Announcers: John Schriffen, Tom Luginbill, Harry Douglas, Stormy Buonantony
Odds: DC Defenders -1.5, O/U 42.5 (DraftKings)
In this game, both teams have first place in the North Division in their sights. For this reason alone, this could be a classic battle. However, put 38,000 screaming fans into the Dome and the Battlehawks have a definite home-field advantage.
Both the Battlehawks and the Defenders are coming off big week four wins, with the Defenders completing a season sweep over the Vegas Vipers, while the Battlehawks took care of the Arlington Renegades in front of a friendly home crowd. These two teams met in week three in Washington, and that turned out to be a grueling 34-28 win for the Defenders. We may be in for a similar contest today
The DC Defenders took the kickoff and Jequez Ezzard had a good return putting the ball on their own 41. On 3rd and 1 Abram Smith easily ran 6 yards for the first down. On 2nd and 1, Smith again ran to pick up another first down. Jordan Ta’amu was moving the ball, passing to Moore-Mckinney and Chris Blair for first downs. At 4th and 1 on the St. Louis 12, Ta’amu ran for 3 yards to move the chains. A pass to Lucky Jackson in the end zone drew a defensive pass interference call.
On 1st and goal from the 1-yard line, Ta’amu was stuffed for a 3-yard loss. On 3rd down, DC was called for delay of game taking them back 5 more yards. The fan noise was having an effect on Ta’amu’s play calling. On third down again, Ta’amu ran the ball but was stopped just short of the goal line. On 4th down Ta’amu was again stopped before the goal line. Turnover on downs.
A.J. McCarron had to start his drive on his own 1-yard line. The Battlehawks went three and out and had to punt. Ta’amu took over on the St. Louis 44, but he also went three and out and punted back to the Battlehawks
St. Louis took over on their own 10-yard line and McCarron handed to Brian Hill for a 13 yard gain. On 3rd and 7 McCarron connected with Hakeem Butler with a 16-yard pass to the St. Louis 42. After a 7-yard pass to Jake Sutherland the Battlehawks were at midfield.
At the end of the first 1st quarter, there was no score.
On 4th and 1, McCarron rushed for the 1st down. A 14-yard pass to Austin Proehl moved the chains to the DC 30-yard line. Running back Brian Hill rumbled for another first down, and then a 10-yard pass to Austin Proehl put the ball on the DC 12. Unfortunately, the drive stalled and the Battlehawks Hagerman kicked a 36-yard field goal to make the score 3-0 for St. Louis.
DC took over on their own 32. Jordan Ta’amu passed to Chris Blair for a 6-yard game, and then handed to Abram Smith who ran 62-yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Josh Hammond was good, to make the score DC 8, St. Louis 3.
St. Louis took over on the their own 27-yard line. McCarron could not get anything going and went three and out. Jequez Ezzard returned the punt for the Defenders and brought it up to the DC 44-yard line.
DC put D’Eriq King in at quarterback. King could not get anything going and went three and out. The Defenders had to punt the ball back to the Battlehawks. There was an illegal formation penalty against DC on Whalen’s first punt, so he was forced to punt it again. His second punt was even better, and with a holding penalty against the Battlehawks the ball was placed on the St. Louis 4-yard line.
McCarron passed 12 yards to Darrius Shepherd to move the chains. McCarron was sacked on first down, and a 5-yard false start penalty further pushed the Battlehawks back. On 3rd and 9 McCarron fumbled and DC recovered the ball on the St. Louis 14.
At the two-minute warning the Defenders were knocking on the Battlehawks’ door and asking for more points.
Jordan Ta’amu handed to Abram Smith for the touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 14-33 for DC.
The DC kickoff was taken by Darrius Shepherd and returned 52-yards to the St. Louis 45. St. Louis suffered a 10-yard loss on a holding penalty, and then McCarron was sacked for a 6 yard loss. On 2nd and 26 McCarron passed to Hakeem Butler who ran for a 21-yard gain. Again, St. Louis was called for a false start infraction which made it 3rd and 10 on the DC 45. An incomplete pass to Brian Hill ended the drive and the Battlehawks punted.
The Defenders took the ball on their own 18-yard line, and with 27 seconds remaining in the half they let the clock run out. At the half, the DC Defenders led 14-3.
The kickoff was returned by the Battlehawks’ Darrius Shepherd 83 yards to the DC 16-yard line. On 2nd down, McCarron was almost picked off, and on 3rd down he could not complete to Mitchell. The Battlehawks’ Hagerman kicked a 34-yard field goal to make the score 14-6 for DC.
DC took over on their own 27. They handed to Abram Smith for a 3-yard gain, and then handed to Smith again and he ran the ball 70 yards for the major. The 2-point conversion failed and DC was ahead 20-6.
The Battlehawks took the ball on their own 35. McCarron handed to Brian Hill for two short runs, and then on 3rd and 1, Hill rushed 18 yards to the DC 35. McCarron kept moving the ball with a short pass to Hakeem Butler and then another handoff to Hill. A 10-yard pass to Darrius Shepherd moved the chains, and then a 12-yard pass to Butler put the ball on the DC 8. On 3rd down McCarron passed to George Campbell for the touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed making the score 20-12 for DC.
The DC Defenders took the ball on their 20 and Jordan Ta’amu, hampered by crowd noise, went three and out. The Defenders punt was taken by Austin Proehl on the St. Louis 32 and returned to the 35.
McCarron handed to Brian Hill for a 6-yard gain, and then again to Hill for a 7-yard gain and a first down. On 1st down McCarron was sacked by Bellamy for an 8-yard loss. On 3rd and 10, McCarron’s pass to Austin Proehl was incomplete and the Battlehawks punted.
DC started on their own 35. Abram Smith ran for 3 yards and then Jordan Ta’amu connected to Lucky Jackson for 10-yards and a first down.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the score was 20-12 for DC.
Jordan Ta’amu connected to Lucky Jackson for a 7-yard pass, and then for a 28-yard pass to the St. Louis 17. With a penalty, DC was 1st and 5 on the St. Louis 12. Ta’amu could not connect a pass so D’Eriq King was brought in. King ran 10 yards for the major. The 2-point conversion attempt was good when Jordan Ta’amu ran the ball himself. The score was now 28-12 for DC.
St. Louis took the ball on their own 35. A. J. McCarron went three and out, and with 10:34 remaining the Battlehawks punted.
DC’s Jordan Ta’amu drove the ball, relying on running back Abram Smith for first downs. Smith seemed unstoppable, racking up three first downs to give his total yardage on the day up over 200 yards. Finally, the Battlehawks stymied the DC rushing attack and forced the Defenders to punt.
With 6:02 on the clock and down by 16-points, St. Louis took the ball on their own 29. McCarron passed to Hakeem Butler for an 11-yard gain, and then to Austin Proehl for a 5-yard gain at midfield. Finally, McCarron aired out a 50-yard pass to Steven Mitchell for a Battlehawks major. The 2-point conversion pass to Mitchell was good, making the score 28-20 for DC.
DC took the kickoff on their own 29. They seemed content to hand off to Abram Smith and try to run out the clock. On 3rd and 7, Ta’amu passed to Briley Moore-Mckinney but he could only get 5-yards. DC punted with just over 2 minutes remaining.
At the two-minute warning, St. Louis had the ball on their own 15-yard line with all their time outs remaining. McCarron connected to Hakeem Butler for an 8-yard gain. On 3rd down McCarron was sacked for an 8-yard loss. On 4th and 10 McCarron passed to Brian Hill for a 15 yard gain and a first down.
McCarron completed another pass to Brian Hill for another first down. Then, when McCarron was attempting a pass to Steven Mitchell the ball was intercepted by DC’s Michael Joseph on the DC 37.
With 51 seconds remaining, the DC Defenders were determined to run out the clock. St. Louis had time-outs remaining, but a 13-yard run by Abram Smith sealed their fate.
The final score was DC Defenders 28, St. Louis Battlehawks 20.
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
DC 0 14 6 8 28
STL 0 3 9 8 20
------ DC DEFENDERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Jordan Ta'amu 12/18 90 5.0 0 0 28 0 - 0
Deriq King 0/1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0
TEAM TOTAL 12/19 90 0.0 0 0 28 0 - 0
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Abram Smith 23 218 9.5 3 70
Jordan Ta'amu 8 23 2.9 0 9
Deriq King 2 9 4.5 1 10
Josh Hammond 1 2 2.0 0 2
Raymond Calais 1 -4 -4.0 0 -4
TEAM TOTAL 35 248 0.0 4 70
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Lucky Jackson 5 54 10.8 0 28 7
Chris Blair 2 18 9.0 0 12 3
Briley Moore-Mckinney 2 15 7.5 0 9 3
Josh Hammond 2 6 3.0 0 3 4
Alex Ellis 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
Abram Smith 1 -3 -3.0 0 -3 1
TEAM TOTAL 12 90 0.0 0 28 19
Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
0 0 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Reggie Northrup 2 7 9.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Anthoula Kelly 2 5 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Anthony Hines 0 5 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Montae Nicholson 3 2 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 1
Jamal Brooks 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jacub Panasiuk 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Cameron Lewis 2 1 3.0 1.0 - 6.0 1.0 0 0 0
Andre Mintze 1 2 3.0 1.0 - 2.0 1.0 0 1 0
Dejuan Neal 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Caraun Reid 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Michael Joseph 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Santos Ramirez 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Nydair Rouse 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Ferrod Gardner 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Kentrell Brice 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jarrell Owens 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
K.J. Sails 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Gabe Wright 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jordan Ta'amu 1 0 1.0 1.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Davin Bellamy 1 0 1.0 1.0 - 8.0 1.0 0 0 0
Joseph Wallace 1 0 1.0 1.0 - 8.0 1.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 26 36 62.0 5.0 - 24.0 4.0 1 1 1
Interceptions
TEAM TOTAL
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Michael Joseph 1 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Jequez Ezzard 2 16 8.0 9 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Jequez Ezzard 4 103 25.8 34 0
K.J. Sails 1 19 19.0 19 0
TEAM TOTAL 5 122 0.0 34 0
Kicking
TEAM TOTAL
FGM FGA FG% LNG
0 0 0.0% 0
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Daniel Whelan 5 193 38.6 0 4 49
------ ST. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
A. J. McCarron 22/34 236 6.9 2 1 50 4 - 24
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Brian Hill 14 79 5.6 0 18
A. J. McCarron 4 12 3.0 0 8
Mataeo Durant 2 6 3.0 0 4
Kareem Walker 1 1 1.0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 21 98 0.0 0 18
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Hakeem Butler 9 86 9.6 0 21 12
Steven Mitchell 1 50 50.0 1 50 3
Darrius Shepherd 3 30 10.0 0 12 5
Brian Hill 3 29 9.7 0 15 5
Austin Proehl 3 29 9.7 0 14 5
Jake Sutherland 2 7 3.5 0 7 2
George Campbell 1 5 5.0 1 5 1
Jovani Haskins 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 22 236 0.0 2 50 34
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
A. J. McCarron 1 1 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Mike Rose 1 7 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
LaCale London 0 7 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Willie Harvey 1 5 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Carson Wells 1 5 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 3.0 0 0 0
Ben DeLuca 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Lukas Denis 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Mike Hampton 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Lakiem Williams 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Tre Watson 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Nate Meadors 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Elorm Lumor 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Travis Feeney 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Lavert Hill 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Kevin Atkins 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Gelen Robinson 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Brandon Sebastian 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jonathan Alexander 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Chris Cooper 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Freedom Akinmoladun 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Silas Kelly 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 18 48 66.0 0.0 - 0.0 9.0 0 0 0
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Austin Proehl 1 3 3.0 3 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Darrius Shepherd 3 155 51.7 80 0
Kicking
TEAM TOTAL
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Donald Hageman 2 2 100.0% 36
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS DC STL
TOTAL PLAYS 54 60
TOTAL YARDS 338 310
YARDS PER PLAY 6.3 5.2
FIRST DOWNS 14 16
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 3 11
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 11 5
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 0 0
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 22.2% 28.6%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 50.0% 100.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 90 212
PASS COMPLETIONS 12 22
PASS ATTEMPTS 19 34
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 0 1
YARDS PER PASS 4.7 6.2
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 0 2
SACKS ALLOWED 0 5
SACK YARDS LOST 0 24
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 248 98
RUSH ATTEMPTS 35 21
YARDS PER RUSH 7.1 4.7
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 4 0
PENALTIES 6 10
TURNOVERS 0 2
FUMBLES 0 1
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 26:45 33:15
