Navy football star Blake Horvath threw for 141 yards and a touchdown and ran for 155 yards and two scores during the Mids’ 32-31 win at Temple on Oct. 11.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound quarterback ran for a 51-yard touchdown with less than a minute to go to cut Navy’s deficit to one point:
Horvath wanted to go for two in that situation. He rolled right and found senior running back Alex Tecza for the win to move to 6-0 overall:
Horvath has thrown for 980 yards and seven touchdowns and three interceptions on 64.2 percent passing this season. He has also run for 640 yards and eight scores. He was asked what keeps him calm under pressure and unfazed with the game on the line.
“Being in the opportunities and having the ability to experience different types of stress and different things here at the Academy … once you’ve been through it, once you’ve done it all, it just comes naturally, once you’ve seen yourself do it as well,” Horvath said on Glenn Clark Radio Oct. 16. “The faith, too — the faith I have in all the guys on our team. At the same point, they’re looking to me to see how things are going. If I’m freaking out, they’re going to be freaking out, especially with the young guys on our offensive line. There is no point, in my opinion, to be all worried in that situation because that is not going to make any of us play better.”
Horvath said being consistent as a leader is essential, something that dates back to his days at Hilliard Darby High School in Ohio.
“It’s always sort of been my mantra. The best way, I thought, to lead people, especially on the field is just by being consistent — calm, consistent and collected, because then they can approach you and they can feel comfortable and do their jobs correctly. If I’m freaking out, if I’m screaming all the time, it’s not going to make anybody better.”
Horvath’s confidence stems in part from teammates Tecza and Eli Heidenreich. Those three played on the scout team as freshmen and are now huge contributors for Navy. Horvath, Tecza and Heidenreich are the Mids’ three leading rushers, while Heidenreich is the leading receiver.
“It’s the reps we’ve been through. It’s the years of being together since our freshman year on the scout team together for most of us,” Horvath said. “It’s just the confidence that I have in them and the ability they’ve shown to make plays in crunch time and when it was needed. Those guys could play anywhere in the country, truthfully. The fact that that they’re on our team is great and it makes my job easier. Being able to have them around me and surround their talent with our offense, I think it meshes really well and it makes our connection grow.”
Horvath has been a football fan his whole life and knows how observers pick apart a team’s resume, but he’s not worried about that.
“People are always point something out, especially when you are 6-0. It’s just all about us and what we’re doing. We find ways to win. We find ways to get it done as a team,” Horvath said. “It’s been a different formula every game. Maybe it’s the offense that has picked things up when the defense might be falling or the other way around. The defense has picked stuff up for us when maybe we weren’t executing well.”
For more from Horvath, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Navy Athletics