Navy Midshipmen Defense Steps Up After Losing Quarterback to Injury

The Navy Midshipmen received some bad news before Friday’s game but their defense stepped up and played big against East Carolina.

Oct 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Navy Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath (11) passes the ball during the second half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Navy Midshipmen received some bad news before Friday’s game with East Carolina as they ruled out starting quarterback Blake Horvath due to an injury he suffered two weeks ago.

That put the game in the hands of his backup, Braxton Woodson, and third-string quarterback Jackson Gutierrez. As a result, Navy (7-3, 5-2 in American) had significant issues moving the football.

Fortunately, the Midshipmen defense made sure the Pirates (7-4, 5-2) had similar issues as the two teams went into halftime with the Pirates up, 3-0.

The Navy defense stepped up huge when the Pirates had the ball in the red zone. East Carolina received three shots inside the Midshipmen’s 20-yard line in the first half and failed to score a touchdown. The Pirates only had a field goal to show for it. East Carolina was stopped on downs once and missed a field goal once.

By halftime, East Carolina had just 113 total yards, including just 29 passing yards out of quarterback Katin Houser, who was 3-of-11 passing. The Pirates rushed for 84 yards but were 1-of-8 on third down.

Navy needed it because the Midshipmen were unable to put points on the board, even though by halftime they had 156 yards in total offense.

The Midshipmen could have had the lead, but it missed two field goals in the first 30 minutes, including a 21-yarder by Nathan Kirkwood that would have tied the game going into the locker room.

Losing Horvath certainly hurt the offense. Entering the game, he rushed for a team-leading 895 yards and 13 touchdowns. But he also brought a passing dimension to the Navy offense with  1,154 yards passing with 11 touchdowns against four interceptions.

Woodson played most of the first half and rushed for 54 yards and threw for 55 yards on 4-of-9 passing. He left the game late in the first half with an apparent injury and Gutierrez handled the offense on the final drive.

Gutierrez rushed for 16 yards and his one pass attempt led to a fumble, recovered by East Carolina.

Eli Heidenreich rushed for 14 yards and caught three passes for 25 yards.

Navy has already qualified for a bowl game. After Friday’s game the Midshipmen will get another week off before it faces Army West Point in the annual rivalry game on Dec. 14 in Landover, Md.