Barnes kick lifts LA Tech to victory over Navy in Armed Forces Bowl; 48-45

If there's going to be a more entertaining bowl game this bowl season than Friday's Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, we all need to be tuned in.

A 31-yard field goal from Jonathan Barnes as time expired was ultimately the difference but seniors Ryan Higgins and Trent Taylor along with junior Carlos Henderson torched Navy through the air.

Louisiana Tech's defense has struggled at times this year and weren't perfect Friday, but were able to get the stops when they needed them to get Navy off the field.

"When I saw our defense, I told this team last night, the defense was going to be the difference in this game," Tech head coach Skip Holtz said after the game. "And the stops our defense got today was the difference in this game. That's why it was a higher scoring game because we got some stops on the defensive side of the ball.

And we had had a lot more possessions than I thought we would. We talked about having to be really efficient on offense, trying to get some stops, keeping the ball in front of us defensively."

[RELATED: Following Tech's Armed Forces Bowl win, Holtz overjoyed]

Once again Trent Taylor performed at a high level on a big stage with 12 catches for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns while garnering the game's MVP award and setting an Armed Forces Bowl record f0r receiving yards.

"He's always at his best in these big games," Holtz said. "You go back and look at how he played at Arkansas. He had a similar day like he did today. And you look at how he played at Mississippi State a year ago and how he played at Kansas State and the big games, how he played at Texas Tech, Middle Tennessee. In our biggest games, Trent's always stood up."

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said every one on their defense knew Taylor would get the ball but they couldn't stop him.

"[Taylor's] their leading receiver and he's been doing great all year," Niumatalolo said. "I mean, so you have a whole year of tape. You know he's their primary guy, but he's tough to stop. They put him in the slot, and he does a lot of different things.

Got some matchup problems. And everybody on our defense knows they're throwing the ball to him and still can't stop him. They did a really good job of executing, and they did a really good job on their schemes and putting him in certain spots and good match‑ups."

After a 39-yard missed field goal in week one that would have won it for the Bulldogs on the road at Arkansas, Jonathan Barnes recovered like few could shaking off the miss and going on a tear in the middle of the year (7 games without missing a kick) just to cap it off in dramatic fashion.

"I told my snapper, Darrell (Travis), and my holder, Logan (McPherson) before we went out there," Barnes said he told his fellow specialists after Tech ran the clock down to 3 second left. "And I said, Would it be fitting for this to end any other way than for us three to go out there and be able to finish it like this?

And as soon as the ball flew off my foot, the first person I looked for was Darrell just because it meant so much to both of them and to me. But to send them out the way we sent them out meant a lot."

After a well documented off the field incident before Fall Camp led to Ryan Higgins not playing in the Bulldogs' week one match-up at Arkansas, Higgins showed incredible resiliency to come back from it and lead his team to a 9-5 record even after having not so stellar performances in the two games leading to the Armed Forces Bowl. Not to mention staying at Tech after two transfers were brought in and started over him the last two seasons.

"This year going into it, I felt very comfortable with him being our starting quarterback," said Holtz of Higgins. "We had a life‑learning lesson earlier in the season going into the season that was painful to go through.

But I think it makes watching this season that much sweeter for me to know what he's overcome, to be where he is, to watch the hard work that he's put into it, and the way that he's grown."