Blake Horvath to Eli Heidenreich. That's the connection that led Navy to such a memorable season - and the two of them came through again on the biggest play of the biggest game. Horvath threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Heidenreich with 6:32 remaining - on fourth-and-goal - and No. 22 Navy rallied to beat Army 17-16 on Saturday. Heidenreich, the career and single-season leader in yards receiving for the Midshipmen, caught six of Horvath's seven completions on the day. "Who wouldn't go to him?" Horvath said. "Talk about an all-time Navy legend. You're going to be talking about Eli Heidenreich for years and years and years." Although it was clearly a passing situation, and Heidenreich was Navy's top target, he was single covered over the middle. "Tried to bring some pressure on them," Army coach Jeff Monken said. "Good throw and good catch." With President Donald Trump in attendance, Navy (10-2) got its second straight victory over Army (6-6), and the Midshipmen won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy for a second straight season. The Black Knights have not beaten a Navy team that was ranked by the AP since 1955. Horvath was fortunate to have the chance to throw that decisive touchdown pass. On second-and-goal from the 1, he lost the ball while attempting a tush push. Army linebacker Eric Ford had a chance to scoop it up, but Navy running back Alex Tecza lunged over to prevent that, and Heidenreich eventually fell on the ball back at the 8. "That's probably the last thing you want to see on the 1-yard li ne is you turn around and the ball is just bouncing behind you," Heidenreich said. "I was blocking down. I thought he had pushed in, and kind of out of my peripheral I saw it going behind me." On the next play, Horvath was nearly sacked, but he was able to throw the ball toward Tecza as he went down.The ball fell incomplete instead of being caught around the 15, which was just as well for Navy because it made going for it on fourth down a more viable option. "I kind of felt like we had to," Navy coach Brian Newberry said. "The nature of what they do offensively, despite how well we played in the second half, you may not get the ball back." Even after Heidenreich's touchdown and an Army punt, Navy still had to escape one more near-turnover. On th ird-and-3 from the Army 43, the ball popped loose on a run by Horvath, but he was able to catch it out of the air. It came loose again and the Black Knights recovered, but after a review, Horvath was ruled down before the second fumble - a yard short of the line to gain. Tecza then ran for the first down that enabled Navy to kneel out the clock, and Horvath appeared to wave goodbye at the Army sideline. There was a bit of a ruckus near midfield after the final kneel-down before things eventually calmed down for the traditional singing of the alma maters. - Navy/AP College Football
(DS#26 WR) Sr/2026  WR Eli Heidenreich, Navy
News Source: Navy/AP College Football
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