XFL St. Louis Battlehawks

Week 10 Game Notes STL vs ORL

Published on April 19, 2023 under XFL (XFL)
St. Louis Battlehawks News Release


SERIES NOTES

This is the second meeting in the XFL between the Battlehawks and Guardians. The teams met in the 2020 Battlehawks home opener on Feb. 23, 2020 at The Dome at America's Center when the Guardians were based in New York. St. Louis won the matchup, 29-9. Orlando sits last in the XFL South Division, and the Battlehawks are 3-0 against XFL South opponents this season.

BATTLEHAWKS VS. ORLANDO

SAT APRIL 22 AT 11 AM CT ON ESPN

Lowell Galindo, Play-by-Play

Sam Acho, Booth Analyst

Ian Fitzsimmons, Reporter

Taylor McGregor, Reporter

PLAYOFF PUSH

The St. Louis Battlehawks enter their regular-season finale tied for second place in the XFL North Division with the Seattle Sea Dragons, who will play the Vegas Vipers at 6 p.m. CT Sunday in Seattle. A Battlehawks win and Sea Dragons loss would clinch a spot for St. Louis in the XFL North Division Championship scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, April 30 against the XFL North champion D.C. Defenders at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

St. Louis will advance if Seattle loses, but tiebreakers will determine which team makes the playoffs if both win. Those scenarios are explained on Page 2.

FAMILIAR FACES

- Battlehawks Head Coach Anthony Becht played for the St. Louis Rams in 2008.

- 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.

- Running Back Brian Hill graduated from Belleville West High School.

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

OPPORTUNITY MISSED

The Battlehawks missed a chance to clinch a spot in the XFL North Championship with a 30-12 loss Sunday to the Seattle Sea Dragons in front of 33,142 fans at The Dome at America's Center.

St. Louis climbed back from an 8-0 deficit to take a 9-8 lead with 9:15 left in the second quarter when QB A.J. McCarron found WR Darrious Shepherd for a 42-yard touchdown pass. The Sea Dragons scored a touchdown of their own on their ensuing drive and took a 14-9 lead into halftime.

Seattle extended the lead to 20-9 with a TD on its first drive after halftime. St. Louis K Donny Hageman then drew St. Louis within eight points with his second field goal of the game, a 54-yard kick with 3:24 left in the third quarter.

The Sea Dragons scored the final 10 points of the game all in the final 4 minutes of regulation. A touchdown a field goal built the Seattle lead to its winning 18-point margin.

TIEBREAKER SCENARIOS

The Battlehawks and Seattle Sea Dragons enter Week 10 tied for the second and final playoff spot in the XFL North Division. St. Louis will play Orlando, which is in last place in the XFL South, while Seattle will host Vegas, the last-place team in the XFL North.

- STL wins/SEA loses...STL in the playoffs

- STL loses/SEA wins...SEA in the playoffs

- STL loses/SEA loses...STL in the playoffs as STL's fourth loss is a non-divisional matchup (ORL), while SEA would have four divisional losses (DC-2, STL, VGS).

- STL wins/SEA wins...STL needs to score 19 more points vs ORL than SEA scores against VGS AND STL must rank ahead of SEA in total points against to win Tiebreaker 4, which is best combined ranking among division teams in points scored and points allowed in all games. Tiebreaker 5 addresses the same rankings among all eight XFL teams. (Total points and points allowed are for all games but only ranked within the division.)

Points For as of Week 9

STL 196

SEA 215 (+19)

Points Against as of Week 9

SEA 168 (+6)

STL 174

#FILLTHETOP

Battlehawks fans have set the top four 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, 35,167 in Week 8 vs. Vegas and 33,142 in Week 9 vs. Seattle for an average of 35,622 fans per game. 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' final home game of 2023 at 11 a.m. Saturday vs. Orlando are available at xfl.com/tickets.

FLORIDA CONNECTIONS

The Battlehawks have eight players who hail from Florida, which is their highest total of any state.

DB Ben DeLuca is from Orlando while three of his teammates, DB Mike Hampton, LB Tre Watson Sr. and P Sterling Hofrichter are from Tampa. LB Willie Harvey is from Hastings and LB Carson Wells is from Bushnell. WR George Campbell is a Clearwater native, while QB Vincent Testaverde Jr. is from Miami.

FORMER TEAMMATES TURNED COACHES

St. Louis Battlehawks Head Coach Anthony Becht and Orlando Guardians Head Coach Terrell Buckley were teammates on the 2004 New York Jets squad that reached the playoffs with a 10-6 record. Becht was in his fifth and final season as a tight end for the Jets before he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Buckley joined the Jets as a free-agent defensive back.

The pair played against one another seven times in their NFL careers with Becht a member of the Jets from 2000-04, and Buckley a member of the AFC East-rival New England Patroits from 2001-02 and Miami Dolphins in 2003. Buckley's teams prevailed in five of those contests, but Becht had at least two receptions and 20 receiving yards in five of the matchups.

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 league also has new overtime procedures. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, both teams will be given three, alternating two-point conversion opportunities from the 5 yard line. The team with the most points after those three rounds is declared the winner. If the opponents are still tied after three rounds, individual rounds will follow until one team scores and the other does not.

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 three of the rules that are unique to the XFL to good use throughout the 2023 season.

St. Louis is 13-for-24 on regulation extra-point conversions this season. The Battlehawks were successful in Week 1 at San Antonio on their first of two three-point attempts of the year and converted their second successful one-point attempt in Week 7 at Houston. They have eight successful two-point conversions, which ranks second in the league behind D.C., excluding overtime attempts.

The Battlehawks were flawless in the first overtime in league history in Week 8 vs. Vegas. They stopped each of the first two conversion attempts by Vegas and then scored on both of their own to clinch a 21-17 victory.

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.

LEAGUE LEADERS

QB A.J. McCarron leads the XFL with 18 touchdown passes, and his 19 total touchdowns are T-1st in the league with Seattle QB Ben DiNucci. McCarron has an 18-6 touchdown/interception ratio, and his 67.3 percent completion rate ranks third in the league (min. 20 pass attempts). McCarron also sits second in the league with 175 completions and 1,730 passing yards, behind only DiNucci (216/2,332).

WR Darrius Shepherd leads the league with 775 kick return yards. He is also T-3rd in the XFL alongside teammate WR Hakeem Butler with 42 receptions. Butler is tied for the league lead with six touchdown catches, while Shepherd is one behind with five.

WR Gary Jennings ranks fourth in the league with a 17.8 yards/reception mark (min. 3 catches), and three of his six receptions this season have gone for touchdowns. His 22.20 mph max running velocity as tracked by Catapult was the fastest in the XFL through the first seven weeks.

The Battlehawks pace the XFL with 20 total passing touchdowns, as QB Nick Tiano and P Sterling Hofrichter both have a passing TD each to go with McCarron's 18 scores.

The St. Louis defensive corps ranks second in the league with 399 tackles on the year. LB Willie Harvey leads the team with 53 tackles, which are the sixth most in the XFL.

TURNOVER TERRITORY

The Battlehawks rank third the XFL with 18 takeaways, including a league-high 10 via fumble this season. DL Kevin Atkins, DB Ben DeLuca and LB Travis Feeney are all tied for second in the league with two fumble recoveries on the season. Feeney is T-2nd in the league with three forced fumbles, while DT LaCale London is T-6th with two. DBs Lavert Hill and Nate Meadors are T-5th in the league with a teamhigh two interceptions each. The Battlehawks have forced multiple turnovers in six of their nine games and hold an 18-16 turnover margin for the season.

DENIS THE MENACE

DB Lukas Denis picked off his first pass of the season, with an interception in the end zone on an attempted Seattle touchdown pass Sunday with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter. Denis also led the team with a season-high 10 tackles. The 26-year-old Boston College product has registered five-ormore tackles in three games this season. He is tied with LB Mike Rose for fourth on the team with 35 tackles on the season.

THE GREAT ATEMAN

WR Marcell Ateman set season highs with seven catches and 99 receiving yards in Week 9 vs. Seattle. He also caught his longest pass of the season with a 38-yard catch in the second quarter. Despite missing three games with a hamstring injury in weeks 4-6, Ateman ranks second on the team with five catches of at least 20 yards, and he is third on the club in both receiving yards (259) and yards/reception (13.6).

HOME SWEET DOME

The Battlehawks 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 2-2 at home in 2023.

Check out the St. Louis Battlehawks Statistics

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