GREENVILLE, N.C. — By far the biggest question surrounding Navy football for the past two weeks was whether or not starting quarterback Blake Horvath, who was injured against Tulane, would play against East Carolina.
Coach Brian Newberry ended the suspense shortly after arriving at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Friday morning, announcing during a video interview posted by Navy Athletics that Horvath would not play.
Backup quarterback Braxton Woodson and the entire Navy offense struggled mightily in getting shut out in the first half. However, Woodson found his footing in the second half and offensive coordinator Drew Cronic discovered a successful formula by mixing short passes with a variety of inside and outside runs.
Woodson directed five touchdown drives in the second half and that was more than enough thanks to a dominant defensive performance as Navy beat East Carolina, 34-20.
Woodson rushed for a career-high 125 yards on 15 carries and completed 12 of 19 passes for 165 yards to spark Navy (8-3, 6-2), which clinched at least a tie for third place in the American Athletic Conference. Woodson, making his second career start, accounted for three touchdowns — two rushing, one passing.
Snipe Eli Heidenreich ran for 82 yards and a touchdown and added another 41 yards on six receptions as the Mids improved to 6-0 in Greenville. Fullback Alex Tecza, snipe Brandon Chatman and wide receiver Nathan Kent all made important contributions to an offense that accounted for 450 total yards.
Safety Ray Lane recorded nine tackles, while inside linebackers Kyle Jacob and Colin Ramos contributed seven apiece to lead a Navy defense that limited East Carolina to 348 total yards. The Midshipmen completely stymied the Pirates, who had only had 185 yards before mounting two long touchdown drives late in the fourth quarter.
East Carolina (7-4, 5-3) had surpassed 500 total yards in winning its four previous games. Quarterback Katin Houser completed only 20 of 36 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Pirates, with most of that output coming late.
Tailback Rahjai Harris rushed for 94 yards on 19 carries, while wide receiver Winston Wright Jr. had nine receptions for 64 yards and a score for ECU, which left a lot of potential points on the field in losing on senior day.
After being shut down in the first half, Navy put together a tremendous drive to start the second — methodically marching 76 yards in 14 plays and taking almost eight minutes off the clock. The Mids made four third-down conversions, including two Woodson passes.
Chatman capped the impressive campaign by taking a jet sweep 16 yards for a touchdown that gave Navy a 7-3 lead with 6:55 remaining in the third quarter.
Navy’s defense held East Carolina to a three-and-out and a turnover on downs on its first two second-half possessions. Woodson later converted a third-and-0 with a 16-yard run. Two plays later, Heidenreich took a handoff running left, made two sharp cutbacks to the right avoid over-pursuing defenders then weaved his way to the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown run. Kirkwood booted his second extra point and the Midshipmen led 14-3 at the end of the third quarter.
An East Carolina field goal made it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter, but Navy responded with Woodson connecting with speedy wide receiver Nathan Kent for a 61-yard touchdown pass that pushed the lead to 21-6. It was a superb play design and blown coverage left Kent wide-open over the middle deep downfield.
East Carolina was not about to fold the tent and responded with an impressive 16-play, 78-yard touchdown drive to pull back within eight points. The Pirates converted on third down four times, leading to Houser tossing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Wright to make it 21-13 with 5:35 left on the clock.
On the ensuing possession, East Carolina nearly forced Navy into a three-and-out, but Chatman caught a pass out of the backfield and fought his way through a tackle to barely pick up the first down. Heidenreich then broke loose for a 27-yard run into East Carolina territory that pretty much sealed the win. It was all a moot point after Woodson found a massive hole up the middle and took an option keeper 38 yards untouched for a touchdown.
An interception by Jacob on the ensuing possession set up another touchdown run by Woodson that turned the game into a rout.
East Carolina had its chances early, getting inside the red zone twice in the first quarter, but could not come away with points, missing a chip shot field goal then getting later throwing two incomplete passes after setting up third-and-goal from the 3-yard line.
Newberry chose a curious time to have Jake Gutierrez make his collegiate debut, putting the plebe into the game with Navy backed up on its own 8-yard line. Gutierrez gained 7 yards off a designed keeper on first down, but two plays later committed a costly fumble after being hit while attempting to pass, giving East Carolina possession at the 16-yard line.
Navy’s defense stood tall again with East Carolina losing a yard on three running plays. Conrad was called on again and this time he made a 35-yard field goal to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead at the 9:47 mark of the second period.
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