Watch: Navy Midshipmen Score Touchdown After Defensive Stop Against Sooners

The Navy Midshipmen needed nearly the entire first half to come up with its first touchdown of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Dec 14, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen fullback Alex Tecza (46) carries the ball against the Army Black Knights during the second half of the the 125th Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Navy Midshipmen needed nearly the entire first half to score its first touchdown of the game, but a key defensive stop led to Alex Tecza’s short touchdown run to cut Oklahoma's lead to 14-7 in the second quarter of the Armed Forces Bowl.

The game was played in front of a sellout crowd at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, as Navy was seeking a 10-win season and Oklahoma was playing with just over 50 scholarship players after a raft of players transferred out of the program and several defensive stars, including linebacker Danny Stutsman, opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL draft.

A key defensive stop by Navy set up the touchdown, as Oklahoma went for it on fourth down for the second time in the second quarter and the Midshipmen defense was able to stop them.

Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Sooners’ 45-yard line, giving the Midshipmen good field position for the first time in the game.

The ground game gets going for Navy, trimming the Oklahoma advantage in half on the @NavyFB touchdown! pic.twitter.com/jGynyyPAte

— LM Armed Forces Bowl (@ArmedForcesBowl) December 27, 2024

Navy needed a key third down conversion to get into the red zone, as quarterback Blake Horvath threw a 21-yard pass to Cody Howard to set up the Midshipmen at the Sooners’ 15-yard line.

Three plays later, Tecza rushed in from 11 yards out to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 14-7 after Nathan Kirkwood’s extra point.

Oklahoma scored on its first possession of the game, going to the run game to set up Gavin Sawchuk’s 25-yard touchdown run, part of his 41 yards on the opening drive. It was OU’s first touchdown on its opening drive in eight games.

Oklahoma increased the lead to 14-0 on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Hawkins to Zion Kearney.

If the Midshipmen (9-3) are able to beat the Sooners (6-6), it would mark the sixth time in school history that they won at least 10 games in a season, joining the teams from 1905 (10-1-1), 2004 (10-2), 2009 (10-4), 2015 (11-2) and 2019 (11-2).

The Midshipmen entered the game at full strength with Hovarth coming off a huge game against Army West Point. He now has the opportunity to break the single-season passing touchdowns record set by Malcolm Perry.

The Navy defense is led by defensive back Rayuan Perry III, who will represent Navy at the Senior Bowl next month. He will be the fifth Navy player to ever play in the game.

Oklahoma enters the game trying to wrap up what would be a winning season with a victory,

Two other key defenders who are expected to go to the NFL — Stutsman and defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. — weren’t on the depth chart and did not play.