The 2023 XFL postseason began on Saturday with the South Division leading Houston Roughnecks hosting the neighboring Arlington Renegades at TDECU Stadium. The last time the Renegades traveled to TDECU Stadium they suffered a hard-fought 23-14 loss to Houston in XFL Week 2. A similar outcome was had when Arlington hosted the Roughnecks in a matchup last week, but many would point out that was a meaningless game where the two teams had already locked in their post-season fate.
This was the first XFL playoff game since the league played in 2001.
Quarterback Luis Perez started for the Arlington Renegades, and Brandon Silvers started for the Houston Roughnecks.
Austin Jones kicked off and Arlington’s Rannell Hall had a short return to the Renegades 25. Luis Perez started off with a ground game, running for 6-yards himself, and then handing to De’Veon Smith for 2 more. Another handoff to Smith was good for 10-yards to move the chains, and then Smith had a big run of 24-yards to the Houston 33. A pass to Tyler Vaughns lost 3-yards, and then a handoff to Brian Herrien moved the ball forward 5-yards. On 3rd and 8, Perez connected to Sal Cannella for a 10-yard gain that moved the markers. A 2nd down pass to Vander Esch was good for 7-yards, and then Perez passed to JaVonta Payton in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 6-0 for Arlington.
After the kickoff, Houston started their opening drive on their own 32. Roughnecks’ quarterback Brandon Silvers handed to Max Borghi for a 5-yard run, and then had a pass batted down on 2nd down. On 3rd down, Silvers passed to Brycen Alleyne who ran 22-yards to the Arlington 41. On 4th and 3 on the Arlington 34, Silvers could not connect a pass to Michael Bandy and the Roughnecks turned over the ball on downs.
Luis Perez started a drive on the Arlington 34. Unfortunately, they could not get anything going and went three and out. The Renegades punted back to Houston.
Backup quarterback Cole McDonald started the next Houston drive. His first pass was incomplete, and then he handed to Borghi for 4-yards. Silvers came into the game and passed to Cedric Byrd for 6-yards and a first down. A pass to Alleyne was dropped for a 6-yard loss by Arlington’s Will Hill. On 4th down, Houston was forced to punt.
The 1st quarter ended with Arlington leading 6-0.
Luis Perez started a drive from his own 30-yard line by handing to Smith for 9-yards, and then a 2-yard Herrien rush moved the markers. Then, Perez connected to JaVonta Payton with a 59-yard touchdown pass deep up the middle. The 2-point conversion rush by Payton was good, making the score 14-0 for Arlington.
Houston began on their own 39-yard line with Cole McDonald as pivot. He handed to Borghi for a 13-yard rush, and then passed to Deontay Burnett for 9 more yards. A handoff to Jeremy Cox was good for 6-yards and another first down. McDonald stayed on the ground running for 5-yards himself, and then handed to Alleyne for more 5 yards to move the chains. The drive continued with a 9-yard pass to Travell Harris and then a handoff to Cox for 2-yards and another first down on the Arlington 12. McDonald kept driving, carrying the ball to a first down on the 1-yard line. On 2nd down, Cox ran for the touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Burnett was good to make the score 14-8 for Arlington.
The Houston kickoff failed to abide by the XFL kickoff rules, and the Renegades were given excellent field position on the Houston 45. A handoff to Herrien was sprung loose for an 18-yard gain, and then Perez passed to LuJuan Winningham for 15 yards at the Houston 14-yard line. Luis Perez passed 14-yards to Brandon Arconado in the corner of the end zone for another Renegades major. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 20-8 for Arlington.
Cole McDonald started a drive at the Houston 32. He handed to Max Borghi for 14-yards to move the sticks. After this, the drive stalled and Houston punted.
Perez started deep on his own 8-yard line and handed to De’Veon Smith for a 6-yard gain. At the two-minute warning, the Renegades were 3rd and 1 on their own 22.
Perez handed to De’Veon Smith for a 5-yard run and a first down, and then he passed 27-yards to a wide-open Payton at the Houston 46. Perez passed to Caleb Vander Esch for a 27-yard pickup, and then went back to Vander Esch with a 6-yard pass to the Houston 13. At 3rd and 4, with 0:24 on the clock, Perez passed to Vander Esch for the 1st down. The Renegades could not put the ball into the end zone and settled for a 31-yard Taylor Russolino field goal to make the score 23-8 for Arlington.
Houston ran out the final seconds on the clock and ended the half with the score Arlington 23, Houston 8.
Houston took the kickoff and Cole McDonald came in to lead the Roughnecks. He handed to Brycen Alleyne for a 12-yard pickup. McDonald rushed for 6-yards, and then an offensive pass interference call brought the ball back 10 yards. The drive did not go any further and the Roughnecks punted.
Luis Perez came on and started a drive at the Arlington 31. He handed to Smith for 6-yards, and then passed incomplete on 3rd and 3… and was almost picked off. Arlington punted.
After the last failed drive, Cole McDonald was seen on the sidelines attempting to rally the squad. Now he was back on the field starting a drive on the Houston 28-yard line. Max Borghi carried the ball for zero yards, but an unnecessary roughness call against the Renegades moved the chains. Borghi got the ball again, and this time he made 5 yards. Cole McDonald threw deep downfield and was almost picked off. On 3rd and 5, McDonald could not complete a pass to Bandy, and Houston was forced to punt. The Porter punt was fumbled and recovered by Houston’s Brian Khoury.
Houston retained possession on the Arlington 27. McDonald rushed for 13-yards to the Arlington 14, and the handed to Borghi for 7 more yards. On 3rd and 3, McDonald was sacked for a 7-yard loss, and Houston had to settle for a 32-yard Austin Jones field goal to make the score 23-11 for Arlington.
Luis Perez started a drive at the Arlington 35. On 2nd down he passed 25 yards to Tyler Vaughns on the Houston 40, and then on 3rd and 15, Perez passed complete to Vander Esch for 15-yards and a first down. On the next set of downs Perez faced another 3rd and 15 but was sacked for a 7-yard loss. Marquette King was brought in to punt.
At the end of the 3rd quarter Arlington led 23-11.
From his own 17-yard line, Cole McDonald passed to Cedric Byrd for 4 yards, and then passed to Deontay Burnett for 7 more yards and a first down. On 3rd and 11, McDonald faced pressure in the pocket and he decided to run for 19 yards himself, to the Houston 46. Houston could not do any more, as Arlington’s defense stymied them on every move. The Roughnecks were forced to punt.
Arlington began their drive deep on their own 12-yard line. A Kelly Bryant 5-yard rush was followed by an 8-yard pass to Sal Cannella to move the chains. De’Veon Smith ran for 5 yards, and then Perez passed to Payton for 13-yards and a first down. With 7:30 remaining, Arlington was moving the ball and taking time off the clock. The Roughnecks defense came up big on 3rd and 1 on the Houston 48, as running back De’Veon Smith was dropped for a 3-yard loss. Arlington was forced to punt.
From his own 21-yard line, Cole McDonald passed for Michael Bandy but was intercepted by Arlington’s De Vante Bausby on the Renegades 42-yard line.
Perez handed to Smith who rushed for 7 yards, and then he rushed for 7 yards himself for the first down, but was hit as he slid. No flag was thrown, but Dean Blandino in the XFL command center said it would have been “roughing the passer” if it had been challenged. Perez continued his clock-killing drive, including a 34-yard pass just before the two-minute warning to LuJuan Winningham who made the catch with one hand at the Houston 8-yard line. Things did not look good for the Houston Roughnecks.
As the clock ran down, De’Veon Smith rushed for 4 yards, and then Perez handed to Smith for 2 more yards. With 1:07 remaining Taylor Russolino kicked a 19-yard field goal to make the score 26-11 for Arlington.
Houston attempted one final drive, and Deontay Burnett made a fantastic 38-yard one-handed catch on 4th down. Cole McDonald attempted to put the ball in the end zone, but he ran out of time.
The final score was Arlington Renegades 26, Houston Roughnecks 11.
The underdog Arlington Renegades are headed to the 2023 XFL Championship game.
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
ARL 6 17 0 3 26
HOU 0 8 3 0 11
------ ARLINGTON RENEGADES ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Luis Perez 19/27 289 10.7 3 0 59 1 - 7
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
De'Veon Smith 24 94 3.9 0 24
Brian Herrien 3 25 8.3 0 18
Luis Perez 2 13 6.5 0 7
Kelly Bryant 1 5 5.0 0 5
TEAM TOTAL 30 137 0.0 0 24
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
JaVonta Payton 5 121 24.2 2 59 5
Caleb Vander Esch 5 60 12.0 0 27 7
LuJuan Winningham 2 49 24.5 0 34 4
Tyler Vaughns 3 29 9.7 0 25 5
Sal Cannella 2 18 9.0 0 10 2
Brandon Arconado 1 14 14.0 1 14 1
De'Veon Smith 1 -2 -2.0 0 -2 2
TEAM TOTAL 19 289 0.0 3 59 26
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Tyler Vaughns 1 1 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Donald Payne 7 3 10.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bruce Hector 4 3 7.0 0.5 - 3.5 0.0 0 0 0
Joe Powell 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Will Hill 2 3 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Darnell Sankey 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Shakur Brown 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Darren Evans 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Davonte Lambert 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Cre'Von LeBlanc 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bunmi Rotimi 0 2 2.0 0.5 - 3.5 0.0 0 0 0
Willie Taylor 1 1 2.0 1.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Will Clarke 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
T.J. Barnes 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
De Vante Bausby 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 1 0 0
Tomasi Laulile 1 0 1.0 1.0 - 4.0 1.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 28 22 50.0 3.0 - 11.0 3.0 1 0 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
De Vante Bausby 1 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Rannell Hall 1 25 25.0 25 0
Joe Powell 1 0 0.0 0 0
Tyler Vaughns 1 3 3.0 3 0
TEAM TOTAL 3 28 0.0 25 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Rannell Hall 1 9 9.0 9 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Taylor Russolino 2 2 100.0% 31
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Marquette King 4 148 37.0 0 1 52
------ HOUSTON ROUGHNECKS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Cole McDonald 9/25 82 3.3 0 1 38 3 - 11
Brandon Silvers 3/6 22 3.7 0 0 22 0 - 0
TEAM TOTAL 12/31 104 0.0 0 1 38 3 - 11
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Max Borghi 7 48 6.9 0 14
Cole McDonald 7 47 6.7 0 19
Brycen Alleyne 4 20 5.0 0 12
Jeremy Cox 6 11 1.8 1 6
Brandon Silvers 1 6 6.0 0 6
TEAM TOTAL 25 132 0.0 1 19
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Deontay Burnett 4 57 14.3 0 38 6
Brycen Alleyne 3 18 6.0 0 22 4
Tavonn Salter 1 11 11.0 0 11 6
Travell Harris 1 9 9.0 0 9 2
Cedric Byrd 1 6 6.0 0 6 3
Ajene Harris 1 4 4.0 0 4 1
Justin Smith 0 0 0.0 0 0 3
Michael Bandy 1 -1 -1.0 0 -1 5
TEAM TOTAL 12 104 0.0 0 38 30
Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
0 0 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Emmanuel Ellerbee 1 10 11.0 0.0 - 0.0 2.0 0 0 0
A.J. Hendy 2 7 9.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tavante Beckett 4 4 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 2.0 0 0 0
Ajene Harris 3 4 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
C. J. Brewer 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Glen Logan 3 1 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Trent Harris 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Trevon Mason 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
William Likely 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
John Daka 1 2 3.0 1.0 - 7.0 2.0 0 0 0
Chauncey Rivers 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 1 0
John Brannon 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Raleigh Texada 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jack Heflin 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Deandre Johnson 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Scean Mustin 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Drew Lewis 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 26 42 68.0 1.0 - 7.0 7.0 0 1 0
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
William Likely 2 18 9.0 17 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Max Borghi 5 108 21.6 28 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Austin Jones 1 1 100.0% 32
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Race Porter 5 204 40.8 0 2 52
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS ARL HOU
TOTAL PLAYS 58 59
TOTAL YARDS 419 225
YARDS PER PLAY 7.2 3.8
FIRST DOWNS 19 15
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 13 4
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 6 10
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 0 1
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 64.3% 30.8%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0.0% 33.3%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 282 93
PASS COMPLETIONS 19 12
PASS ATTEMPTS 27 31
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 0 1
YARDS PER PASS 10.4 3.0
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 3 0
SACKS ALLOWED 1 3
SACK YARDS LOST 7 11
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 137 132
RUSH ATTEMPTS 30 25
YARDS PER RUSH 4.6 5.3
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0 1
PENALTIES 7 2
TURNOVERS 1 1
FUMBLES 1 0
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 30:42 29:18
