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Navy holds on at home to beat Temple 42-35

Jackson Gutierrez ran for five touchdowns and threw for a sixth as Navy survived a wild fourth-quarter rally by Temple to win at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Navy beat Temple 42-35 on Saturday in Annapolis, but it was not clean. The Midshipmen built a 28-point lead and then had to sweat out a furious Owls comeback before finally closing it out in the final two minutes.

Jackson Gutierrez did most of the damage. The Navy quarterback carried the ball 30 times for 180 yards and five rushing touchdowns, and he added a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Collins in the third quarter. Six touchdowns. All of them scored. That kind of afternoon.

Navy came out of the first half looking in control. Gutierrez punched in four rushing scores, all from short range, with two in the first quarter and two more before halftime. The Midshipmen led 28-0 going into the break, and it looked like a rout. Then Temple's JoJo Bermudez returned a punt 78 yards on the last play of the second quarter and suddenly it was 28-7.

That play mattered. Temple came out of the locker room with something, and Bermudez caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jaxon Smolik just under four minutes into the third quarter to make it 28-14. Navy answered fast. Gutierrez found Collins over the middle and Collins turned it into a 49-yard score, pushing the lead back to 21.

The fourth quarter was a mess. Temple scored three times in just over five and a half minutes. Smolik hit Jayce Freeman on a 6-yard strike, Samuel Brown V punched one in from a yard out, then Smolik connected with Freeman again for 25 yards. Three touchdowns. Fourteen minutes left to 5:35 on the clock, and Temple had pulled within 35-35.

Navy needed a response. Gutierrez gave them one. He took a carry into the end zone from four yards out with 1:14 remaining, and Nolan Bartley's extra point made it 42-35. Temple had no answer after that.

Smolik finished 12 of 26 for 173 yards and three touchdowns for the Owls, with Jayce Freeman catching four passes for 62 yards and two scores. But Temple's ground game never got going, with Keveun Mason leading the way on just 24 rushing yards on six carries.

Collins finished with two receptions for 112 yards for Navy, with that one big play in the third quarter doing most of the work.

Navy moves to 3-6 on the season. Temple drops to 2-7. Gutierrez's 4-yard run with 1:14 left was the difference.