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XFL Arlington Renegades

XFL Championship MVP Luis Perez Enjoys Unforgettable Night for Arlington

May 14, 2023 - XFL (XFL)
Arlington Renegades News Release


SAN ANTONIO - Exactly 12 weeks before Luis Perez ran onto the turf field of the Alamodome to play for the XFL Championship on Saturday, the 28-year-old quarterback walked off the field of Choctaw Stadium in Arlington.

It was the first game of the XFL season. League owners Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson were in attendance in front of a great crowd. The game was broadcast on ABC. Anticipation was high.

The vibes were similar Saturday for the XFL Championship in San Antonio. Garcia and Johnson were there. The game was broadcast on ABC in primetime. The crowd was electric and the competition level was high.

But for Perez, everything was different. He left the field Feb. 18 as the Vegas Vipers quarterback having watched his team fumble away a lead to lose 22-20.

Perez didn't leave the field Saturday, splattered with confetti like a postmodern painting, until late in the night. When he did, he left with a night he will never forget.

That's because Perez, the quarterback the Arlington Renegades bested in Week 1, led them to the 35-26 victory over the 10-1 D.C. Defenders in a historic 2023 XFL Championship.

"We have a lot of great guys here - a lot of great guys, great coaches, great support staff," said Perez, who was named game MVP. "When you have a culture like that, you have to come in and fit in and I did that."

Perez was traded March 28 to an Arlington team that was struggling to get anything done offensively. In the five weeks since that Week 1 win over Vegas, the Renegades offense sloshed its way to a measly 11.2 points per game.

Arlington was keeping itself in the playoff hunt thanks to a weaker South Division and standout defense. The hope was Perez could change that. It took a few weeks for things to click but Perez did turn into that catalyst.

The team put it all together with Perez's best game of the year two weeks ago in the South Division Championship against the Houston Roughnecks. Then he bested that with an even better performance Saturday - 26-of-36 passing for 288 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

"He played a perfect game, did everything perfect today," wide receiver Caleb Vander Esch said.

Things could have looked different. Defenders defensive lineman Davin Bellamy had a prime chance to sack Perez on the first play of the game, but the 28-year-old muscled the ball to Tyler Vaughns for a seven-yard gain.

It was a harbinger of what was to come. Nobody Saturday night would be able to stop Perez.

Throughout the season, the Defenders were one of the best teams in the league at controlling games early. They entered the championship having never trailed by more than double digits. The last time D.C. trailed at the half was Feb. 25.

When the two teams departed for the locker rooms Saturday after 30 minutes, those two facts were no longer true. Arlington led by as much as 17 points and had a 20-6 advantage at the break. The only saving grace for D.C was an Abram Smith touchdown run with 32 seconds left in the second quarter.

"What killed us was the first half," Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu said. "They did a good job holding the ball so we only had three possessions in the first half. One of them was three and out. One of them was a pick. The last one we scored. But those little things started adding up towards the end of the game."

Arlington controlled possession for nearly 13 minutes in the first quarter, gaining 174 yards with 10 first downs and two touchdowns. D.C. managed only a three-and-out and one play on a second drive before the first 15 minutes ended.

What sustained the Perez-led Renegades offense was a remarkable efficiency on third downs. It started when Perez found Sal Cannella on a little slant route over the middle on the first drive. Cannella dashed past Kentrell Brice, who took a bad route to the football, and scored a 41-yard touchdown.

"My boy Sal set the game off, set the tone for the game," said running back Leddie Brown, who scored two touchdowns. "That carried us for the rest of the game."

Facing two third-and-longs on the next drive - which lasted 16 plays and 8 minutes, 45 seconds - Perez connected on two next-level throws to keep the drive chugging along. The first was a deep route to Tyler Vaughns that fell perfectly into his breadbasket. The second was a comeback route that JaVonta Payton snagged right along the near sideline.

Arlington finished the game 11-for-15 on third downs. Marquette King punted only one time.

"Coach (Jonathan) Hayes and coach (Chuck) Long had some nice play designs, running the ball and throwing it," Stoops said of his co-offensive coordinators. "We took advantage sometimes of their blitzing and what they did. Luis checked to a few on his own, got the ball out quick. We just executed well."

The biggest midseason acquisition of the XFL season, Perez got more comfortable in the Renegades offense as the weeks progressed. He showcased that growth throughout a stellar first half, not just on third downs.

On one first down in the second quarter, Perez read a blitz coming off the right side from cornerback LeJuan Neal. He communicated the read with Cannella, who was lined up against him, and his offensive line. When Neal attacked right away, Perez quickly went to Cannella for another first down.

Those types of cerebral plays are expected from Perez by his teammates, who all noticed his work ethic and leadership skills from the moment he joined the team.

"He's the smartest guy on the field," center Brian Folkerts said. "He's the kind of guy that me and him would just talk about blitzes for hours. We'd go into extra meetings every week, every day, and just watch blitz cut-ups. His attention to detail and his preparation is just unmatched by any quarterback I've ever played with and I played six years in the NFL."

Perez finished the first half - which saw the Renegades score on all four of their drives - 18-for-23 for 189 yards and two touchdowns with six receivers registering two catches or more. His D.C. counterpart, Ta'amu, was 4 of 9 with an interception.

It was a frustrating night for Ta'amu, the XFL Offensive Player of the Year, who never found a rhythm and finished with three interceptions, equaling his total for the entire regular season.

"Defensively, we held them under what they normally do," co-defensive coordinator Jay Hayes said. "If we wouldn't have given up the bombs, it wouldn't even be close."

Two of those bombs came in the third quarter to make things interesting. The first was a dynamic 52-yard touchdown run from Smith on fourth-and-inches that likely kept the game from getting out of hand. The second was a 72-yard missile to Josh Hammond.

Both touchdowns cut the deficit to one score but Perez led immediate responses to return the lead to double digits.

"His leadership really carried the team the last six games. He was doing something that we didn't have before he got here and that was taking over the game. I appreciate him for that," Brown said. "He's the reason why we're sitting in this moment right now."

D.C. gave the lively 22,754 in attendance at the Alamodome a thrilling conclusion thanks to a late touchdown with 1:17 remaining that trimmed the margin to nine points.

It set up a 4th-and-15 fourth down onside kick alternative conversion - one of the new XFL rules from this season - to keep their season alive. But Arlington schemed the play call many times throughout the season and Cre'Von LeBlanc came down with the game-sealing interception.

Three kneel downs later and it was all over. The 2023 XFL season ended the way it had started - with the Renegades victorious.

"If you're gonna do something, you want to win and you want to be the champion at it," Stoops said. "Fortunately, we did what we needed to do here in the last few weeks to get that done. Just feel like we're just now taking off. Wish we had 10 more games to play the way we're playing now."

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