With the first complete XFL season since 2001 coming to a close, the only task remaining was to crown a champion. Following the North and South division championship matches that took place two weeks ago, Arlington Renegades were set to take on the D.C. Defenders.
The Arlington Renegades (4-6) were not even close to the same regular season record as the D.C. Defenders (9-1). However, both teams were 1-0 in the post season, and some might say there was now a clean slate. Arlington went up against a relatively adept Houston Roughnecks squad and beat them handily 26-11, with Renegades starting quarterback Luis Perez having his best game of the season. Meanwhile, the D.C. Defenders manhandled the offensively minded Seattle Sea Dragons, handing them a 37-21 loss in the Northern Division final.
This game featured a quarterback matchup between Arlington’s Luis Perez and D.C.’s Jordan Ta’amu, a pivot who had recently been named the XFL Offensive Player of the Year.
The Defenders Matt McCrane kicked off and Joe Powell returned the ball 19 yards to the Arlington 24-yard line. Luis Perez went to work, passing to Tyler Vaughns for 7 yards and then to Caleb Vander Esch for 6 more yards and a first down. Another pass to Vander Esch was good for 11 yards, and then a handoff to De’Veon Smith made for a 14-yard gain. On 1st and 10, Perez was sacked and fumbled the ball, but he luckily recovered his own fumble. Then, Perez passed to Sal Cannella who ran 41-yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 6-0 for Arlington.
Arlington kicker Taylor Russolino kicked off and the ball was returned 18 yards by DC’s Pooka Williams. Ta’amu started a drive at the DC 29, but the Arlington defense stood them up and the Defenders went three and out. DC was forced to punt.
The punt return was bobbled, which forced Arlington to start deep on their own 12-yard line. A pair of handoffs to Smith moved the chains to the Arlington 24. On 3rd and 8, Perez passed 29-yards to Tyler Vaughns at the DC 45. Another pass to Vaughns was good for 6 more yards, and then facing 3rd and 12 Perez connected to JaVonta Payton for a 12-yard gain and a first down. Another pass to Payton moved the ball 9-yards to the DC 16.
Backup quarterback Kelly Bryant was brought in for a short yardage play. He kept the ball and ran to the DC 6-yard line for a first down. Bryant stayed in, and he ran 6-yards for an Arlington touchdown. An offensive holding call negated the score, and pushed the Renegades back 10 yards.
Perez came back in and passed 5-yards to Sal Cannella, and then was flushed out of the pocket and still managed to pass 9-yards to Tyler Vaughns for a touchdown. This time it stood. The 2-point conversion pass to De’Veon Smith was good, making the score 14-0 for Arlington.
Pooka Williams returned the kickoff to the DC 37.
At the end of the first quarter the Arlington Renegades led 14-0.
Jordan Ta’amu started the 2nd quarter passing 21-yards to Lucky Jackson, and then tossing to tight end Briley Moore for an 11-yard gain to the Arlington 31. A 13-yard Ta’amu rush took the ball up to the Arlington 18 and gave DC a first down. On 2nd and 8, Ta’amu threw off his back foot, and the pass was tipped by Arlington’s Will Hill and intercepted by Joe Powell in the end zone. The DC drive was quashed.
The ball was spotted on the Arlington 35-yard line. Luis Perez faced 3rd and 4 and was able to connect an 11-yard pass to LuJuan Winningham to move the markers. A handoff to Leddie Brown was good for 7 yards, and then a 4-yard pass to Vander Esch moved the chains to the DC 37. Perez flipped a 10-yard pass to Cannella, and then handed to Brown for a 7-yard rush to the DC 20. On 3rd and 1, a Leddie Brown run moved the markers to the DC 16. The drive would stall there, and the Renegades took a 29-yard Taylor Russolino field goal to make the score 17-0.
The Russolino kickoff was short of the 20-yard line, giving DC field position on the Arlington 45. A 4-yard rush and an 11-yard rush by Abram Smith moved the chains to the Arlington 30. On 3rd and 4, Ta’amu rushed 11 yards to the Arlington 13. At the two-minute warning DC was 2nd and 6 on the Arlington 9-yard line.
There was a lengthy pause due to an injury incurred by a member of the media on the sideline. Once play resumed, Ta’amu handed to Abram Smith for a 5-yard gain, and then again to Smith for 3-more yards. Finally, a 2-yard Abram Smith run was good for a DC touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 17-6 for Arlington.
Matt McCrane’s kickoff went out of bounds giving Arlington the ball on the DC 45-yard line with 0:32 remaining. Perez wasted no time, passing to Tyler Vaughns for a 17-yard gain at the DC 33. With 0:06 on the clock Taylor Russolino kicked a 51-yard field goal.
At halftime the score was 20-6 for Arlington.
DC took the kickoff and started a 2nd half drive on their own 29-yard line. On 3rd and 5, Ta’amu passed 5-yards to Josh Hammond for a first down. On 2nd down Ta’amu was sacked by Will Clarke for a 2-yard loss. A 10-yard pass to Alex Ellis made for 3rd and 1, and then Abram Smith was handed the ball, and he broke free for a 52-yard run and a DC major. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 20-12 for Arlington.
Luis Perez started an Arlington drive on his own 29-yard line. He passed 6-yards to Vaughns, and then went back to Vaughns for 5 more yards and a first down. On 3rd and 8, Perez ran 12-yards for a first down on the DC 46. After a time out, Perez passed 13-yards to Leddie Brown to move the chains, and then passed 15-yards to Cannella for another first down on the DC 14. Luis Perez kept the ball on the ground, with the drive culminating in a 7-yard Leddie Brown touchdown run. The 1-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 26-12 for Arlington.
DC started a drive on their own 24. Ta’amu passed to Hammond for a 15-yard pickup, and then handed to Smith for a 6-yard run. Unfortunately for DC, the drive stalled and they were forced to punt.
DC’s defense also came up strong as Perez went three and out, and Arlington’s Marquette King was forced to punt for the first time in the game. DC’s Pooka Williams tried to setup a return but Arlington tackled him quickly on the DC 30.
On 1st down Ta’amu was sacked for a 2-yard loss, and then on 2nd down he passed deep down field to Josh Hammond who took the ball 72-yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt drew an Arlington defensive pass interference penalty. The conversion was rerun and DC scored 2-points, making the score 26-20 for Arlington.
Matt McCrane’s kickoff was short of the 20-yard line, and with a penalty tacked on, gave Luis Perez the ball spotted on the DC 30-yard line. Perez immediately passed 30-yards to Leddie Brown for a quick touchdown. The 1-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 32-20 for Arlington.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the score was Arlington Renegades 32, DC Defenders 20.
Ta’amu started the quarter on his own 27-yard line. He passed to Abram Smith for an 11-yard gain, and then passed to Lucky Jackson for a 12-yard pickup at midfield. A Ta’amu pass intended for Chris Blair was tipped and then intercepted by Brandon Rusnak, who returned the ball to the DC 25-yard line.
Luis Perez passed to Victor Bolden for 8-yards and then handed to Brown for a short 1-yard gain. On 3rd and 1, Brown rushed 2-yards to move the markers. On 3rd and 13, Perez passed incomplete to Cannella. A 33-yard Taylor Russolino field goal extended the Arlington lead to 35-20 over DC.
With just less than 10 minutes on the clock, Ta’amu got the ball on his own 30-yard line. He made three pass attempts down field and all three fell incomplete. DC was forced to punt. Arlington’s Victor Bolden returned the ball to his own 18-yard line.
With 8:11 on the clock, Arlington seemed content to keep the ball on the ground and run down the clock. Two De’Veon Smith rushes made for a first down. A short 5-yard pass to Brandon Arconado put the ball on the Arlington 34. On 3rd and 4, a 17-yard pass to Arconado moved the markers just past midfield. Arlington was burning off the clock, and two Smith rushes were good for another first down on the DC 35 with less than 4:00 remaining. A face-masking penalty against DC’s Bernard put the ball on the DC 20-yard line. However, the Arlington drive ended when a bad snap led to a Perez fumble that was recovered by DC’s Northrup on his own 22-yard line.
At the two minute warning DC was 2nd and 7 on their own 25.
DC’s Jordan Ta’amu passed 20-yards to Chris Blair, and then went to Alex Ellis for 7 more yards. On the next down, Ta’amu had to scramble, but he connected to Hammond. Then, Ta’amu passed to Abram Smith for a 17-yard gain on the Arlington 24. With 1:17 remaining, Ta’amu passed to Josh Hammond for a 24-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 35-26 for Arlington.
DC opted for a 4th and 15 from their own 25 attempt instead of an onside kick. Ta’amu’s pass intended for Hammond was tipped and intercepted by LeBlanc.
Arlington went into victory formation and ran out the clock.
The final score was Arlington Renegades 35, DC Defenders 26, making the Arlington Renegades the first XFL champions in 22-years. They now join the Los Angeles Xtreme as the only two teams to hoist an XFL trophy,
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
ARL 14 6 12 3 35
DC 0 6 14 6 26
------ ARLINGTON RENEGADES ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Luis Perez 26/36 288 8.0 3 0 41 1 - 3
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
De'Veon Smith 15 54 3.6 0 14
Leddie Brown 9 32 3.6 1 7
Kelly Bryant 4 15 3.8 0 11
Luis Perez 6 10 1.7 0 12
TEAM TOTAL 34 111 0.0 1 14
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Tyler Vaughns 8 83 10.4 1 29 8
Sal Cannella 4 71 17.8 1 41 5
Leddie Brown 2 43 21.5 1 30 2
Brandon Arconado 4 25 6.3 0 17 6
Caleb Vander Esch 3 21 7.0 0 11 4
JaVonta Payton 2 21 10.5 0 12 2
LuJuan Winningham 2 16 8.0 0 11 4
Victor Bolden 1 8 8.0 0 8 2
De'Veon Smith 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 26 288 0.0 3 41 34
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Luis Perez 2 1 1
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Donald Payne 1 6 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Darren Evans 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Darnell Sankey 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Colin Schooler 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Will Hill 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
De Vante Bausby 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jamal Carter 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Joe Powell 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Cre'Von LeBlanc 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Will Clarke 1 1 2.0 0.5 - 1.0 1.0 0 0 0
Doug Costin 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
T.J. Barnes 1 1 2.0 1.0 - 2.0 1.0 0 0 0
Bruce Hector 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Willie Taylor 0 2 2.0 0.5 - 1.0 0.0 0 0 0
Davonte Lambert 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Josiah Coatney 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bunmi Rotimi 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 18 29 47.0 2.0 - 4.0 3.0 2 0 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Joe Powell 1 0 0
Brandon Rusnak 1 28 0
Cre'Von LeBlanc 1 12 0
TEAM TOTAL 3 40 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Joe Powell 2 5 2.5 4 0
Victor Bolden 1 9 9.0 9 0
TEAM TOTAL 3 14 0.0 9 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Joe Powell 1 19 19.0 19 0
Brian Herrien 1 25 25.0 25 0
TEAM TOTAL 2 44 0.0 25 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Taylor Russolino 3 3 100.0% 51
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Marquette King 1 54 54.0 0 0 54
------ DC DEFENDERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Jordan Ta'amu 16/30 245 8.2 2 3 72 2 - 4
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Abram Smith 13 90 6.9 2 52
Jordan Ta'amu 4 25 6.3 0 13
Geremy Hickbottom 1 0 0.0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 18 115 0.0 2 52
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Josh Hammond 6 127 21.2 2 72 10
Lucky Jackson 2 33 16.5 0 21 3
Chris Blair 3 29 9.7 0 20 9
Abram Smith 2 28 14.0 0 17 3
Alex Ellis 2 17 8.5 0 11 2
Briley Moore-Mckinney 1 11 11.0 0 11 1
Brandon Smith 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 16 245 0.0 2 72 29
Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
0 0 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Santos Ramirez 4 6 10.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Dejuan Neal 5 3 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Reggie Northrup 3 4 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 1
Francis Bernard 2 5 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Kentrell Brice 2 4 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Joseph Wallace 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 1 0
D.J. Swearinger 0 5 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Malik Fisher 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Anthoula Kelly 4 0 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Fadol Brown 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jamal Brooks 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Gabe Wright 0 3 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
K.J. Sails 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Davin Bellamy 1 1 2.0 1.0 - 3.0 1.0 0 1 0
Jarrell Owens 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jacub Panasiuk 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Michael Joseph 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Anthony Hines 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Andre Mintze 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 27 51 78.0 1.0 - 3.0 6.0 0 2 1
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 1 6 6.0 6 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 7 154 22.0 25 0
Kicking
FGM FGA FG% LNG
0 0 0.0% 0
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Daniel Whelan 3 158 52.7 0 2 64
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS ARL DC
TOTAL PLAYS 71 49
TOTAL YARDS 396 356
YARDS PER PLAY 5.6 7.3
FIRST DOWNS 26 17
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 16 11
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 9 6
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 1 0
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 73.3% 50.0%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0.0% 50.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 285 241
PASS COMPLETIONS 26 16
PASS ATTEMPTS 36 30
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 0 3
YARDS PER PASS 7.9 8.0
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 3 2
SACKS ALLOWED 1 2
SACK YARDS LOST 3 4
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 111 115
RUSH ATTEMPTS 34 17
YARDS PER RUSH 3.3 6.8
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 1 2
PENALTIES 4 4
TURNOVERS 1 3
FUMBLES 1 0
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 39:36 35:45
