On “Hats off to Heros” weekend and the Battehakws (5-2) on the cusp of clinching a playoff spot, they welcomed the Houston Gamblers (2-5) to the Dome as they looked to keep a perfect record at home this season spotless.
Before the game started, there were only three spots left in the playoffs as the Orlando Storm beat the Dallas Renegades on Friday to secure their spot on the road to the United Bowl.
As the game was getting started, they had a live re-enlistment ceremony, a national honor guard to come bearing the colors, and Gold Star families to unveil the American flag while a retired Navy sailor sung God Bless America. They also honored a 9/11 survivor with the game ball before the game started as well to show respect to the first responders who were also being honored.
The Gamblers would win the toss and elect to get the ball to start and quickly went four and out, but St. Louis was only able to respond with a field goal at the 10:48 mark in the first.
Houston feeling the pressure after would drive it all the way down the field where quarterback Hunter Dekkers would pass it to Jontre Kirklin to give Houston the lead with a little over six minutes left for the Battlehawks to respond. However, St. Louis would throw an interception only a couple plays later, with Houston’s Kary Vincent Jr. would run it back for a pick six and only make the damage that much worse for the Battlehawks, trailing after the first quarter 14-3.
The second quarter started with a St. Louis possession, but unfortunately just ended in yet another field goal. This would be the last bit of action for about 10 minutes before Houston finally scored another touchdown, this time to Lawrence Keys III, to further cement their lead.
Tyler Hawkins would get an interception late in the half and give St. Louis a chance to score with only 43 seconds left to go. This would only result in yet another St. Louis field goal and would only lessen the score to 20-9 with Houston seemingly on track to completely steal the game away.
The third and fourth quarters were as close to a stalemate as they could be in a matchup with these two teams. Houston completely controlled the third scoring on a field goal and got an interception courtesy of Major Burns.
In the fourth quarter, the Battlehawks picked up steam as they got their once-a-game Tyler Neville touchdown with 10:36 left in the fourth to make it 23-16 Gamblers.
With under 2 minutes, St. Louis got the ball back, and Luis Perez went to work with a pair of 30+ yard passes to Steven McBride and Jahcour Pearson. It looked bleak for a moment, but timely Gamblers penalties gave the Battlehawks the ball in the red zone and in prime scoring position with seconds remaining.
With 20 seconds left, Perez completed a pass to McBride, who was tackled short of the end zone causing the Battlehawks to scramble to the line of scrimmage as time wound down but unfortunately, the snap occurred after the clock ran out, and the Battlehawks had to accept defeat just a few yards away from what could’ve taken them to overtime and the Gamblers came away with 23-16 victory.
Right after that, the stadium fell dead silent. There were fans doing the “Tarps off” trend and people being as rowdy as possible but it ultimately died alongside the game clock, with the loss being hung over the entire fan base.
“Yeah, I mean everybody has a chance still and we’re playing top end of the league right now, and you know get some confidence out of winning here.” Gamblers head coach Kevin Sumlin said about the Gamblers keeping there playoffs hopes alive.
Coach Sumlin would also acknowledge how they would have to play this Battlehawks team again in a week, which added more intensity to next week, but that it all comes down to those final plays and drives.
“It was cool. I mean, he’s a good quarterback, it’s cool to watch him. It’s just a good football team overall.” Dekkers said about playing opposite Perez.
In the postgame, Battlehawks Head Coach Ricky Proehl dropped news that Neville had suffered a season-ending injury during the game. This is a major set backto the offense as he has been a playmaker for every game this year, and that Coach Proehl and the players said that his dedication is second to none.
“I mean, I’m not worried about where we play. I’m just worried about how we play, and I mean that. If we play the way we’re capable of playing, we’ve shown we don’t win football games. We’ve got a lot of talent, offensive, defensively, and special teams. We just, you know, like I said, they did a good job. They got on us quick, and we didn’t respond enough, and we got in too deep of a hole to bounce back, and we ran out of time, you know. We’ve got to look at the tape and look at how we can become better, how we can eliminate the mistakes we made offensively and defensively. How to take the second half of what we did and build on that, and like I said, this team never quits, and they believe in themselves. When you have a football team like we have it’s pretty awesome as a coach, because they’re there’s nothing I could say. They’re so pissed off themselves, the way they play. I don’t have to really say a whole lot, you know. They’re going to come ready to play, because they’re disappointed in themselves. They had an opportunity to lock down, you know, a playoff spot, and possibly home field, you know, and they let it slip away.” Proehl said about having to turn around and play Houston on the road next week and not inside the dome and how the Battlehawks ‘ game plan would adjust.
The Battlehawks now look to week nine to try and secure a playoff spot. The Battlehawks next game is against the Gamblers in Houston, Texas at Shell Energy Stadium on Sunday, May 24 at 6 p.m. on the ESPN2 Network.
