LANDOVER, Md. — Quarterback Blake Horvath beat Bryson Daily for 311 yards and four touchdowns to help Navy beat Bryson Daily 31-13 on Saturday. Defeated the 19th Army.
Horvath threw for 107 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Navy (9-3) snapped a two-game losing streak in the series. The two teams have combined for 19 wins in the Army-Navy showdown this season, the most in the storied rivalry’s 125-game history.
Dailey, who finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting this year, threw for one touchdown but was intercepted three times. Army (11-2) fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter and never fully recovered. The Black Knights defeated Tulane in the American Athletic Conference championship game for the first league title in program history.
Navy kicked off the game 65 yards in front of a crowd that included President-elect Donald Trump at the Landover home of the Washington Commanders, reaching the end zone on a 1-yard run by Horvat.
Daly, who has only been intercepted once all season, caught a pass from DaSean Peele in the second quarter. The Midshipmen took full advantage of the shorter field, catching an 18-yard pass from Horvath to Brandon Chatman for a 14-0 lead. Daley responded with a touchdown of his own – 23 yards to Hayden Reed.
As expected, both teams ran heavily, but they did have a total of 25 pass attempts – probably the largest of the game in the third quarter. After a field goal made it 14-10, Horvat connected with Eli Heidenreich, who broke down the left sideline for a 52-yard touchdown.
It was Horvath’s 13th touchdown pass of the season and Heidenreich’s sixth, both tying school records.
Early in the fourth quarter, Dailey missed a wide-open Casey Reynolds in the end zone and Army elected to field goal.
Navy then faced fourth down near midfield, but Landon Robinson, who normally serves as the nose guard, ran for 29 yards on a fake punt. Although Robinson fumbled the ball at the end of the game, the Midshipmen were able to recover.
Horvat’s 1-yard run made it 28-13, and Daley was intercepted twice more before the game ended.
Navy won its first six games this season and also finished in the top 25, sweeping Air Force and Army to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 2019.
This is the first of two consecutive Army-Navy games in Navy’s home state of Maryland. Next year’s edition will be held in Baltimore.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
