Battlehawks wide receive Hakeem Butler. Photo by Marcelina Enriquez.
The St. Louis Battlehawks, led by new coach and NFL legend Ricky Proehl, would return home on Sunday after losing their first game of the season to the Dallas Renegades making them 1-1 on the season. A win at home Sunday would be almost a must for St. Louis as they would be facing a tough three-game road trip over the next month.
For the most part, both teams would start the first quarter flat. St. Louis QB Brandon Silvers threw for 23 yards to Birmingham’s QB Matt Corral’s 11 yards of passing. Sixteen of Silvers’ passing yards came on one play to wide receiver #87-Steven McBride; otherwise, Silvers was plagued by more dropped passes from his receivers as seen through the first two weeks of play.
The key difference in the quarter would come from the Battlehawks defense, as linebacker #15-Jordan Walker grabbed a pick six when Corral tried to throw, under pressure, out of his own end zone. A pass interference call against the Stallions’ cornerback, #22-Steven Gilmore, helped the Battlehawks finally get out of their own end of the field to eventually set up a 54-yard field goal by St. Louis kicker #17-Tucker McCann, 10-0 Battlehawks.
The second quarter would be more of the same, with neither side’s offense performing well. The big difference this time was the Battlehawks defense getting called on pass interference along with a very questionable roughing the passer call against St. Louis’ nose tackle, #96-Carlos Davis, in the Stallions’ own end zone, which kept Birmingham in the game. Battlehawks lost even more momentum when Silvers was intercepted by Birmingham’s linebacker, #20-Tae Crowder. Crowder returned the pick for 35 yards before being stopped at St. Louis’ 35-yard line. On the first play after the interception, Corral went deep left on a play-action pass to tight end, #81-Jordan Thomas, for a touchdown. With the extra point attempt, the Stallions cut the lead 10-7, Battlehawks.
Brandon Silvers guided the Battlehawks down to the Stallions one yard line only to be shutdown by a sturdy Birmingham defensive front. St. Louis then brought in two extra linemen and a fullback for a no-nonsense goal line run, but failed to get any sort of surge. The Battlehawks turned the ball over on downs on their own goal line.
Fortune would favor St. Louis once more in the half as Birmingham fumbled the ball on their own end and St. Louis recovered it on the Stallions’ twelve yard line. Silvers threw two incompletions, and then was sacked by defensive end #96-T.J. Carter, forcing the Battlehawks to settle for a 40-yard field goal, widening their lead to 13-7. St. Louis stopped Birmingham one more time in the half and then ran out the first half clock with a new quarterback, #11-Harrison Frost. Frost would only hand the ball off on a few running plays before heading to the locker room.
In the second half, the Stallions came out a little more determined and put together a drive that resulted in a 34-yard field goal by Birmingham kicker #46-Jonathan Garibay, making it 13-10, Battlehawks.
On their first drive of the second half, the Battlehawks continued with Harrison Frost in what seemed to be a tragic beginning and possible end to his UFL career. His first UFL pass was intercepted on a pick six by cornerback #16-Mario Goodrich. With the extra point, Birmingham took the lead, 16-13. When the Battlehawks took over after the kickoff, Frost threw another interception on his second career pass. The Stallions then put together a drive with some helpful penalties against the Battlehawks to set up a one-yard touchdown run by running back #5-Anthony McFarland Jr., the Stallions stretching their lead to 23-13. The mood for St. Louis was extremely dark among the ever-faithful but frustrated Battlehawks fans.
Surprisingly, St. Louis would stick with Frost again, who handed the ball off once and passed once for an incompletion—no interceptions this time—before being sacked on the third play of the drive, forcing the Battlehawks to punt the ball away. St. Louis’ defense held the next series, forcing Birmingham to punt, taking over with some time at the end of the third quarter. Frost finally threw his first completion for three yards before the quarter ended. Then on the first play of the fourth quarter, Frost threw a huge pass to wide receiver #88-Hakeem Butler for 31 yards, to the Birmingham one yard line. Two plays later, Frost threw to McBride in the right back corner of the end zone for his first touchdown! After the successful extra point, St. Louis only trailed 23-20.
Birmingham would respond quickly as Corral threw left on 2nd and 7 to #8-Deon Cain for 67 yards for a touchdown. Despite the tight double coverage Cain somehow pulled ahead of both St. Louis defenders for an easy catch and score. 30-20 Birmingham.
But not so fast…
On St. Louis’ next drive, Frost again found Butler for a deep pass to the left, this time for his own 64-yard touchdown pass! After the extra point attempt, St. Louis only trailed, 30-27 with 11:20 left on the game clock.
Now, could Battlehawks defense hold and give the offense another chance to score? Matt Corral would have a few good passes on the next drive before being sacked by Carlos Davis. Birmingham faced 4th and 18 on their own 41 yard line chose to punt.
Harrison Frost then led the Battlehawks down the field and completed the drive with an 11-yard pass to tight end #81-Tyler Neville, for a touchdown! Harrison Frost, whose first two passes with the Battlehawks were interceptions, had just thrown his third touchdown! All in the same half. With the extra point, the Battlehawks now led 34-30.
Matt Corral tried to lead the Stallions down the field for another score, but despite one 20-yard pass completion, he threw a succession of interceptions before turning the ball over on downs. Harrison Frost knelt on the ball three times to run out the clock. Battlehawks won, 34-30! | Ryan Parker
