Kicking off the back half of the season was a game between two of the most dedicated fanbases in the league on a glorious Thursday night game.
The St. Louis Battlehawks and Louisville Kings would finally have the opportunity to play each other and see who would take home the honor of winning the inaugural Derby Classic.
The game was a low scoring affair that was very reminiscent of the week one game against the Defenders, but also shared the defensive prowess of that matchup as well.
Harrison Frost kept the reins for the Battlehawks ‘ offense that kept their plays in the middle of the game between the second and third quarter. There were only three scorers through the game with two touchdowns and one field goal.
The field goal came courtesy of the new kicker the Battlehawks signed, going into week six Ramiz Ahmed. Tucker McCann unfortunately suffered an injury that is going to put him out for some time, which is unfortunate since he was having an all-star season and realistically could have had a shot at an NFL training camp spot. However, Ahmed kicked off the scoring with a field goal in the second quarter, which was followed by a touchdown from Gary Jennings Jr., closing out the half 9-3.
The only other score made from both sides in the back half would be from wide receiver Steven McBride to come to the final score of 16-3.
On the other side of the ball, the Battlehawks seemed to know the stakes of playoffs coming up and this defense wants to make sure that their team goes to the big game. They totaled six sacks throughout the game, only one shy of that monumental week-one performance.
The biggest contributor with two sacks, two solo tackles and two tackles for loss was Pita Taumoepenu. Travis Feeney also tallied two solo tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a broken-up pass. There were six different defenders credited with the six sacks and the whole defense totaled up 47 tackles. Not only is this impressive to do on any given gameday, but this was in a place that is second to only St. Louis so far with the crowd noise, so they did this at a disadvantage.
The Battlehawks now sit at 4-2 and currently rank second behind the D.C. Defenders and right above Orlando who just lost two back-to-back games and fall to 4-2. The Battlehawks next game will be Friday May 8 at 7 p.m. in Downtown St. Louis at The Dome at Americas Center against the Columbus Aviators, who are at 2-4 and coming off of a home win. The game will also be available to watch on the Fox Network.
