Week two of the Battlehawks season was on an unusual Tuesday night, and while they had 10 days to prep for their game, it didn’t seem like it was enough to tackle the Renegades.
The game, from start to finish, showed the evolution that Dallas has gone through and how with Austin Reed as their quarterback, they can easily take the crown this season. The QB play, though was not the only thing that smothered St. Louis throughout the game. Dallas defense was in prime form and showing up with Brandon Silvers unable to really gain momentum for almost a second week in a row.
The first quarter started with Dallas getting the ball and immediately setting the tone by scoring on their very first drive but failing on the conversion to only go up 6-0. It would only pile up after a stalled STL drive, and Dallas would kick a field goal to go up 9-0. St. Louis showed life, though as the quarter ended with a Tucker McCann field goal to make it 9-3. That is about where the fight ended for this offense, as Dallas would score eight unanswered points, while St. Louis would only rack up 61 yards for the entire quarter.
The third quarter was all St. Louis, albeit it was only a field goal for the Battlehawks. The kick came courtesy of Tucker McCann again from 45 yards which made the score 17-6. The best part of the game, though was the fourth quarter on both Dallas and St. Louis’s part.
While the Battlehawks never gained the lead, St. Louis attempted to mount a comeback after an early touchdown, furthering Dallas’s lead. Brandon Silvers would connect with Tyler Neville for a touchdown and would make the three-point conversion to Hakeem Butler to close the gap back to a one-score affair. Dallas would play it smart by killing the clock and scoring a touchdown with less than two minutes leaving St. Louis no time to respond and making the final score 31-15.
The biggest takeaway from the game for St. Louis was that Hakeem Butler seems to have not lost a single step after missing week one as he was the highest performing receiver with his longest catch being 35 yards.
On defense, A.J. Thomas was the biggest playmaker with five total tackles and three assists with an interception as the cherry on top. Overall, though, the Battlehawks need to go back to the drawing board for their week three game because Dallas showed a lot of weaknesses in this Battlehawks team.
The next game is on April 12 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, against the Birmingham Stallions at 2 p.m. and available to watch on the ABC Network.
