ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Senior quarterback Blake Horvath threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns, all to senior snipe Eli Heidenreich, while rushing for 130 yards and a touchdown to lead Navy (5-0) to a  thrilling 34-31 victory over Air Force (1-4) in front of 37,517 fans at a sun-splashed sold out Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium in the first leg in the race for the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy. 
 
"As always, thanks to our fans and thanks to the Brigade. It was a beautiful day and a great turnout. Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium was in full blossom today and that was a fun atmosphere and a great thing to be a part of," said Navy football head coach Brian Newberry.
 
"Hats off to Air Force. We have a ton of respect for Coach Calhoun, his staff and those players. Those guys signed up to do the same thing our guys are doing," continued Newberry.  "We just have a ton of respect for them and the way that they fought and clawed. Being a 1-3 team coming in here, you wouldn't have known it because that's a pretty good football team right there."
 
"That was one heck of a football game. Right?," said Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun. "For everybody here, both squads; they laid it on the line. It was a tremendous game. We didn't come here to be close."
 
The 469 yards of total offense by Horvath is a school record, while his 339 passing yards are the fifth most by a Navy player in program history and the most since Jim Kubiak threw for 361 yards against Army in 1994.
 
"I can't say enough good things about Blake," said Newberry. "He's special and he makes us go.  He's obviously a phenomenal young man, but a special player. I'm glad he's on our side. I can't say enough good things about him. He never flinches, he never panics, he never presses. He just goes and plays. He's calm, cool and collected and is just a special talent. He's a winner and that permeates the rest of our team."
 
"It wasn't me (all of the yards)," said Horvath. "I am throwing to a wide open Eli Heidenreich, wide open Eli Heidenreich, wide open Eli Heidenreich.  All of those yards are coming from him.  Just a lot of guys making plays.  Our offensive line…they (Air Force) have a good defensive line.  I thought it was the blocking and the ability to get open.  Their secondary is a weakness, and we knew we could exploit it with one of the best athletes in college football in Eli Heidenreich."
 
Heidenreich was equal to Horvath, catching eight passes for 243 yards to go along with the three touchdowns.  His 14-career touchdown catches are the most in school history, while his three touchdown catches tied the school record for most in a game.  His 243 yards receiving also set a school record.
 
"Eli kept getting one-on-one coverage, which we took advantage of," said Newberry. "He's another special player. He's a guy who can line up at wide receiver or slot or running back or wildcat quarterback, and is just a phenomenal football player. When we target him - I think it was eight targets, eight catches  today- and put the ball in his hands, good things tend to happen."
 
"He (Blake Horvath) just puts it where it needs to be," said Heidenreich.  "He does the fundamentals.  We practice that all summer.  It is nice to see that hard work in the offseason comes to fruition."
 
"He hit some throws, man," said Calhoun of Horvath. "Obviously, #22 is a heck of a player too. We have to be closer in coverage. We have to get closer to the quarterback, especially if we bring seven guys. We have to be able to make that thing come out of there sooner. At least make it harder."
 
Air Force sophomore quarterback Liam Szarka was sensational in his own right, rushing for 152 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for 212 yards and two touchdowns.  Szarka had a 61-yard run and a 68-yard pass for the Falcons.  Falcons tight end Bruin Fleischmann gashed the Navy defense with six catches for 166 yards and a touchdown.
 
The win was the eighth-straight for Navy dating back to last year and puts the Mids in the lead for the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, a trophy they won last year. The Mids need to beat Army in the season finale to win the trophy outright.
 
Navy jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a 39-yard field goal by senior Nathan Kirkwood. The field goal was set up by a 36-yard pass from Horvath to Heidenreich.
 
Air Force answered right back with a seven-yard touchdown run by Szarka.  Szarka broke off a 61-yard run on the first play from scrimmage to set up the score.
 
Air Force got the ball right back when Horvath was hit at the end of a 14-yard run by Houston Hendrix and lost the ball. The fumble was recovered by the Falcons Mikhail Seiken at the Navy 38.
 
The Navy defense would hold, however, as Navy's Jaxson Campbell broke up a third-down pass and Falcons kicker Jacob Medina missed a 35-yard field goal wide right.
 
After Air Force made it 10-3 on a 24-yard field goal by Medina early in the second quarter, the Mids would come right back to tie it on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Horvath to Heidenreich.
 
After the Navy defense forced a punt, the Mids would take their first lead of the game two plays later on a beautiful 80-yard touchdown pass from Horvath to Heidenreich to make the score 17-10 Navy with 4:02 left in the first half.
 
The score would remain 17-10 at the half as neither team would score on its final possession of the half.
 
Air Force took the first possession of the second half and marched 70 yards in nine plays to tie the game at 17 on a one-yard touchdown run by Szarka.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Navy's kick returner, Isaiah Bryant, slipped and fell at his own three-yard line, putting the Mids in a precarious position.  It did not matter.  Horvath led Navy on an eight-play, 97-yard drive with Horvath running up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown run to retake the lead 24-17.  The Mids seem to have tricked the Air Force defense on the play as both Horvath and backup quarterback Braxton Woodson were in the game at the same time. Horvath faked the handoff to Woodson and took it to the house untouched.
 
To the Falcons' credit, they came right back and answered the Navy touchdown with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Szarka to Fleischmann to tie the game at 24 on the first play of the fourth quarter.  The Falcons were facing a third-and-nine on the Navy 18 on the play.
 
The Navy offense did not flinch. Four plays later, they regained the lead at 31-24 on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Horvath to Heidenreich.
 
Air Force would take five plays on its next drive, tying the game again at 31 on a 53-yard pass from Szarka to Jonah Dawson with 10:59 remaining.
 
The Mids would go on a nine-play, 60-yard drive on their next possession, but had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Kirkwood when Navy committed a false start penalty on fourth-and-one from the Air Force 12.  Kirkwood's field goal gave the Mids a three-point lead with 6:47 left.
 
The Falcons, with a chance to get the lead back in the final minutes, moved the ball to the Navy 47, but on third-and-nine decided to run an option play and Szarka's pitch was batted in the air by Jaxson Campbell and the fumble was recovered by Landon Robinson at the Navy 49.
 
"The defense just needed to get a stop and I was able to look at my visual key and deflect the ball," said Campbell.  "It is really rewarding to do that."
 
"I got off the block and I see the ball.  It tipped up in the air, and I thought, 'Maybe I can grab it,'" said Robinson.  "I put my arms up in the air and caught it.  I just tucked it away.  It was awesome to see the ball in the air and finally get the takeaway we needed."
 
The Mids would run out the remaining clock, icing the game on a Horvath eight-yard pass to fullback/quarterback Jackson Gutierrez on fourth-and-one on the Air Force 30.
 
Navy finished the game with 517 yards of total offense, marking the first time in school history the Mids finished with 450 yards of total offense or more in five-consecutive games.
 
"I think it's a very humble 5-0 group," said Newberry. "I think there's so much room for improvement. I've expressed some frustration after wins in the course of this year, and there are certain frustrations about the way we played today in certain phases. Our guys know and understand that we have to get better and we've got to clean some things up, because if we don't, it's going to cost us in a tight game like this at some point. When we play really good football teams, we don't have to be perfect, but we have to be dang near close. 
 
Navy has now won 76-consecutive games at home when leading after 3 quarters, the nation's longest streak.
 
The win marked the first time Navy defeated Air Force in back-to-back years since 2012-2013 and it's the first time Navy has started 5-0 in back-to-back years since 1978-79.  The Mids have won 30 of the last 45 games against Air Force and Army.
 
With the win, Newberry has started his head coaching career at Navy with a 20-10 record, the best 30-game start by a Navy head coach since Wayne Hardin went 20-9-1 from 1959-61.