Navy completes comeback vs. Army thanks to 4th-down TD pass after goal line fumble
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Navy beat Army in 2024, snapping a two-game win streak for the Black Knights in the long-running series.
The Midshipmen haven’t won back-to-back meetings against Army since winning 14 in a row from 2002 to 2015. That changed on Saturday. After trailing 16-7, they pulled ahead 17-16 with six-and-a-half minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The box score will read that it happened on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Blake Horvath to Eli Heidenreich. But that doesn’t tell the entire story.
Navy had second-and-goal from the Army 1-yard line. After Horvath lost the ball, Heidenreich recovered it to maintain possession for the Midshipmen. On third-and-goal, Horvath just barely avoided getting sacked, getting rid of the ball as he was going to the ground. It was initially thought to be a fumble but was instead called an incomplete pass.
On fourth down, though, Horvath found the end zone, capping a bizarre sequence.
After forcing a Black Knights three-and-out, the Midshipmen burned off the remaining time to secure the win.
Before Navy’s win in 2024, Army had taken six of the previous eight meetings. That was after Navy’s near-decade-and-a-half dominance in the series.
Navy, though, now leads the all-time series 64-55-7 with Saturday’s victory.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
