St. Louis quarterback A.J. McCarron posted 420 yards and six touchdowns as the Battlehawks cruised past the visiting Orlando Guardians 53-28 on Saturday.
McCarron, who completed 28 of 35 passes with no interceptions, engineered a pair of touchdown connections to both Hakeem Butler and Steven Mitchell Jr. and also hooked up with Darrius Shepherd and Jake Sutherland on one touchdown apiece.
Orlando (1-9) briefly grabbed a 12-9 lead midway through the second quarter on a special teams trick play as punter Mac Brown connected with Jordan Thomas on an 84-yard touchdown pass. They again went ahead at 20-17 on Quinten Dormady’s 45-yard touchdown to K.D. Cannon.
St. Louis (7-3) responded quickly by re-taking the lead each time, and then separated for good with three straight touchdowns to open the second half, one of which was a 66-yard reception by Butler. Butler paced all receivers with nine grabs for 164 yards.
Defenders 29, Brahmas 28
Jordan Ta’amu rushed for a 4-yard touchdown run with 2:32 remaining to rally D.C. to the win over host San Antonio.
San Antonio’s John Parker Romo missed a 53-yard field goal attempt with 32 seconds left and the Defenders improved to 9-1. Romo made earlier field goals of 26 and 28 yards.
Ta’amu threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns against an interception for D.C. He also led the team with 45 yards rushing.
Brahmas quarterback Jack Coan completed 34 of 48 passes for 312 yards. Jacques Patrick rushed for two touchdowns and Jonathan Hillman ran for another.
–Field Level Media
