The DC Defenders hosted the Seattle Sea Dragons at Audi Field for the XFL North Division Championship. Both teams were the hottest in the league, with the Defenders on a three-game winning streak, and the Sea Dragons having outscored their opponents 58-21 in their last two games.
The Defenders and Sea Dragons met twice during the regular season, with DC taking both games. However, both games were very close, with a combined point spread of only five points.
The local DC weather had been rainy, and the field was reported to be wet with the Audi Field Bermuda grass sticking to the players cleats.
Seattle took the kickoff and Kelvin McKnight returned the ball to the Seattle 26. Quarterback Ben DiNucci passed incomplete for Josh Gordon and then connected to Juwan Green for a 9-yard pickup. On 3rd down, DiNucci passed to Gordon for 12-yards and a first down. DiNucci was pressured, but he managed to throw a lame duck pass down field that was caught by Jahcour Pearson for 26 yards. A 15-yard DC penalty was tacked on giving the Sea Dragons field position on the DC 15-yard line. DC’s defense came up strong and killed the drive, and Seattle settled for a 33-yard Dominik Eberle field goal to make the score 3-0.
Seattle’s kickoff was returned 33-yards by Pooka Williams to the DC 36. Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu handed to Abram Smith for a short 1-yard run, and then passed to Briley Moore-McKinney in the flat and he ran 56 yards all the way to the Seattle 7. Seattle’s defense came up strong and forced DC to accept a Matt McCrane 24-yard field goal to tie the score 3-3.
Seattle’s Ben DiNucci started a drive on the Seattle 20. With a dropped pass by Juwan Green on 3rd down the Sea Dragons had to punt.
Starting on his own 31, Ta’amu handed to Smith for a 6-yard pickup and then ran it himself for 3-yards. He handed to Smith again to get 1-yard and the first down. An 11-yard pass to Chris Blair moved the chains again. Ta’amu handed to Abram Smith for a 4-yard gain and then passed down field to Lucky Jackson who secured the catch and ran 44-yards into the end zone. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 9-3 for DC.
DiNucci started a drive on his own 24. He passed to Juwan Green for a 4-yard gain, and then threw to Jordan Veasy who made a one-handed catch for 9 yards and a first down. With the receivers starting to catch the balls, DiNucci passed 6-yards to Veasy and then connected with Jahcour Pearson with a 7-yard pass at midfield.
At the end of the 1st Quarter, the DC Defenders led 9-3.
A DC penalty gave Seattle a first down, and then DiNucci continued the drive with a 4-yard pass to Josh Gordon, followed by a 17-yard pass to Blake Jackson to move the chains again. Juwan Green caught a pass for 9-yards, and then DiNucci passed complete 15-yards to Jahcour Pearson in the end zone. The 2-point conversion failed and the score was now tied 9-9.
DC’s Pooka Williams returned the kickoff 51-yards to the Seattle 40. Ta’amu’s pass intended for Josh Hammond was tipped and intercepted by Shareef Miller and returned to the Seattle 39. DC fans rained lemons down on the field in disgust.
DiNucci started his drive by passing 5-yards to Veasy, and then connected to Pearson for 6-yards to move the markers. A 17-yard pass to Green moved the sticks to midfield, but the drive could go no further. Seattle was forced to punt.
Jordan Ta’amu started deep on his own 6-yard line. On 3rd and 7, Ta’amu ran the ball but was hit hard. A Seattle penalty let DC run the down again at 3rd and 2 and Abram Smith ran 2-yards to move the chains. Ta’amu passed to Hammond for 13-yards. The catch was reviewed by the Command Center and it stood. On 3rd and 1, Smith ran for 2-yards to pick up the first down. Ta’amu was sacked deep by Skipper, but a Seattle face-masking penalty negated the sack and gave DC 15-yards to the Seattle 45. Ta’amu kept the drive alive with handoffs to Abram Smith. At the two minute warning DC was 3rd and 2 on the Seattle 37.
Ta’amu passed incomplete to Lucky Jackson, and then on 4th and 2, Ta’amu delivered a 9-yard strike to Alex Ellis to move the markers. A 12-yard pass to Lucky Jackson put DC on the Seattle 15. A handoff to Smith went for a 6-yard loss when he was stuffed, and then a Ta’amu pass intended for Ellis was tipped and intercepted by Seattle’s Antoine Brooks.
The clock ran down and the half ended with the score tied 9-9.
Seattle kicked off and DC’s Jordan Ta’amu started on his own 22-yard line. A handoff to Smith was good for 5-yards, and then a 9-yard pass to Chris Blair made for a first down. Ta’amu passed incomplete, but a defensive pass interference penalty spotted the ball on the Seattle 34. A 10-yard pass to Moore-McKinney moved the sticks to the Seattle 24, and then a pass to Chris Blair was good to move the markers again. A 10-yard pass to Moore-McKinney took the ball to the 1-yard line. From there, Abram Smith ran 1-yard for the touchdown. The 1-point conversion failed, making the score 15-9 for DC.
Ben DiNucci started on his own 17-yard line and went three and out. Seattle was forced to punt. DC’s Pooka Williams fumbled the punt return, but the DC Defenders were lucky to recover the ball.
Starting on his own 44-yard line, Ta’amu passed 21 yards to Josh Hammond, and then kept going to Hammond for two more passes of 4-yards each. With the ball on the Seattle 26, Ta’amu passed short to Ethan Wolf who ran the rest of the way for a DC touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Alex Ellis was good making the score 23-9 for DC.
After the kickoff, DiNucci started a drive on his own 34. He passed to Jackson for 8-yards and then to Veasy for 12 more. On the DC 46, DiNucci passed to Jackson for 5-yards, and then he was sacked for a 10-yard loss. On 4th and 15 Seattle was forced to punt.
The punt went into the end zone for a touchback and DC started on their own 35. Ta’amu could not get a drive going and DC punted, which also resulted in a touchback.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the score was 23-9 for DC.
At the beginning of the 4th quarter, Dean Blandino in the Command Center announced that Seattle had too many men on the field during the previous play. This negated the punt and gave DC 4th and 1 on their own 44. Then, Seattle took a 5-yard encroachment penalty which gave DC an automatic first down. Ta’amu rushed for 6-yards, and then passed to Hammond for 6 yards more and another first down. Abram Smith rushed for 3-yards and appeared to hurt his leg on the tackle. Seattle began to let their frustrations boil over when Shareef Miller was penalized for roughing the passer and unsportsmanlike conduct in the same play. The officials spotted the ball on the DC 21-yard line. Another Seattle penalty moved the ball 10-yards to the Seattle 11. Cam’Ron Harris rushed the ball to the 1, and then Harris ran 1-yard for the touchdown. The 1-point conversion rush by Smith was good, to make the score 30-9 for DC.
DiNucci started a drive on the Seattle 25 and went three and out. Seattle was forced to punt.
The Defenders put backup D’Eriq King in at quarterback. King went three and out and the Defenders punted.
Seattle’s Ben DiNucci started by passing 22-yards to Jordan Veasy on the DC 43. A 7-yard pass to Blake Jackson was followed by a 34-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Juwan Green. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 30-15 for DC.
King was back in for DC. From his own 33-yard line King passed incomplete to Hammond. DC’s head coach Reggie Barlow challenged for defensive pass interference and he was successful. The ball was spotted on the DC 41-yard line. On 4th and 1, King passed 20-yards to Chris Blair putting the ball on the Seattle 30. King handed to Abram Smith for 3-yards and then went to Brandon Smith for an 8-yard pass and another first down on the Seattle 19-yard line. Cam’Ron Harris rushed for 7 yards, and on the next play he ran 11-yards for his second touchdown of the game. The 1-point conversion was good with another Harris rush, making the score 37-15 for DC.
At the two-minute warning Seattle was down by 22-points.
Ben DiNucci passed to Blake Jackson at midfield for a first down, and then Green caught a pass one-handed for 5 more yards. Veasy caught a 7-yard pass to move the markers, and with 0:48 on the clock DiNucci passed to Kelvin McKnight for 12 yards and another first down. Ben DiNucci kept the ball and ran out of bounds at the DC 8-yard line. On 2nd and 8, DiNucci passed 8-yards to Juwan Green for a Seattle touchdown. The 3-point conversion failed, making the score 37-21 for DC.
With 0:12 remaining, Seattle opted to attempt 4th and 15 on their own 30 instead of the onside kick. They failed to convert.
With 0:07 left, DC ran out the clock.
The final score was DC Defenders 37, Seattle Sea Dragons 21.
The DC Defenders have earned the right to represent the North Division in the XFL Championship game to be held on Saturday May 13, 2023 in San Antonio, TX, where they will face the South Division Champion Arlington Renegades.
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
SEA 3 6 0 12 21
DC 9 0 14 14 37
------ SEATTLE SEA DRAGONS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Ben DiNucci 31/48 295 6.1 3 0 34 3 - 17
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Ben DiNucci 3 16 5.3 0 13
Phillip Lindsay 2 -3 -1.5 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 5 13 0.0 0 13
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Juwan Green 8 89 11.1 2 34 16
Jordan Veasy 6 61 10.2 0 22 6
Jahcour Pearson 6 56 9.3 1 26 6
Blake Jackson 5 49 9.8 0 17 6
Josh Gordon 4 23 5.8 0 8 11
Kelvin McKnight 2 17 8.5 0 12 2
TEAM TOTAL 31 295 0.0 3 34 47
Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
0 0 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Tyrell Adams 2 7 9.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Antoine Brooks 4 3 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Qwynnterrio Cole 4 2 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Niko Lalos 2 4 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tuzar Skipper 2 3 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Mykael Wright 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tre Walker 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tariqious Tisdale 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Alijah Holder 3 1 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 1 0
Chris Payton-Jones 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bryce Thompson 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Antwuan Jackson 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Shareef Miller 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Daniel Joseph 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Austin Faoliu 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Clarence Hicks 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Zafir Kelly 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Chris Owens 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 32 37 69.0 0.0 - 0.0 3.0 2 1 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Shareef Miller 1 11 0
Antoine Brooks 1 11 0
TEAM TOTAL 2 22 0
Punt Returns
NO YDS AVG LONG TD
0 0 0.0 0 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Kelvin McKnight 4 71 17.8 24 0
Phillip Lindsay 3 69 23.0 32 0
TEAM TOTAL 7 140 0.0 32 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Dominik Eberle 1 1 100.0% 33
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Cameron Nizialek 5 238 47.6 0 1 56
------ DC DEFENDERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Jordan Ta'amu 19/31 258 8.3 2 2 56 0 - 0
Deriq King 4/5 41 8.2 0 0 20 0 - 0
TEAM TOTAL 23/36 299 0.0 2 2 56 0 - 0
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Abram Smith 23 48 2.1 1 6
Cam'Ron Harris 5 25 5.0 2 11
Jordan Ta'amu 2 9 4.5 0 6
Deriq King 2 0 0.0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 32 82 0.0 3 11
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Briley Moore-Mckinney 4 80 20.0 0 56 4
Lucky Jackson 2 56 28.0 1 44 5
Josh Hammond 6 55 9.2 0 21 8
Chris Blair 5 51 10.2 0 20 7
Ethan Wolf 1 26 26.0 1 26 2
Brandon Smith 2 14 7.0 0 11 3
Alex Ellis 1 10 10.0 0 10 4
Abram Smith 2 7 3.5 0 6 3
Cam'Ron Harris 1 3 3.0 0 3 1
TEAM TOTAL 24 302 0.0 2 56 37
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Pooka Williams 1 0 1
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Santos Ramirez 6 1 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
D.J. Swearinger 4 3 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Dejuan Neal 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Francis Bernard 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
K.J. Sails 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Fadol Brown 2 1 3.0 1.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Reggie Northrup 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Kentrell Brice 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Michael Joseph 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Davin Bellamy 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Joseph Wallace 2 0 2.0 1.0 - 10.0 2.0 0 0 0
Anthony Hines 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jacub Panasiuk 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Anthoula Kelly 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Andre Mintze 1 0 1.0 1.0 - 7.0 1.0 0 0 0
Jamal Brooks 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Cameron Lewis 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 27 20 47.0 3.0 - 17.0 3.0 0 0 0
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 3 30 10.0 21 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 4 123 30.8 51 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Matthew McCrane 1 1 100.0% 24
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Daniel Whelan 1 57 57.0 0 0 57
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS SEA DC
TOTAL PLAYS 56 68
TOTAL YARDS 291 381
YARDS PER PLAY 5.2 5.6
FIRST DOWNS 17 29
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 14 15
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 1 6
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 2 8
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 50.0% 53.8%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0.0% 100.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 278 299
PASS COMPLETIONS 31 23
PASS ATTEMPTS 48 36
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 0 2
YARDS PER PASS 5.8 8.3
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 3 2
SACKS ALLOWED 3 0
SACK YARDS LOST 17 0
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 13 82
RUSH ATTEMPTS 5 32
YARDS PER RUSH 2.6 2.6
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0 3
PENALTIES 13 3
TURNOVERS 0 2
FUMBLES 0 0
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 42:22 32:38
