– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Navy quarterback Blake Horvath’s coast-to-coast run moved his team one step close to history, and when their opponent was at the doorstep of ruining those plans, the Midshipmen defense made one last stand to complete a thrilling comeback down in the Lone Star State.
Horvath scored a on a game-tying 95-yard touchdown run, then scored on a 6-yad jaunt with 4:34 remaining as the the No. 22 Midshipmen came back from a 14-0 deficit to defeat Oklahoma 21-20 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl inside Amon G. Carter Stadium on Friday afternoon. The win was only secured when Navy’s defense stopped an Oklahoma two-point conversion attempt with six seconds remaining as Oklahoma went for the win.
Horvath, coming off a 311-total-yard performance in defeating Army two weekends ago to secure the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, accounted for 247 yards against the Sooners, with 95 of those yards coming on that one carry in the second quarter where he faked a hand-off on a read option before splitting the defense right down the middle and sprinted all the way into the end zone. The run was the longest play in school history, and tied for the fourth-longest rushing play in bowl game history.
“By somebody that’s not really that fast,” Horvath joked about his record-setting run.
Navy’s ball-control, triple-option offense isn’t conducive to double-digit comebacks, but once it caught up to the Sooners, it was able to settle in and continue grinding the game out. The game-winning score came on a 12-play, 66-yard drive that took more than half of the fourth quarter (7:39), with the pivotal play being a fourth-and-three conversion on a 16-yard pass from Horvath to tight end Eli Heidenrich that set up goal-to-go from the 6-yard line. On the next play, Horvath scored on a keeper for the winning score, one that led to just the sixth 10-win season in Navy football history.
“Well, it’s the perfect ending,” said second-year Navy head coach Brian Newberry, who grew up just a few miles from Oklahoma’s campus in Moore, Oklahoma. “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.”
The Sooners got a 10-yard touchdown pass from Michael Hawkins Jr. to Jake Roberts with six seconds left. Instead of tying the game with the extra point, the short-handed Sooners, who saw close to 30 players leave to the transfer portal after the season, went for the win, but Hawkins was sacked by Justin Reed on the conversion try.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 26 pictures in total.
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