Navy Midshipmen Rise Above Huge Injury to Defeat East Carolina

The Navy Midshipmen played without their starting quarterback and after a slow start they defeated the East Carolina Pirates.

Aug 31, 2024; Annapolis, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen quarterback Braxton Woodson (5) rushes past Bucknell Bison linebacker Nick Hoying (23) during the second half at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Navy Midshipmen overcame the loss of starting quarterback Blake Horvath to defeat East Carolina, 34-20, on Friday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, N.C.

The game was the final American Athletic Conference contest for both the Midshipmen (8-3, 6-2 in American) and the Pirates (7-5, 5-3). Both will play in bowl games and Navy will play Army West Point in Landover, Md., on Dec. 14 in the renewal of their rivalry.

Losing Horvath took 2,000 yards of total offense out of the equation for the Midshipmen and as a result they struggled before backup Braxton Woodson and the rest of the offense got on track and scored five touchdowns in the second half.

The Midshipmen defense was excellent throughout the game, but their performance in the first half was exceptional. East Carolina took 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. That gave ECU a 3-0 halftime lead.

ECU finished with just 348 total yards in its first game since the Pirates removed the interim tag from coach Blake Harrell, who took over for Mike Houston last month and led the Pirates to four straight wins entering the game.

Navy safety Rayaun Lane led with nine tackles while linebacker Colin Ramos had seven tackles. Landon Robinson and MarcAnthony Parker each had a sack. Kyle Jacob picked off a pass late in the game and also finished with seven tackles.

Navy had the football to start the second half and put together its best drive of the game, a 14-play opus that chewed up nearly eight minutes of clock and put the Midshipmen ahead after Brandon Chatman’s 16-yard touchdown run.

After Navy and ECU traded punts, the Pirates had the ball at the Midshipmen 43-yard line facing fourth down. The Pirates opted to go for it and were unable to convert. Navy turned the short field into another scoring dive, this time a 36-yard touchdown run by Eli Heidenreich at the end of the third quarter to push Navy ahead, 14-3.

ECU settled for a field goal on the next drive and the Midshipmen then put the game out of reach on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Woodson to Nathan Kent early in the fourth quarter. Woodson added two late touchdown runs to wrap up the scoring.

Woodson finished 12-of-19 passing for 165 yards with the touchdown. He also rushed for 125 yards. Heidenreich rushed for 82 yards and the score and caught six passes for 41 yards. Alex Tecza added 42 yards rushing and one reception, while Chatman had 27 yards rushing and a reception. Kent caught just two passes but led with 68 yards receiving.

ECU didn’t score its first touchdown until 5:38 left in the game after Winston Wright Jr. caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Katin Houser. Wright finished with nine receptions for 64 yards while Houser threw for 213 yards on 20-of-36 passing. Running back Rahjai Harris led the Pirates with 94 rushing yards.

Houser threw another touchdown pass to Yannick Smith with under two minutes left.