Navy quarterback Blake Horvath has been named the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Player of the Week for the third time this season after returning from an injury with a dominant performance to lead the Midshipmen to a 31-13 victory over rival Army this past Saturday at Northwest Stadium in Landover.

Horvath, injured early in Navy’s 35-0 loss to Tulane on Nov. 16, completed 4 of 9 passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 25 times for 204 yards and two more scores as the Midshipmen claimed the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 2019.

“Blake Horvath is a special young man, one of the toughest kids that I know,” Navy Coach Brian Newberry said. “He’s been through some really difficult injuries this year. We weren’t sure if he was going to be able to play this game. Really, this past week was his first week of going full in practice. We cut him loose and I thought he played extremely well today. … He makes the engine go for sure.”

Horvath started the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run to cap the game’s opening possession. He threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Chatman in the second quarter that made it 14-0.

After Army pulled within 14-10 in the third quarter, Horvath responded with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Eli Heidenreich and his second one-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter sealed the win, finishing off quite a performance in his first action in an Army-Navy game.

“It was frustrating to watch on the sideline the past two years,” Horvath said. “You want to be in control and leave your mark on the game. … You can go back to February 27 when we walked into our winter workouts and photos of the CIC Trophy are plastered on every locker and every wall. It’s been since then that we’ve put this game into our heads. … There is a pain that comes with singing first. We didn’t want to do it again. The Brigade didn’t want to sing first and none of the fans wanted to sing first.”

2024 College Player of the Week

Week 16: Blake Horvath, Navy