Facts and figures from Navy’s win in front of a sellout crowd of 37,517 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Air Force Player of the Game – Liam Szarka, so., quarterback

Szarka has done everything a quarterback can do, except win.

His teammates know that is coming soon.

“He’s a gamer,” tight end Bruin Fleishmann said. “Guy can play all the time, any time. Everybody can see it now. We’ve been seeing it for the last year and a half. I think it’s only going to keep growing and he’ll get us to the promised land.”

Szarka threw for 212 yards on 11-of-19 passing with two touchdowns and ran for 152 yards and two more scores. He’s the first Air Force quarterback with three consecutive games of at least 200 passing and 100 rushing yards.

He’s had a hand in at least three touchdowns in four consecutive games, though all have been Air Force losses.

“He’s able to use his arm and legs efficiently,” fullback Dylan Carson said. “Doesn’t seem like a sophomore. He’s playing incredible for his age and I can see him improving.”

Fleishmann, who caught six passes for 166 yards and a touchdown in a career-best performance, predicted Szarka’s success this past summer.

He explained what led to that conclusion.

“You can see it every day in practice, but practice isn’t shown to the world,” Fleischmann said. “This is. I kind of had insider trader, if you will, on that one.”

WHAT WE WATCHED

Circling back on items of intrigue The Gazette’s Brent Briggeman identified prior to the game.

Air Force’s defense

It was a promising start. The Falcons held Navy to a field goal on the opening possession despite a 36-yard completion from Blake Horvath to Eli Heidenreich that was caught with one hand and couldn’t have been defended tighter. The Midshipmen fumbled on the next possession, with safety Houston Hendrix jarring the ball loose and Mikhail Seiken recovering. But in the end the Midshipmen gained 517 yards, the second most in their 58 games against Air Force.

“We’ve got to make the plays that we’re supposed to make,” said Falcons linebacker Blake Fletcher, whose 11 tackles were second-most on the team behind sophomore safety Roger Jones. “And we’ve also got to make plays that are harder plays, that not everyone’s supposed to make, but that’s football.”

The offensive style

Generally, service academy games bring out a conservative approach. Air Force hadn’t scored more than 20 points in its last seven meetings against Army and Navy. That went out the window on Saturday, with the teams combining for 588 passing yards.

Third down

Navy’s third-down numbers (5-of-11 – 45.4%) were down from its national-leading average (.617) and not as good as opponents had been converting against Air Force (.532). But the Midshipmen converted on two of the fourth-down attempts that followed stops on third downs and connected on two field-goal attempts that followed two others. The Midshipmen punted just twice.

BY THE NUMBERS

4

Consecutive losses for Air Force for the second consecutive season following an opening win. Last year the Falcons fell to 1-7 before closing with a four-game winning streak.

30

Wins against Air Force and Army in the last 45 games for Navy

339

Passing yards for Navy, its the most ever against Air Force

850

Passing yards this season for Liam Szarka through five games (but just two starts), a total that is already higher than Air Force’s leading passer in five of the past seven seasons

3,068

Navy’s world-record breaking number of people performing pushups for one minute after the brigade marched onto the field prior the game. The previous record was held by Air Force with 2,926.