St. Louis’ defense comes up big against Louisville (Media by the St. Louis Battlehawks and the UFL)
The St. Louis Battlehawks defeat the Louisville Kings in the Derby Classic!
St. Louis 16, Louisville 3
After giving the Orlando Storm their first loss of the season last week, the St. Louis Battlehawks had to stay on the road. They play the Louisville Kings on the banks of the Ohio, in this battle between the UFL’s river cities. It would be a low-scoring Thursday night game. The first quarter would be quiet, with Louisville getting a field goal and leading 3-0 heading into the second.
St. Louis would strike back and even the score at 3-3 off of a Ramiz Ahmed 42-yard field goal. Ahmed was signed after Ryan Sanborn, the punter, executed kicking duties against Orlando last week. Sanborn had taken over for an injured Tucker McCann.
The St. Louis offense would get in on the scoring in the second quarter. Gary Jennings Jr., who had made a big special teams hit earlier, caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Harrison Frost. The four-yard touchdown pass would cap off a Battlehawks drive of six plays, for 61 yards. Ahmed would have some butterflies and miss the PAT, but St. Louis would lead 9-3 at halftime.
Second Half
Harrison Frost would still struggle with turnovers for St. Louis, but the quarterback would have one of the best games of his young career. Frost would lead St. Louis on an 11-play, 64-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter. He’d get his second touchdown pass of the game, this one an 11-yarder to receiver Steven McBride to make the score 16-3 following the extra point.
While Frost would finish the game with 242 passing yards and a pair of touchdown strikes, the heroes of this game were the Battlehawks’ defense. They held Louisville to only three points and allowed only 166 yards of total offense. They were great in pass defense, reeling in an interception and breaking up four passes.
It was the front seven that had the biggest performance, though. The swarming St. Louis defense would get a whopping nine tackles for a loss, six of which were sacks of the quarterback. It wasn’t just one player doing it all, either. While their star edge, Pita Taumoepenu, had two sacks, six St. Louis players would be in on their team’s six sacks.
A Soaring Battle in St. Louis is up Next!
After the victory, the Battlehawks hit Interstate 64 and headed back to St. Louis. They’ll take to the skies to battle the Columbus Aviators next week in the comforts of the Battledome. My two UFL teams will clash to see who rules the air and rocks blue the best in spring football on Friday, May 8th, in the Gateway City!
