XFL St. Louis Battlehawks

Battlehawks Rally again to Topple Seattle on the Road

Published on February 24, 2023 under XFL (XFL)
St. Louis Battlehawks News Release


The St. Louis Battlehawks completed their second straight fourth-quarter comeback in the final seconds to improve to 2-0 on the season with a 20-18 win Thursday over the Seattle Sea Dragons at Lumen Field in Seattle.

After an 18-15, come-from behind victory Sunday at San Antonio, the Battlehawks found themselves down by one point with 1 minute, 21 seconds to play. QB A.J. McCarron then led the Battlehawks 50 yards down the field, while accounting for 23 rushing yards himself, to set up K Donny Hageman for a 44-yard, game-winning field goal as time expired.

St. Louis took their first lead of the contest, 17-12, when WR Hakeem Butler caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from McCarron for the Battlehawks' longest play of the season with 7:14 left in the game. The Sea Dragons came back with a seven-play, 60-yard touchdown drive of their own two possessions later to take an 18-17 lead, but they were unable to complete a 3-point conversion attempt from the St. Louis 10-yard line.

The Battlehawks' special teams and defense provided the offense several extra opportunities thanks to three turnovers in the second half. WR Gary Jennings recovered a muffed punt by Seattle WR Jahcour Pearson, and DL Kevin Atkins recovered a fumble by RB Morgan Ellison that St. Louis DL LaCale London forced with 10:20 left in the third. Hageman converted his first 44- yard field goal of the night seven plays later to bring St. Louis within one point of Seattle, 12-11.

London forced another fumble that Atkins recovered again on the next Seattle drive. The Battlehawks forced three fumbles for the game and hold a 5-0 turnover margin for the season. The St. Louis offense got on the scoreboard with its first drive of the second quarter on a 14- play, 72-yard drive McCarron completed with a quarterback sneak from the 1 yard line. He then found WR Marcell Ateman for a 2-point conversion that narrowed Seattle's lead to 12-8.

Seattle built a 12-0 lead early with a 29-yard field goal with 4:02 left in the opening quarter and a 54-yard touchdown pass from QB Ben DiNucci to WR Jahcour Pearson on the first play of the second quarter. Seattle elected a 3-point conversion attempt, and DiNucci connected with Josh Gordon in the end zone to extend the Sea Dragons' advantage to a dozen points.

St. Louis will finish its season-opening, three-game road trip in Washington, D.C., with a game against the D.C. Defenders at noon CT on Sunday, March 5. The game will be televised on FX.

Check out the St. Louis Battlehawks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



XFL Stories from February 24, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central