armed Forces Bowl Win
By John ChuhranCaMMVets Media
12-27-2024Fort Worth, Texas – Think Navy’s 31-13 win over Army was a fluke? Think again.
The Midshipman (10-3) gave up two early touchdowns to trail Oklahoma (6-7) in Friday’s Armed Forces Bowl, but Navy Head Coach Brian Newberry kept his team calm and focused. The result was a thrilling 21-20 Navy win highlighted by the longest touchdown run in team history and a goal-line stand with six seconds to go that sealed the win.
“Well, it’s the perfect ending,” said Navy’s second-year head coach Brian Newberry. “You’re down 14-0, I think it kind of symbolizes everything that these guys have been through, especially the seniors, symbolizes how things started. Things looked bleak, things weren’t going great, adversity and they kept scratching and clawing and fighting.”
After surrendering scores on Oklahoma’s first two possessions, Navy was able to slow the pace of the Sooners’ offense and cause their drives to stall short of the end zone. Just past the halfway point of the second quarter, Navy took control on downs on the Oklahoma 45 and quarterback Blake Horvath (18 rushes for 155 yards and two TD, and 7 completions for 92 yards on 12 attempts) started a drive with runs for short gains before finding Tight End Cody Howard in the middle and firing a bullet for a 21-yard completion. A couple of short runs advanced the ball to the Oklahoma 11 before Alex Tecza broke through the line and sped 11 yards into the endzone to cut the margin to 14-7.
Neither squad found success on their opening drives after intermission, but a strong Oklahoma punt pinned Navy on its own 4 yard line to start the next possession. After a cautious handoff to Tecza for a 1-yard gain, Horvath took the next snap and started to roll left, faking a handoff but finding a gap off left tackle and charging ahead in a full-speed dash that saw him go the remaining 95 yards for the tying touchdown that set a Navy record for longest touchdown run on a play from scrimmage.
A deflated Oklahoma attack continued to struggle and Navy regained possession at 12:06 of the last stanza. Horvath engineered a 12-play, 66-yard drive in which Navy was pushed to the limit. In a fourth-and-3 situation on the Oklahoma 22, Horvath completed a 16-yard pass to Eli Heidenrich. One play later, Horvath charged 6 yards through the right-side B gap and across the goal line to give Navy a 21-14 lead.
“I thought if we go score right there, that might be the difference in the game. And it was,” Newberry said. “we converted on some third downs and a fourth down there. It was obviously the drive of the game. Yards were hard to come by. Oklahoma's got a really, really good defense – we knew that going in and we had to fight and claw for every inch that we got.”
By John ChuhranCaMMVets Media
12-27-2024Fort Worth, Texas – Think Navy’s 31-13 win over Army was a fluke? Think again.
The Midshipman (10-3) gave up two early touchdowns to trail Oklahoma (6-7) in Friday’s Armed Forces Bowl, but Navy Head Coach Brian Newberry kept his team calm and focused. The result was a thrilling 21-20 Navy win highlighted by the longest touchdown run in team history and a goal-line stand with six seconds to go that sealed the win.
“Well, it’s the perfect ending,” said Navy’s second-year head coach Brian Newberry. “You’re down 14-0, I think it kind of symbolizes everything that these guys have been through, especially the seniors, symbolizes how things started. Things looked bleak, things weren’t going great, adversity and they kept scratching and clawing and fighting.”
After surrendering scores on Oklahoma’s first two possessions, Navy was able to slow the pace of the Sooners’ offense and cause their drives to stall short of the end zone. Just past the halfway point of the second quarter, Navy took control on downs on the Oklahoma 45 and quarterback Blake Horvath (18 rushes for 155 yards and two TD, and 7 completions for 92 yards on 12 attempts) started a drive with runs for short gains before finding Tight End Cody Howard in the middle and firing a bullet for a 21-yard completion. A couple of short runs advanced the ball to the Oklahoma 11 before Alex Tecza broke through the line and sped 11 yards into the endzone to cut the margin to 14-7.
Neither squad found success on their opening drives after intermission, but a strong Oklahoma punt pinned Navy on its own 4 yard line to start the next possession. After a cautious handoff to Tecza for a 1-yard gain, Horvath took the next snap and started to roll left, faking a handoff but finding a gap off left tackle and charging ahead in a full-speed dash that saw him go the remaining 95 yards for the tying touchdown that set a Navy record for longest touchdown run on a play from scrimmage.
A deflated Oklahoma attack continued to struggle and Navy regained possession at 12:06 of the last stanza. Horvath engineered a 12-play, 66-yard drive in which Navy was pushed to the limit. In a fourth-and-3 situation on the Oklahoma 22, Horvath completed a 16-yard pass to Eli Heidenrich. One play later, Horvath charged 6 yards through the right-side B gap and across the goal line to give Navy a 21-14 lead.
“I thought if we go score right there, that might be the difference in the game. And it was,” Newberry said. “we converted on some third downs and a fourth down there. It was obviously the drive of the game. Yards were hard to come by. Oklahoma's got a really, really good defense – we knew that going in and we had to fight and claw for every inch that we got.”
After almost 55 minutes of frustration and ineffectiveness, the Sooners finally were able to start moving the ball in the last 1:47. Oklahoma QB Michael Hawkins Jr., a freshman starter after Jackson Arnold joined more than two dozen other players and entered the transfer portal and left the team in the last two weeks, suddenly found success, at one point completing five of six consecutive pass attempts as part of a 13-play, 65-yard drive. With just six seconds to go and in first-and-goal situation on the Oklahoma 10, Hawkins set up in a shotgun formation, took the snap and quickly threw to J Roberts at the goal line, cutting the lead to a single point.
Feeling that the Sooners’ best chance to win would be to make a single play rather than try to mount another scoring drive, Oklahoma Head coach Brent Venables elected to try for the two-point conversion rather than the safer PAT kick that would have knotted the score. Hawkins again set up in the shotgun and danced around for a full five seconds hoping to find an uncovered receiver. But the Navy defense played close and Justin Reed broke through the line for the sack. When Oklahoma was penalized for an illegal touch on the ensuing on-sides kick, the victory was secured.
The win gave Navy the sixth 10-win season in the history of the program and first since 2019. It was a strong end of the season for junior Horvath, who will return in 2025 with all of the Navy offensive starters at the skill positions.
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Feeling that the Sooners’ best chance to win would be to make a single play rather than try to mount another scoring drive, Oklahoma Head coach Brent Venables elected to try for the two-point conversion rather than the safer PAT kick that would have knotted the score. Hawkins again set up in the shotgun and danced around for a full five seconds hoping to find an uncovered receiver. But the Navy defense played close and Justin Reed broke through the line for the sack. When Oklahoma was penalized for an illegal touch on the ensuing on-sides kick, the victory was secured.
The win gave Navy the sixth 10-win season in the history of the program and first since 2019. It was a strong end of the season for junior Horvath, who will return in 2025 with all of the Navy offensive starters at the skill positions.
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