FootyChatter.com

NCAAF Navy Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath rushes against Army West Point Black Knights. Horvath threw a difference-making pass. Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images Blake Horvath was the “other” quarterback in last year’s Army-Navy game, a lesser-known junior leading the Midshipmen against No. 22 Army and its star senior Bryson Daily — who finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting for the 11-1 American Conference champs. Horvath carved his name into rivalry lore with 303 yards of offense, two touchdowns rushing and two passing in a 31-13 upset. Daily implored afterward of future Army teams to “never let it happen again. ” Saturday’s 126th edition of the game at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium provided perfect retribution conditions: Senior star Horvath and 22nd-ranked American co-champ Navy against underdog Army and lesser-known junior quarterback Cale Hellums. Advertisement It looked like it was going that way for much of the day, too. But a Hellums mistake and clutch Horvath throw instead delivered more joy to Navy and heartbreak to Army in a 17-16 win for the Midshipmen. Horvath’s scoring pass to top target Eli Heidenreich, on fourth-and-goal from the Army 8, was the difference with 6: 32 left. The winning 50-yard drive was set up by Phillip Hamilton’s interception of Hellums. Army (6-6) just missed out on its first win over a ranked Navy team since 1955 and its seventh win in the past 10 games in the series. The result kept the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy with Navy (10-2), with President Donald Trump on hand and delivering the pregame coin toss. That trophy, which since 1972 has gone each year to the winner of the series among service academies Army, Navy and Air Force, was at stake for both teams for just the ninth time. That was the case in 2024 as well. The only other time it’s been at stake for both Army and Navy in their game in consecutive years was in 1977 and 1978. Air Force still leads, winning the trophy 21 times. Navy has done so 18 times, and Army 10, with the trophy shared five times. Navy leads the series with Army, 64-55-7. The last time the game was played in Baltimore, in 2016, Army broke a 14-game losing streak in the series. Navy coach Brian Newberry is 2-1 against Army, and Army coach Jeff Monken falls to 6-6 in the rivalry. Horvath turned it over twice and appeared to lose a fumble with 2: 15 left, but he was ruled down upon replay review. He handed to Alex Tecza to convert fourth-and-1 on the next play. Horvath finished with 107 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries and was 7-for-14 passing for 82 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Heidenreich had 28 yards rushing and caught six passes for 72 yards, giving him the Navy single-season receiving record with 877 yards. A Horvath-to-Heidenreich classic! #Roll Goats | #Beat Army | @CBSSports CFB pic. twitter. com/b Vkp W8V20b — Navy Football (@Navy FB) December 13, 2025 Hellums ran 25 times for 100 yards and a touchdown and finished 5-for-10 for 82 yards passing. Army, bolstered by the play of sophomore defensive lineman Jack Bousum (1. 5 sacks) and senior linebacker Andon Thomas (11 tackles), had much more success defensively against Navy than a year earlier, but it wasn’t quite enough. Advertisement A Horvath pass behind and off the fingertips of Heidenreich was intercepted by Army’s Justin Weaver and returned 32 yards for a touchdown to make it 19-7 Army in the third quarter — an enormous deficit in this game. But replay review showed Weaver’s right knee down as he caught the ball, taking the touchdown off the board and leaving Army with a career-high field goal of 47 yards from Dawson Jones for a 16-7 lead. Horvath started to find some seams as a runner on the next possession, driving Navy 72 yards for a 21-yard Nathan Kirkwood field goal. Hellums finally committed a turnover of his own — a late pass intercepted by Hamilton at midfield with 11: 19 to play. Navy moved right down the field and, after Horvath came up just short of the goal line on a run and a fumble moved the ball back to the 8, Horvath ripped a fourth-down pass to Heidenreich with 6: 32 left for a 17-16 Navy lead. That’s how it finished. Joe Rexrode is a senior writer for The Athletic covering college football. He previously worked at The Tennessean, Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal, and covered the Pyeongchang, Rio and London Olympics for USA Today. Follow Joe on Twitter @joerexrode