The host Arlington Renegades, fueled by 259 yards and three touchdown passes from quarterback Luis Perez, overcame the St. Louis Battlehawks 36-22 to earn their second win in three games on Saturday.
Arlington (2-7) jumped out to a 10-point lead, surrendered it, then rebounded to ultimately take out the first-place Battlehawks (6-3). Perez tossed the go-ahead 5-yard touchdown to Seth Green with 6:28 left in the third quarter. The two connected again on the two-point conversion, putting the Renegades up 27-21.
After a Jonathan Garibay 26-yard field goal gave Arlington a 9-point lead, Joe Powell wrapped up the win with a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:31 left.
After Perez gave the Renegades a 19-9 lead with two first-half touchdown passes, Battlehawks quarterback Manny Wilkins cut the lead to 19-15 at the half with a 1-yard rushing touchdown. Wilkins, who ran for 51 yards and two touchdowns and added another through the air, gave his team a 21-19 lead early in the third with a 7-yard scoring scramble around left end.
Brahmas 18, Stallions 9
The host San Antonio Brahmas handed the Birmingham Stallions their first loss of the season and surged ahead of St. Louis for first place in the XFL Conference.
The Brahmas (7-2) ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries while holding the potent Stallions offense to just 278 total yards. San Antonio built a 12-3 lead at halftime on touchdowns by Justin Smith and Morgan Ellison. Birmingham (8-1) quarterback Adrian Martinez finally got his team into the end zone with a third-quarter 15-yard touchdown pass to Jace Sternberger. But Ellison scored for the second time to account for the final margin, and Teez Tabor wrapped up the win with an interception of Martinez at the goal line.
San Antonio and St. Louis face each other in St. Louis next week in the final week of the regular season to decide the conference first-place finisher and who will earn home-field advantage in the playoffs, where they’ll face each other once again. St. Louis won the first meeting of the season on April 14 in San Antonio, 31-24.
–Field Level Media
