ANNAPOLIS — Navy junior quarterback Braxton Woodson twice entered in relief of star senior signal-caller Blake Horvath in the second half against South Florida on Nov. 15 with the starter cramping.
Woodson came through in a major way for the Midshipmen, running for touchdowns of 20 and 64 yards in the fourth quarter to keep his team in the driver’s seat as the Bulls scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns of their own. Navy won, 41-38, with the two teams combining to score 39 points in the fourth quarter.
Woodson ran nine times for 103 yards and completed two passes for 39 yards. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback out of Altamonte Springs, Fla., started against Notre Dame on Nov. 8 with Horvath out due to an upper-body issue. Woodson has seen action in parts of 22 games in three seasons so far, but not many as a starter.
“I thought he handled the environment and everything really well last week,” head coach Brian Newberry said of Woodson. “It was his third start in his career, hostile environment. It’s nice when your first quarterback goes out and you feel really good about the next guy coming in. I thought he was special today.”
Woodson said his preparation put him in a position to come through when his team needed it most.
“I think the comfortability just stems from practice,” he said. “Just getting 1,000 reps in practice, seeing different looks, different possibilities of blitzes and stuff like that, I just feel like it prepared me a lot for the game. I didn’t flinch. I was able to just go in and execute.”
The Mids improved to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the American Conference, keeping their league championship hopes alive. Navy has one more regular-season conference game remaining, at Memphis on Thanksgiving night. The American Conference title game is on Dec. 5 should the Mids qualify.
One of Navy’s priorities ahead of the Memphis matchup will be getting Horvath fully healthy. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound quarterback out of Hilliard, Ohio, suffered an upper-body injury at North Texas on Nov. 1, forcing him to miss the game in South Bend the following week. Horvath was in and out of the game against South Florida, though Newberry said the upper-body injury didn’t pose any issues.
Horvath is the engine of Navy’s offense, having thrown for 1,290 yards and eight touchdowns and run for 986 yards and 13 scores on the season. Against South Florida, he completed 8 of 15 throws for 147 yards and a touchdown and ran 21 times for 60 yards in what was his final game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
And Woodson was able to fill in the gaps.
“It’s certainly a luxury,” Newberry said of having two effective quarterbacks. “Not only you don’t flinch but you don’t change what you’re doing on offense at all, which is not the case when it happens a lot of times. I have a ton of confidence in Braxton. His teammates have a ton of confidence in him. There was not even a worry when he had to go in the game.”
Horvath has seen Woodson’s confidence grow throughout the latter’s time at Navy.
“The talent has always been there,” Horvath said. “It’s just been the confidence and the ability to just go and operate in close games like this, in stressful situations. Super proud of him and what he did today.”
NOTES: Senior slot back Eli Heidenreich caught five passes for 146 yards against South Florida, becoming Navy’s all-time leader in receiving yards (1,794). “It’s just an honor to kind of step back and look at some of the greats that you’re up there with,” Heidenreich said. … Head coach Brian Newberry mentioned that special teams were a difference-maker against South Florida. Senior kicker Nathan Kirkwood made both of his field-goal attempts and all five extra points, while sophomore punter Jacob Carlson flipped the field by averaging 46.3 yards on four punts, which included a 66-yarder. “All three phases — fearless, competitive, didn’t flinch. That’s Navy football,” Newberry said. … Navy lost to Tulane, 35-0, on Senior Day in 2024, and the Mids were pleased that this year’s iteration went much better. “Last year was kind of a bummer,” said senior running back Alex Tecza, who scored two touchdowns against South Florida. “Those seniors last year kind of got it going for us and where this program could be headed.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox