Navy QB Blake Horvath's 95-yard TD run in Armed Forces Bowl win is longest play in school history

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Navy quarterback Blake Horvath read the play perfectly and turned it into the longest in school history, a 95-yard touchdown run in the Armed Forces Bowl.

“By somebody that’s not really that fast,” Horvath said after the 21-20 win over Oklahoma on Friday.

The Midshipmen (10-3) fell behind by two touchdowns less than 10 minutes into the game, but Horvath's record run late in the third quarter tied the game at 14-all. He put them ahead on a 6-yard TD with 4:34 left before Navy’s defense stopped an Oklahoma 2-point conversion with six seconds left in the game.

“Probably over-pursued by them,” Horvath said of the 95-yarder. “Some tendencies they showed earlier, just thought I could get a pull.”

After faking a handoff on the read-option play, Horvath ran straight up the middle into the open field. Brandon Chatman cut off a pursing defender around the Sooners 20.

By time another defender, cornerback Woodi Washington, was able to catch up and started to bring him down, Horvath stretched the ball over the goal line — though he was initially ruled short before a replay review resulted in the touchdown.

“Brandon Chatman actually busted his tail to get his butt down the field,” Horvath said. “I can see him out of the corner of my eye busting his butt. And honestly, it’s almost not even my touchdown without him and the offensive line blocking.”

The previous longest play for the Midshipmen came during the Roger Staubach era, when Johnny Sai had a 93-yard run against Duke in 1963.

Horvath also had a 90-yard TD run against Memphis, making him only the second Navy player with two 90-yard runs in the same season. The other was quarterback Malcolm Perry in 2017, when he had runs of 92 and 91 yards.

“That’s a play we know can hit big and it did, and definitely exciting to see,” fullback Alex Tecza said. “I was getting tired just chasing him. ... It's great. He's being doing that all year.”

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Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, center, runs with the ball on his way to a 95-yard touchdown run during the second half of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game against Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. Navy won 21-20. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, center, runs with the ball on his way to a 95-yard touchdown run during the second half of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game against Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. Navy won 21-20. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, center, runs with the ball on his way to a 95-yard touchdown run during the second half of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game against Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. Navy won 21-20. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, top left, takes a hit from Oklahoma linebacker Lewis Carter (20) while attempting a pass during the first half of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Federica Brignone posted the fastest time in the opening run of a women’s World Cup giant slalom Saturday, aiming to become the first Italian winner of the event in 22 years.

Brignone led defending overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami by 0.15 seconds, with Olympic GS champion Sara Hector 0.24 behind in third.

No Italian skier has won the race near the Austrian capital of Vienna since Karen Putzer triumphed in 2002. The race in Semmering is held every two years.

In the absence of the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan was the leading American racer, trailing Brignone by 0.53 in fourth.

Lindsey Vonn, who made her return to World Cup racing in Switzerland last week, only competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G.

Brignone mastered a tricky passage near the end of the Zauberberg course, where Italian coach Giorgio Pavoni had set the gates for the first run.

“It’s good, rhythmic and with a lot of turns,” said Brignone, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist and 2011 world champion in the discipline.

Brignone has won three of the last four giant slaloms and is ranked second in the discipline standings this season, behind Hector.

There’s no timetable for Shiffrin’s return to racing after the U.S. star underwent abdominal surgery to clean out a deep wound she received in a GS crash on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont.

Shiffrin has won the GS in Semmering four times, including both races in 2022 when the event featured an additional GS to make up for a cancelation earlier that season.

Shiffrin is the record holder for the most World Cup wins – both in giant slalom (22) and overall (99).

Also missing was Petra Vlhova, the former overall champion from Slovakia who won the race in 2020, after she suffered a setback in her recovery from knee surgery.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Italy's Federica Brignone competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)