Leave it to Navy to bring out the best in Notre Dame! While the Midshipmen held true to their flexbone roots, it was some surprising air attacks that kept the Irish off balanced. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame offense need contributions from backup QB Kenny Minchey throughout the game, as starting QB Riley Leonard struggled to stay on the field with bruised ribs, thanks in part to a hard-hitting Navy defense. He wasn't the only one running into trouble today, as starting HB Jeremiyah Love and backup HB Jadarian Price also dealt with some bumps throughout.
Notre Dame started the scoring early, as Leonard connected with WR Kris Mitchell on a 79yd TD and "Lightning" Jeremiyah Love found pay dirt late in the 1st to put Notre Dame up 14-0. After another stop to start the 2nd quarter, the Irish settled for a 22yd Mitch Jeter FG, to take a 17-0 lead.
Like true fighters, Navy wasn't about to give up! QB Blake Horvath found WR Nathan Kent for an 82yd TD with just 3:15 to go in the half. From there, it turned into a chaotic series of scores, as Notre Dame quickly answered with back to back touchdowns from backup QB Kenny Minchey to TE Mitchell Evans. However, ND left :11 seconds on that lock and that's all Navy QB Blake Horvath needed to once again find WR Nathan Kent for a 75yd TD pass, leaving it Notre Dame 31 - Navy 14 at the half.
With Leonard starting to recover in the 3rd quarter, he found his way back on the field and connected with WR Jayden Thomas to start the scoring early in the quarter. Navy answered with a FG to make it 38-17 Notre Dame. From there, it was time for the "Thunder" as the power back of the dynamic duo found paydirt once in the 3rd and once in the 4th to cap the scoring and put Navy away for good, 52-17.
Coach Reign: "Absolutely loved the fight from Navy today. It's always an honor to share the field with them. Their coach is a class act and I wish him a long and successful career in the NDL. Here's to you coach! Thank you!"
In a shocking turn of events, the Navy Midshipmen aired it out against the vaunted Notre Dame defense for a total of 213 yards, 2TDs in a 52-17 loss. This blitzkrieg from the air was mainly due to the Irish jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first half and forced the Mids' hand to let Blake Horvath air it out to the likes of Nathan Kent (3 Recs/167yd/2TDs) while also giving Brandon Chatham another 100+ yard game on the ground with 9 rushes for 166 yards. This resulted in the Irish having to keep the pressure on and Navy couldn't stop their offense over the course of the whole day.
Coach Code_one14 summed it up best, "its a rivalry game in the sense that we play every year, but until we can manage the turnovers, its gonna take a special performance to take down a team as well coached as the Irish, he just has a great game plan and studs everywhere on the field, that's why he's #1 in the NDL, and it might take a while to knock him off the mountaintop."
great game, good luck coach.
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