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The Battlehawks came into the season with lots of hope despite a disappointing finish to their last season in the XFL, narrowly missing the playoffs at 7-3 thanks to tie-breakers. Head coach Anthony Becht and the rest of St. Louis’ team looked for redemption with a very strong roster including quarterback A.J. McCarron, an MVP candidate from last season. McCarron turned down a back up position in the NFL to try and lead the Battlehawks team to a championship.
The quarterback didn’t have to do this alone as wide receiver Hakeem Butler also returned for his second season with St. Louis. Butler was a huge part of the Battlehawks’ offensive success the prior season, recording 51 receptions for 599 yards and eight touchdowns. McCarron also saw returning help from 2023 XFL Special Teams Player of the Year, wide receiver Darrius Shepherd. They also acquired wide receiver Jahcour Pearson who was the XFL’s leading receiver in 2023 with 670 receiving yards for Seattle.
Defensively, the roster included Pita Taumoepenu, the XFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, and linebacker Mike Rose, a former first-team All-Big 12 and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year at Iowa State.
The season started off slow with a 18-16 loss to the Michigan Panthers. With just 8 seconds remaining, the Battlehawks had a 1-point lead while the Panthers had the ball at the St. Louis 46. Kicker Jake Bates marched onto the field and nailed a 64-yard field goal to start the Battlehawks in the loss column.
St. Louis responded with a five-game winning streak after the loss. During this streak the offense averaged just over 31 points.
As a result, the Battlehawks stood atop the XFL conference at a strong 5-1 record over the first six weeks. McCarron was once again in the MVP race, passing for 1,330 yards and 13 touchdowns over the first six games. Butler was a big part of the passing game with 478 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns on the season. Both of these stats led the league through six games.
Another area of large production was St. Louis’ rushing game. After six weeks, the Battlehawks gained over 450 rushing yards throughout the season thanks to a combined effort from Mateo Durant, Wayne Gallman II and Jacob Saylors.
The defense completed the team, holding the opposing team to under 19 points in four of their first six games.
This all climaxed in a headline matchup between the Battlehawks and the Birmingham Stallions, who were undefeated and riding a 13-game winning streak. The matchup not only featured two top ranked teams, but also included playoff implications and featured a fierce quarterback matchup between McCarron and Adrian Martinez, another MVP candidate at the time.
The Stallions won the dual 30-26 despite the Battlehawks’ best efforts. McCarron lost the quarterback battle, missing several passes down the stretch. The offense in general had limited production with just 225 total yards, only 64 of which came from the rushing game.
Things just seemed to get even worse when McCarron sustained an ankle injury on a play considered dirty by the Battlehawks’ coaching staff. Consequently, McCarron missed the next two games.
Still looking to secure a spot in the playoffs, the Battlehawks could not be detoured. Two of the last three games would come against teams trying to catch St. Louis in the standings: the D.C. Defenders and the San Antonino Brahmas.
In week eight, St. Louis faced the Defenders with quarterback Manny Wilkins stepping in for the injured McCarron. The Battlehawks snuck away with the 26-21 win to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Wilkins and the offense drove 56 yards to take the lead with two minutes remaining. Wilkins struggled passing, going 9/18 for 126 passing yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. However, Wilkins excelled as a rusher with 79 yards on 12 attempts.
The defense then got one more dominating stop, halting the Defenders on a 4th and 26 to give St. Louis another close win. The Battlehawks’ defense dominated all game, only allowing 21 points and under 300 total yards.
St. Louis wanted to guarantee home field advantage with the No. 1 seed. To do this, they would need to beat out the Brahmas. The Battlehawk’s week nine game against the Arlington Renegades technically meant nothing, as it would all come down to a head-to-head matchup in week 10. Still, it did serve as an opportunity to build some momentum going into week 10 and the postseason.
Sadly this opportunity was not seized, as both the offense and defense struggled mightily against the Renegades, losing 36-22.
The defense gave up more than 27 points for just the second time during the season while the offense only produced 21 of the team’s 22 points, the second least amount that they produced all season to that point. Wilkins struggled heavily, throwing 3 interceptions including a late pick-6 to extend the Renegade lead. No receiver broke 50 yards as Butler had a season low of 12 yards. The only silver lining was from Saylors, who tallied up 104 rushing yards on 14 rushes. On the ground, Wilkins added to the cause with 51 yards on 10 carries.
The Brahmas finished week nine with a win over the Stallions, taking a one-game lead in the battle for the No. 1 seed and snapping Birmingham’s winning streak that had reached 15 games by that point.
The game was played in St. Louis, and the home field advantage helped the Battlehawks secure the top seed with a 13-12 victory.
The defense stole the show, holding the Brahmas to just 6 points in the first 57 minutes. While the defense was able to get back to its old ways, the offense was not and the game consequently came down to the wire.
McCarron struggled in his return, throwing for 115 yards, a touchdown and an interception while completing just 10 of 24 attempted passes. Thankfully the rushing game looked productive, as Saylors went for 50 yards on 12 rushes and Gallman tallied 41 yards on only 6 carries.
The Battlehawks led by seven points with three minutes remaining when Brahmas’ backup quarterback Quentin Dormady was able to connect with wide receiver Jontre Kirklin for a 37-yard touchdown pass. Dormady was in the game due to a wrist injury that the Brahmas’ starting quarterback, Chase Garbers, sustained near the end of the 1st half. Not only did this injury sideline Garbers for this game, but it might also keep him out during next week’s XFL championship.
After the touchdown, the Brahmas then decided to go for two to try and win the game. Kirklin caught the ball right at the end zone, but was ruled short at first. After a quick review, it was concluded that Kirklin got in and the 2-point conversion was good to give San Antonio a one-point lead. However, McCarron himself informed Becht that one of the Brahmas’ offensive linemen was illegally blocking past the line of scrimmage on the play and Becht subsequently “super challenged.”
A “super challenge” is something unique to the UFL and it allows teams to challenge anything on the field during a given play as long as the team that is challenging has at least one time out. This resulted in a penalty and the Brahmas had to do the play over from the 7 yard line.
San Antonio nearly converted, but wide receiver Justin Smith had the ball bounce off of his hands as the Battlehawks clung to a one point lead.
However, St. Louis still could not put the game away, as they kept the ball for only just over a minute and San Antonio got the ball back with about 50 seconds and one timeout left. Aided by a couple of key penalties, the Brahmas drove down to the St. Louis 33 before kicker Ryan Santoso missed a 51-yarder. After the clock hit zeroes, the Battlehawks were the owners of the No. 1 seed in the XFL division.
The Battlehawks went 7-3 for the second consecutive season but found themselves in the playoffs this time around. McCarron finished the season with 1,581 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns, the latter of which was tied for 2nd in the league. Part of this success came from Butler’s league-leading 652 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns which was tied for 2nd in the league. Saylors led the way on the ground with 460 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, both of which were 2nd in the league.
On defense, linebacker Travis Feeney was a surprise standout with a team-high six sacks while linebacker Willie Harvey ended the regular season with four sacks and a team-high 76 total tackles.
Kicker Andre Szmyt was an unsung hero, going 19/21 on field goals and ending up with a total of 57 points.
The Battlehawks will now host the Brahmas at “The Dome at America’s Center” in St. Louis again. St. Louis will look to win the first-ever XFL conference championship on June 9 at 6 p.m.
Copyedited by Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com
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