XFL St. Louis Battlehawks

St. Louis Battlehawks Game Notes

Published on April 6, 2023 under XFL (XFL)
St. Louis Battlehawks News Release


SERIES NOTES

This is the second meeting in the XFL between the Battlehawks and Vipers and a rematch of a Week 6 contest in Las Vegas that St. Louis won, 29-6. With at least 20 points in six straight games, the Battlehawks rank second in the league with 23.3 points-per-game. Vegas, meanwhile, has allowed 25.0 points- per-game, which are the most in the XFL North and second-most in the league.

HOME AT THE DOME

The St. Louis Battlehawks return to The Dome at America's Center, where they will complete the regular season with a three-game homestand that kicks off Saturday vs. the Vegas Vipers, who sit in fourth place in the XFL North Division. The Battlehawks are 1-1 at home after they beat the Arlington Renegades, 24-11, in Week 4 and lost, 28-20, in Week 5 to the D.C. Defenders. St. Louis will continue its homestand at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 16 against the Seattle Sea Dragons for the final divsional matchup of the season. The game will be televised on ESPN. Tickets are available at XFL.com/tickets.

FAMILIAR FACES

‚¬Â¢ Battlehawks Head Coach Anthony Becht played for the St. Louis Rams in 2008.

‚¬Â¢ Offensive Coordinator Bruce Gradkowski (2008), Defensive Line Coach La'Roi Glover (2006-08), Running Backs Coach Art Valero (2008-09), Wide Receivers Coach Ricky Proehl (1998-2002), Linebackers Coach Chris Claiborne (2005), Director of Player Personnel Dave Boller (2004-07) and Vice President of Team Business and Event Operations Brandon Williams (2007) were also part of the St. Louis Rams organization.

‚¬Â¢ Running Back Brian Hill graduated from Belleville West High School.

‚¬Â¢ Wide Receiver Darrius Shepherd (Blue Springs) and Defensive Lineman Freedom Akinmoladun (Grandview) are both from western Missouri.

ROUGHED UP THE ROUGHNECKS

The Battlehawks never trailed Sunday in a 24-15 victory in their road finale over the Houston Roughnecks at TDECU Stadium in Houston.

QB A.J. McCarron threw three touchdowns, including a 14-yard strike to WR Gary Jennings to put St. Louis in front, 6-0, with 4:18 left in the first quarter. The Roughnecks tied the game, 6-6, with a touchdown three plays into the second quarter, but St. Louis responded with both a touchdown and two-point conversion catch by WR Hakeem Butler to move in front, 14-6. After a Houston field goal narrowed the margin to 14-9, K Donny Hageman closed out the first half with an XFL- record, 59-yard field goal to extend the lead to eight points.

Houston rallied with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to close to within two points of St. Louis, but McCarron then led the Battlehawks offense on an 11-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to WR Darrius Shepherd. RB Brian Hill scored on the one-point conversion attempt with a 1-yard rush to give St. Louis its winning nine-point margin.

#FILLTHETOP

Battlehawks fans have set the top two attendance marks in XFL history with a record 38,310 fans in the Week 4 home opener against the Arlington Renegades at The Dome at America's Center followed by 35,868 in Week 5 vs. the D.C. Defenders. The Battlehawks also held the previous top mark of 29,554, which was set by St. Louis in the 2020 home opener. Tickets in all seating levels for the Battlehawks three remaining home games are available at xfl.com/tickets.

VEGAS CONNECTIONS

Battlehawks OT Jaryd Jones-Smith played in three games for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, and WR Marcell Ateman played in one game for Las Vegas in 2021.

Vipers defensive back Antonio Phillips is a native of St. Louis, graduating from Kirkwood High School before he went on to star at Ball State University.

PLAYERS TURNED COACHES

St. Louis and Vegas head coaches Anthony Becht and Rod Woodson will face each other for the second time in three weeks as coaches after they took the field several times as opponents during their respective playing careers.

Becht began his 11-year NFL career in 2000, and his first four seasons overlapped with the final years of Woodson's 17-year career. They played four games against one another from 2000-03.

Becht's New York Jets dropped a Week 17 game to Woodson's Baltimore Ravens in 2000 and two games to Oakland in the 2002 season after Woodson joined the Raiders. Becht got the last laugh, however, with a 27-24 Jets win over Oakland in Week 10 of the 2003 campaign. Becht caught a two-point conversion pass from QB Chad Pennington to tie the game, 24-24, with 1:09 left in the game and send it into overtime.

RULES, RULES, RULES

The XFL has brought back several popular, unique rules from the 2020 season while also implementing new, innovative rules for the 2023 season.

Rules such as tiered extra points and double forward passes return, as well as kickoffs in which teams line up five yards apart. The kickoff rule led to fewer injuries and a 92 percent return rate in 2020.

New rules include an extra possession option in the fourth quarter only, teams may now attempt to retain possession by converting a 4th-and-15 play from their own 25-yard line. Teams can utilize an onside kick at any point in the game, but must notify the referee they plan to do so.

The play clock has been increased from 25 to 35 seconds, and each team will have three timeouts to use each half rather than the two at their disposal in 2020.

The XFL is also introducing a first of its kind, centralized 'command center' for instant replay review and officiating led by Dean Blandino, Vice President of Officiating and Playing Rules Innovation. The fully cloud-based instant replay program offers live integration during replay reviews and oversight of officiating discrepancies during all 43 XFL games.

USEFUL INNOVATIONS

The Battlehawks have put two of the rules that are unique to the XFL to good use through the first seven weeks of the season.

St. Louis is 10-for-19 on extra-point conversions this season. The Battlehawks were successful in Week 1 at San Antonio on their only three-point attempt of the year and converted their second successful one-point attempt in Week 7 at Houston. They are 7-for-12 on two-point conversions.

QB A.J. McCarron and WR Austin Proehl teamed up in Week 1 with the 4th-and-15 extra possession option in the fourth quarter at San Antonio. McCarron hit Proehl for a 22-yard gain to begin the Battlehawks' six-play, 75-yard drive that ended with the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard pass from McCarron to Proehl. The Battlehawks are 1-of-2 on 4th-and-15 extra possession attempts this season.

A KICK FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

Battlehawks K Donny Hageman made a 59-yard field goal as time expired in the first half of St. Louis' Week 7 win at Houston. The kick gave the Battlehawks a 17-9 lead and also gave Hageman the record for the longest made field goal in XFL history.

He surpassed a 58-yard mark set by former Battlehawks K Taylor Russolino vs. the New York Guardians on Feb. 23, 2020 at The Dome at America's Center in the Battlehawks first home game of 2020.

Hageman has made each of his last five field goals across the last four games. He also sealed a Battlehawks' win in Week 2 with a 44-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Seattle Sea Dragons, 20-18.

MCCARRON MAGIC

QB A.J. McCarron tossed three touchdowns with no interceptions for the second consecutive week and matched a season high with 26 completions in Week 7 at Houston. He was 26-for-34 with 222 passing yards in the win over the Roughnecks. He has passed for more than 200 yards in five straight games and is second in the XFL with 157 completions and 1,544 passing yards for the season, behind only Seattle's Ben DiNucci (167/1,771).

McCarron has also thrown multiple touchdown passes in five consecutive games and leads the XFL with 17 passing touchdowns while completing 68.9 percent of his passes, which ranks second in the league behind Orlando QB Quinton Dormady's 70.2 percent mark (min. 20 pass attempts).

McCarron leads the league with a 17-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio through seven games and leads all XFL players with 18 total touchdowns on the season. He scored on a 1-yard rush in Week 2 at Seattle in addition to his 17 passing touchdowns for the season. He ranks T-3rd among XFL quarterbacks with four rushes of 10-or-more yards after a season-best, 16-yard rush in the first quarter of Week 6 at Vegas.

DANGEROUS DARRIUS

WR Darrius Shepherd led the team in catches and receiving yards for the third time in the last four games with a game- high seven receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. He helped seal the Week 7 victory at Houston with a 10-yard touchdown reception with 3:54 left in regulation.

He ranks second on the team with 34 catches, 340 receiving yards and four touchdowns on the season. Shepherd also leads St. Louis with 20 catches for first downs, which is tied for the third-most in the XFL, as five of his seven catches at Houston went for a first down.

Shepherd also added 45 yards to his XFL-leading kick return total of 629 yards. He ranks second in the XFL with a 27.3 yards-per-return average and holds four of the six longest kick returns in the league through seven weeks.

SPEAKING DEFENSIVELY

The St. Louis defense allowed its fewest yards of the season when it limited Houston to 228 yards of total offense in Week 7. St. Louis has held opponents to 15 points or fewer in three of its last four games, and the Battlehawks are 5-0 when they allow fewer than 20 points.

The defensive corps also ranks third in the league with 306 tackles on the year. LB Willie Harvey leads the team with 39 tackles, which are the fifth most in the XFL.

LB Travis Feeney had a pair of tackles for loss in Week 7 at Houston to tie LB Carson Wells for the team lead with five tackles for loss on the season. Feeney also recorded a sack for the second consecutive game and leads the team with 3.5 sacks for the year.

TURNOVER TERRITORY

The Battlehawks defense leads the XFL with 16 takeaways, including a league-high nine via fumble this season. DL Kevin Atkins, DB Ben DeLuca and LB Travis Feeney are three of the six players with a league-high two fumble recoveries on the season. Feeney and DL LaCale London are tied for second in the league with two forced fumbles each. DBs Lavert Hill and Nate Meadors are T-4th in the league with a team-high two interceptions each.

The Battlehawks have forced multiple turnovers in six of their seven games and hold a 16-11 turnover margin for the season.

HAKEEM THE DREAM

WR Hakeem Butler caught his team-leading fifth touchdown of the season with a 5-yard catch in the second quarter of the Battlehawks' Week 7 win at Houston. Butler also caught a 5-yard pass for the ensuing two-point conversion that gave St. Louis a 14-6 lead. Heis one of three players with a league-leading five touchdown receptions for the season. Butler also ranks third in the XFL with a team-high 39 catches for the season, while his team-leading 399 receiving yards rank fifth.

The Iowa State alum has led the team in receiving yards in three games and is the only Battlehawks receiver to catch at least nine passes in a game this season. He accomplished the feat in both Week 3 and Week 5 against D.C.

HOME SWEET DOME

The Battlehawks will hold their five home games at The Dome at America's Center. The Dome was constructed in 1995 and hosted NFL games from 1995-2015.

A multi-purpose facility that has hosted a wide variety of events in its nearly three decades, the Dome also hosted the Battlehawks during the 2020 season before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to suspend operations. The team went 2-0 in its two home games that season and is 1-1 at home in 2023.

ROAD WARRIORS

The Battlehawks lead all XFL teams with four road victories on the season, going 4-1 away from The Dome at America's Center. They have outscored their opponents 119-88 in those contests. St. Louis joins San Antonio as the only two teams in the league to have played all five of their scheduled road games through the first seven weeks of the season.

LIVE SHOTS & EQUIPMENT: Live shots on game day are permitted until 60 minutes remaining on the pregame countdown clock. Reporters from local stations broadcasting in the local markets of the participating teams may do live or taped reports into regularly-scheduled local news programs (without a set) until 20 minutes before the scheduled start of the Network Broadcast. Any media outlet looking to conduct a live shot during game week or on game day should coordinate with the St. Louis Battlehawks communications staff to make the necessary arrangements.

Check out the St. Louis Battlehawks Statistics

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