Kevon Latulas of the St. Louis Battlehawks stiffarms Quinton Newsome (6) of the Houston Gamblers during the third quarter Sunday at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Jack Gorman/UFL, Getty Images
It was the St. Louis Battlehawks who were gamblers late in the first half of Sunday’s game at Houston. And it paid off in spades with not only an eventual victory, but a playoff berth as well.
Trailing the Houston Gamblers most of the first half, St. Louis went for broke in the final minute of the second quarter and came up with a dagger. Quarterback Luis Perez hit Hakim Battler with a 38-yard touchdown pass and the PAT from Ahmed Ramiz gave the Battlehawks their first lead of the game, 10-9 on the last play of the half.
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Even though Houston reclaimed a brief 15-10 lead in the third quarter, St. Louis rallied again and went on to defeat Houston 21-15 at Shell Energy Stadium.
“At that point, we had to be aggressive,” Battlehawks coach Ricky Proehl said of the late second-quarter TD.
The victory with one week to go in the regular season gives the Battlehawks a 6-3 record with one game remaining, good for second place in the UFL. Orlando is in first place at 7-2, followed by the Battlehawks at 6-3. Louisville and the DC Defenders are tied for fourth at 5-4.
The top four teams in the eight-team league qualify for the league semifinals.
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The Battlehawks defense came up big. St. Louis forced a pair of fumbles and had four sacks.
“(Houston) gets the ball (late), but there’s no defense in this league that I’d rather have than ours,” Proehl said. “They did what they had to do to win the game.”
St. Louis outgained Houston in total yardage, 342-288.
Houston led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, increased it to 9-0 in the second before the Battlehawks got a field goal to get within 9-3 and set up Jeffries’ game-altering TD catch just before halftime.
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In the second half, the Gamblers retook the lead on a four-yard TD run by Kirk Merritt, but the try for a two-point conversion failed at the Gamblers led 15-10 with 10:26 remaining in the third quarter.
Back came the Battlehawks. They marched 69 yards in 12 plays while chewing up 6:38 of the third quarter clock.converted four of five third-down attempts. Kylin James sparked the drive with a 25-yard run, then capped it with a two-yard TD run on a handoff from Blake Jackson. Jarveon Howard powered through the middle for the two-point conversion, giving St. Louis an 18-15 lead.
Ahmed converted a 38-yard field goal for the only points of the third quarter and the Battlehawks defense held off Houston the rest of the way.
Houston, which defeated St. Louis last week 23-16 in St. Louis, took the lead in the first quarter. Quarterback Hunter Dekkers hit JaVonta Payton with a 7-yard touchdown strike with 6:58 remaining in the quarter. The PAT attempt was missed by kicker John Hoyland, leaving it 6-0-.
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The Gamblers added three more pints to that total when Hoyland nailed a 28-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Ahmed booted a 36-yard field with 4:17 remaining before halftime to make it 9-3, setting up the late-half drama that put St. Louis ahead.
“We made some mistakes,” Prohel said. “It’s tough to win in this league when you do that. They kept fighting, but we’ve got to get better.”
St. Louis will finish the regular season Friday against Dallas at The Dome at America’s Center, with a victory clinching a home semifinal game. While the Battlehawks know they’ll be in the semifinals, their exact finish is TBA and could be anywhere from first to fourth place.
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“It wasn’t pretty,” Proehl said, “but they fought to the end in all three phases.”