Week 10 in the UFL kicked off on Friday night. The St. Louis Battlehawks (6-3) hosted the Dallas Renegades (3-6), in what was their second matchup of the year.
St. Louis just clinched the playoffs last week, and also have now claimed home field advantage in round one. With Luis Perez – the former Renegades QB – at the helm, they’ve been elevated to a new level offensively.
Luis Perez led the #Renegades to a Championship victory.
Set multiple #UFL passing records with the team.
Now, he’s suiting up in #Battlehawks blue on the other side in the final regular season game for both teams.
Kicks off on FOX in 30 minutes. pic.twitter.com/GgCvc89qjJ
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) May 29, 2026
On the other side, Dallas has lost six in a row. It’s been a devastating season for Rick Neuheisel’s squad, after a promising 3-0 start – that included a convincing 31-15 win over these Battlehawks.
Let’s take a look at what went down at The Dome.
First Quarter
It was a slow start for Austin Reed and the Renegades. He overthrew Drake Stoops who was wide open on the first play, and on 3rd down, Pita Taumoepenu got home as Reed attempted to scramble away.
St. Louis got to work quickly. A defensive pass interference penalty set up the Battlehawks with solid field position, and a few plays later, Ramiz Ahmed knocked through a 45 yard field goal to make it 3-0.
Dallas’ offense continued to sputter, with their second straight three and out. While St. Louis had momentum, a miscue handed the Renegades a spark. Blake Jackson, a seasoned veteran, coughed it up with Ajene Harris yanking at the ball – and Kevin Strong recovered.
The Renegades cashed in. Emmanuel Butler has been a force in scoring situations, and came down with another clutch reception for a score to put Dallas on top, 7-3.
Heading into the second period, Dallas held a four point lead, but a long pass to Hakeem Butler had St. Louis rolling.
Second Quarter
Luis Perez’ lack of mobility was on display in the red zone. First, he missed Blake Jackson who was open for a potential score, which then led to a sack from Kevin Strong to contain the Battlehawks to a field goal.
Dallas once again fell back to their old ways, punting the ball right back to St. Louis. The Battlehawks exploded with a deep ball to Steven McBride, which set up yet another field goal for Ramiz Ahmed. His 40 yard attempt was just barely left, and it remained a 7-6 game.
It was a bit of a wild sequence in the middle of this second quarter. Steve Linton, a rotational DE for St. Louis, forced and recovered a fumble from Austin Reed.
The very next snap, Luis Perez would make a veteran mistake. He tossed it right into the waiting arms of Kalen Deloach, who took possession right back for Dallas.
Austin Reed locked back in after the turnover. He scrambled to find Greg Ward Jr. deep in the red zone, which then led to a touchdown reception for Tyler Vaughns – a connection we saw three times in week two.
The self-inflicted wounds continued to haunt St. Louis in this first half. Another promising drive, fueled by a deep ball to Frank Darby, came to a screeching halt. Luis Perez got greedy and went to the endzone, but underthrew Steven McBride. Ajene Harris came up with the interception, and we went into halftime with a 13-6 lead in favor of Dallas.
Third Quarter
St. Louis got off to a slow start in the second half. They went three and out, punting it right away to Dallas. Corey Chamblin’s defense stood strong, with Demone Harris getting home to Reed on third down to force a punt.
This time, the Battlehawks would respond with points. A methodical drive resulted in a touchdown out of James Bostic, who has come alive at the tight end position as of late. Midway through the 3Q, and it was tied up at 13 a piece.
Inconsistencies in Dallas’ offense continued to be an issue in the second halves in games. On 4th and 1, Noel Mazzone called a run play, which went absolutely nowhere as St. Louis stacked them up to turn it over on downs.
Dallas would do the exact same thing. Siaka Ika came through with a clutch sack, pushing the Battlehawks into 4th and 11. Pressure from T.J. Franklin resulted in an incompletion, and the Renegades got it right back at midfield.
Fourth Quarter
The stupidity late in games was, once again, a thorn in the side of Rick Neuheisel and his Renegades. On 4th and 1, they went for it again – and this time, Keegan Jones didn’t stride forward north, and instead went sideline to sideline. Keylon Kennedy made an outstanding play on the ball, and St. Louis turned them over on downs.
Perez and this offense still struggled, having to settle for a field goal. Dallas put together a decent possession, as Austin Reed used his legs, and found Tyler Vaughns on a laser down the sidelines for a chunk play.
While it hasn’t been consistent every week, the Austin Reed-Tyler Vaughns connection has been a true pleasure to watch this #UFL season.
This was an absolute dart. pic.twitter.com/xSO1tivTaN
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) May 30, 2026
In the red zone, St. Louis made a couple back-breaking mistakes. A facemask on Travis Feeney gifted them with 1st and goal, then Pita Taumoepenu was also called for a penalty. It led to a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Butler from Reed, giving the Renegades a 20-16 lead late.
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St. Louis had absolutely nothing going offensively. Their O-Line was outmanned in this fourth quarter, even with just a four man rush. DaMarcus Mitchell came through with a huge sack on third down, and St. Louis punted it away.
The ball game would be decided with the rock in Tyler Vaughns’ hands. On 4th and 1, a unique “Fedora Special” resulted in an end around to Vaughns, who converted the 4th down.
Dallas would hang on for the late 20-16 win, finally breaking their six game losing streak.
Standout Playmakers
QB Austin Reed: Reed ended the year with one of his cleanest performances, throwing for three touchdowns to zero interceptions. He lost a fumble, but aside from that, Austin was in control. He threw for 162 yards in the win.
WR Emmanuel Butler: Butler finished the year with seven touchdowns, two of which came in this game. Emmanuel had just 14 receptions this season – 50% of those were scores. That’s pretty impressive.
DT Kevin Strong: Strong had himself a night to end the year. His production slowed down a bit the last few weeks, but Strong totaled two sacks, two TFL’s, and a pair of tackles to wrap up his UFL campaign in Dallas.
CB Ajene Harris: Ajene, the long-time veteran who has been All-UFL a couple of years in a row, left his mark in this outing. He had two tackles, an interception, a PBU, and a forced fumble – generating all sorts of momentum.
St. Louis
WR Steven McBride: A lone bright spot offensively tonight was Steven McBride, who continues to showcase his NFL potential. He had four receptions that went for a team-leading 79 yards.
DT Neil Farrell: Neil, who was banged up at the end of the game, had a career outing as a professional. He totaled seven tackles (leading the team), to go with a sack, and a TFL.
Major Takeaways
Talk about a feel-good win for the Dallas Renegades. It wasn’t pretty, and they still made mistakes – but the final couple of series showed the spirit and fight they still had left in the tank. Dallas was 3-for-4 in the red zone, not settling for field goals in that fourth quarter which allowed them to pull away late. Defensively, this was an unbelievable performance from Mike Gillhamer’s group that allowed well over 31 points per game the last six outings.
“The personnel situation allowed for us to travel with an extra defensive lineman. I’m wondering, I haven’t talked to Coach Baker yet, but by having fresher players in the game, were we able to create more chances to get to the quarterback? Luis was on our team. We know Luis. Big fans of Perez. But, we also know that he’s a pocket passer, so we knew that’s where we needed to put some pressure.” – Renegades HC Rick Neuheisel
St. Louis has to find a way to get this offense in a rhythm as they enter the postseason in just several days. Three turnovers, and a missed field goal, completely hampered a first half that otherwise was relatively productive. Luis Perez is making way too many mistakes as a veteran. His lack of arm strength on deep balls has been a glaring sore spot since taking the starting gig. On top of that, six penalties for 40 yards in the first half didn’t help, either.
“I’m disappointed. I don’t care how good you are, if you have four turnovers, you can’t beat anybody. They had one, we had four turnovers. Hard to overcome. But, we’ll bounce back. This is too good of a football team, who believes in each other. Have to hit the reset button and go back to work.” – Battlehawks HC Ricky Proehl
Dallas was missing their top two edge rushers, yet it didn’t matter. The Battlehawks’ offensive line woes continued, and because Perez isn’t a mobile quarterback, St. Louis paid for it. Dallas racked up seven sacks on the night, stifling the Battlehawks front five all night long. St. Louis has eight days to figure that out, because they’ll be playing an elite front seven in either DC or Louisville come Sunday.
Final Thoughts
This was clearly a game that meant a lot to Rick Neuheisel and the Dallas Renegades. It’s a tough pill to swallow at any level when you lose six games in a row – especially when you start a season as hot as Dallas did. The Renegades end their year with a 4-6 record, as the only team to not lose to the St. Louis Battlehawks all year long.
For St. Louis, they’ll have to put this one behind them quickly. With the playoffs just eight days away, there is no time to relapse into the mistakes they made this week.
Week 10 in the UFL continues tomorrow. The Birmingham Stallions host the Houston Gamblers at 3pm ET on ABC.
What are your thoughts on this game between the St. Louis Battlehawks and Dallas Renegades? Which players impressed you the most? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!
