The Seattle Sea Dragons traveled to St. Louis to take on the St. Louis Battlehawks in a pivotal Week 9 divisional matchup. The Battlehawks came to Seattle in Week 2 where they stole a victory from the Sea Dragons after Donald Hageman knocked in the game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired. With the playoffs fastly approaching, this matchup today was a must win scenario for the Sea Dragons.
The Sea Dragons received the opening kickoff and immediately took the lead after RB T.J. Hammonds scored his first touchdown of the season on a 9-yard rushing touchdown to cap off a 12-play, 74-yard drive and to take an early 8-0 lead following the successful 2-point conversion rushing attempt by RB Phillip Lindsay. On the Battlehawks first offensive series, K Donald Hageman tacked on the first points of the game for St. Louis on a 45-yard field goal, cutting the lead to 8-3. Heading into the second quarter, the Battlehawks came out firing after QB A.J. McCarron connected with WR Darrius Shepherd downfield for a 42-yard touchdown pass, giving the Battlehawks their first 9-8 lead of the game after the missed 2-point conversion try. Late in the second quarter, QB Ben DiNucci aired out a 42-yard pass on 4th down to WR Josh Gordon to get the Sea Dragons offense inside the red zone. On the next play, DiNucci found WR Jordan Veasy inside the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass to retake a 14-9 lead after the failed 2-point conversion attempt. The Battlehawks looked to answer before the break, but fell short after S Qwynnterrio Cole intercepted McCarron (his second INT of the season), giving the ball right back to the Sea Dragons going into halftime.
Transitioning into the second half, the Sea Dragons regrouped and scored on their first offensive series after WR Jahcour Pearson broke off for a 68-yard touchdown pass from DiNucci to extend the score to 20-9 following the missed 3-point conversion try. A couple series later, Hageman converted a 54-yard field goal, trimming the score to 20-12.
After a missed 52-yard field goal by K Dominik Eberle (ends his 13 FGs made in a row streak), the Sea Dragons defense retaliated and forced the Battlehawks offense to turn the ball over on downs. The Sea Dragons offense looked to seal the game on their next series, but the Battlehawks defense came up big after DB Lukas Denis intercepted DiNucci in the end zone. Soon after, the Sea Dragons defense answered with an interception of their own after S Bryce Thompson snagged a muffed catch from Shepherd. Following the turnover, the Sea Dragons offense capitalized with an8-yard run by DiNucci to take a commanding 27-12 lead after Lindsay punched in a 1-point conversion attempt. After forcing the Battlehawks to punt on their next drive, K Dominik Eberle put the game away for good with a 36-yard field goal to extend the score to 30-12 and to seal the sixth victory of the season for the Sea Dragons.
The Seattle Sea Dragons will head back home to Lumen Field next week in a must win season finale matchup against the Vegas Vipers on Sunday, April 23.
POSTGAME NOTES
The Sea Dragons took down the St. Louis Battlehawks 30-12 in their second official game at The Dome at America’s Center today. Seattle previously played in this stadium in the 2020 season on February 29 where they lost to the Battlehawks, 23-16.
This marks Seattle’s first win against the Battlehawks after a tight two point loss in week two of the season.
This game began with the highest of stakes- Seattle would have been eliminated from playoff contention with a loss. Instead, the team came together to earn their biggest margin of victory (18 points) of the season.
Seattle’s first drive culminated in RB T.J. Hammonds’ first touchdown of the season. This was the first Sea Dragons opening drive score since week 1 of the season (vs. DC).
Hammonds led both teams in rushing production with 59 yards in a game that was very skewed towards the aerial attack.
○ QB Ben DiNucci came out the gates sharp, completing 6 of his first 8 passes. He finished 21 of 31, and connected with an impressive ten different receivers in this one.
The defense quelled St. Louis’ attempt to match this drive, bending but not breaking and forcing the Battlehawks into a field goal attempt inside the Seattle 30 yardline.
The Battlehawks scored on their second drive, but Seattle was able to force an incompletion on the ensuing two point conversion. St. Louis came into this game with the best success rate on these tries, converting eight this season.
Momentum looked like it belonged to St. Louis as penalties and close calls had Seattle down 8-9 on defense. Airtight coverage and a key sack by DL Niko Lalos (his first solo sack of the year) helped get the ball back to the offense.
QB Ben DiNucci showcased his resilience on the next Seattle drive after he took a tough hit trying to convert on 3rd down with his legs, with the initial first down spot being moved back.
OC June Jones dialed up an unexpected deep shot on 4th and 1, and WR Josh Gordon netted 42 yards on a great adjustment mid-route. This was his second 40+ yard reception of the year, and DiNucci’s sixth 40+ yard pass (he would
finish the game with another for a league-leading seven 40+ yard completions). ○ This set up a simple two yard touchdown pass to WR Jordan Veasy, his second score of the season.
The biggest play of the first half came with under a minute left. Battlehawks QB A.J. McCarron had all kinds of time in the pocket and lofted a deep pass that looked like it was headed for a score.
S Qwynterrio Cole not only intercepted this ball for his second pick of the season, but returned the ball 39 yards to give the offense a last second chance.
Cole has been effective everywhere this season, leading the team in INTs with
two as well as both solo (32) and total tackles (47).
DL Niko Lalos made the first key play of the second half, making a shoestring tackle on A.J. McCarron to prevent him from converting a 3rd down with a run. St. Louis had been efficient, converting over 65% on 3rd down up to that point.
WR Jahcour Pearson followed this up by making the biggest play of the game on 3rd and 15 (following a sack). He forced multiple missed tackles to pick up the 1st down, and then hit the burners all the way to the endzone for a 68 yard touchdown.
This is the longest reception of the season for any Seattle player- Josh Gordon previously held the title with a 65 yard catch. It is also the 5th longest reception of the entire XFL season.
Pearson is still the league’s leading receiver with 57 receptions for 628 yards and now three touchdowns. He finished today’s game with seven receptions on eight targets for 115 yards and a score.
This was also Pearson’s first 100-yard game, surpassing his previous high of 99 against the Vipers in week 3. He joins Josh Gordon and Juwan Green as the only Seattle wideouts to earn 100-yard performances.
LB Tuzar Skipper did his part to keep Seattle on top by earning his fifth sack of the season on 3rd down, forcing St. Louis to settle for another field goal attempt. He is now tied for 5th in the XFL in sacks.
DB Mykael Wright shone bright in the 4th quarter, making a clutch tackle to prevent a Battlehawks 4th down try. He made five solo tackles in the game, tied with fellow DB Bryce Thompson (who also had two TFL) for a team lead.
Chaos broke loose after a Ben DiNucci endzone INT with six minutes left. On the very next play, LB Tyrell Adams made a big hit that popped the ball up for Thompson to intercept it right back. He joined Qwynterrio Cole as the only Seattle players with multiple interceptions on the season.
QB Ben DiNucci capitalized on this turnover with an eight yard rushing touchdown on 3rd down. He finished the game 21 of 31 for 260 yards and two touchdowns with one INT.
This was his second rushing score of the season, and he leads the league in rushing yards amongst QBs with 269.
DiNucci now also leads the league in total touchdowns with 19, passing yards (2,332), completions (216), passing 1st downs (108), and 40+ yard throws (7).
The Sea Dragons defense had what may be their best performance of the season against a potent offense. The 12 points that St. Louis scored was their lowest total of the entire season, and lowest Seattle has held an opponent to since week 4 versus the Brahmas.
