Wide receiver Hakeem Butler celebrates during the Battlehawks 32-27 win over the Michigan Panthers on April 26, 2025. Photo by Marcelina Enriquez.
The BattleHawks came into week 5 trying to avoid having their wings clipped and falling to a losing record for the first time in their franchise history as they hosted the red-hot Michigan Panthers, who had a record of 3-1 at game time. Despite coming out strong with a 2-0 record to start the season, the Battlehawks had dropped their last two games, including a rare loss at home. To make matters worse, St. Louis quarterback Manny Wilkins had been carted off with an injury the week before. Former 7th round pick for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers Max Duggan was slated to take over the offense Saturday night. Battlehawks ead coach Anthony Becht would face longtime NFL coach Mike Nolan. The two had previously crossed paths during Coach Becht’s rookie season as a player for the New York Jets, where Nolan was the defensive coordinator at the time.
The ever-faithful Battlehawk fans showed up loud, proud, and 30,406 strong in their blue and silver attire and swag. As the song goes, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting and Ka-Kaws were more than delighted to cheer on the street-fighting-like game plan the Battlehawks had in store for the Panthers. After the St. Louis defense forced Michigan to a quick three-and-out to start the game, the ‘Hawks went old school and showed right away that quarterback Max Duggan would be sharing rushing duties with running back Jacob Saylor as Duggan would rush two times for 24 yards and pass three times for short yardage. His efforts were enough to move the ball downfield, but the drive ultimately resulted in a field goal, giving the Battlehawks the first lead of the night, 3-0.
Duggan is best known for his legendary college efforts at TCU where he was known as a tenacious player, sometimes willing his team to wins. His efforts would help lead the TCU Horned Frogs to a 12-1 season and an unlikely win over the University of Michigan in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl to get them in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game (in which they would lose to the Georgia Bulldogs). Despite his heroics in college, Duggan has taken few snaps as a quarterback at the professional level. Staying true to the modern philosophy of the UFL, the Battlehawks coaching staff drew up plays that were more suited to the Duggan’s hard running and quick draw, short passing style, rather than having him try to imitate Manny Wilkins’ style as more of a scrambler with accurate long passes. Duggan would end the game 9 of 12 passes complete with one passing touchdown and ten rushing attempts for 70 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
The game would play out as a classic match of tug of war with the momentum going back and forth several times. QB Bryce Perkins of the Panthers played an NFL-level game and would finish the night 21 of 25 passes complete for 235 yards and two passing touchdowns. Michigan running back Toa Taua would gain 74 yards on 15 attempts and rush for two touchdowns. One of the big changes in momentum would come in the 2nd quarter when the Panthers were only behind 6-9 and Michigan head coach Mike Nolan decided the time was right to put in backup quarterback Danny Etling for a series. This personnel change had been planned before the game and was one of those UFL nuances in which coaches sometimes want to see how other players perform as they get much less practice and game chances and sometimes long gaps in their play history. Etling would throw an interception, shutting down an otherwise productive drive that was assisted by three Battlehawk penalties. Duggan would score one of his rushing touchdowns on the ensuing drive and allow the Battlehawks go into halftime leading 17-6.
The second half would be wild and have the UFL style written all over it. For the most part, the Michigan Panthers would control the game and take the lead 21-20, but Duggan would hit star Battlehawks receiver Hakeem Butler for a 67-yard touchdown pass, letting them jump ahead 26-21. Taua would rush for a touchdown for the Panthers, pushing them ahead 27-26 late in the fourth quarter. Once again, in UFL style, the Battlehawks perfectly executed a wide receiver pass from Blake Jackson to Hakeem Butler for his second touchdown reception, this time for 57 yards making it 32-27. Michigan would come back hard one more time to try to claim the win. However, the Battlehawks bend-but-don’t-break defense would hold fast along with the help of the mighty Battlehawks fans who went into overdrive in the fourth quarter, causing at least one false start and one delay of game against the Panthers and hampering their otherwise lethal drives. The decibel level app on my phone indicated the crowd noise was reaching around 100 dBs in the press box, which means it was surely even louder down at field level.
The Battlehawks defense would hold the Panthers at the St. Louis 40 yard line on a 4th and 12 play. St. Louis would take over the ball on loss of downs. After two rushes for 13 yards by Taylor, Duggan would kneel on the ball a couple of times to finish the game. Final, Battlehawks over Panthers 32-27. | Ryan Parker
