Battlehawks soar before diverse, raucous Dome crowd
A good time was had by all on Sunday as the St. Louis Battlehawks made their home debut at the Dome of America’s Center.
The capacity crowd of more than 29,000 that witnessed the ‘Hawks 29-6 thrashing of the pitiful New York Guardians was quite diverse with many black and minority fans in attendance.
Draped in Battlehawks shirts and blue Mardi Gras beads, Tony Stephenson and his brother Thomas were part of the raucous, white rally towel waving crowd.
“Man, this is so exciting. This city is starved for football. It’s an event,” Tony Stephenson said at halftime with the Battlehawks holding a 23-3 lead.
“It’s more fast-paced, more exciting (than the NFL.)”
Brother Thomas flew in from Denver to take in the festivities of St. Louis’ famed Mardi Gras celebration and the XFL game.
“I had watched a little bit of (Battlehawks and XFL games) on television. This is special. I’m happy to get a chance to be here.”
As kicker Taylor Russolino’s XFL-record 58-yard field goal skimmed over the cross bar to push the Battlehawks lead to 26-3, Persephone Campbell of Fairview Heights celebrated as if a St. Louis Cardinal had hit a postseason home run or a St. Louis Blue scored a playoff overtime goal.
“I’m so excited,” she beamed as the crowd roared.
“It’s finally something huge for St. Louis again.”
Former St. Louis Rams receiver Tory Holt was an honorary captain and the cheers rained down upon him.
“It’s good to this turnout. It’s great to see football back in St. Louis,” he said moments before the kickoff.
Indianapolis Colts cornerback Pierre Deser, a product of Francis Howell Central High School who caught NFL scours’ eyes at Lindenwood University, was on the Battlehawks sideline and saluted the team and sell-out crowd.
“I really like (the XFL kickoff rule),” he said. He added that the atmosphere in the dome “is great.”
A cool coach
After three games it’s obvious that Commissioner Oliver Luck and the XFL did St. Louis a major favor by assigning Jonathan Hayes as head coach.
He is large and very in charge of every facet of the game plan, he’s an in-game educator and one who is not afraid to spring a trick play on the competition.
He also is appreciative of the enthusiastic support of his team.
“It was a great crowd. It was awesome today. And that really ignited our players and got us excited and it was just unbelievable,” Hayes said following the game.
“And I can see why our 12th man is so important. It really made it difficult for (New York) with the snap count.”
The Guardians had several false-start penalties and other miscues that were the result of crowd noise.
Hayes also helped mastermind the first kickoff return for a touchdown in the game’s second quarter.
The Guardians had just cut a St. Louis lead to 6-3 on a short-lived XFL record 53-yard field goal by Matthew McCrane. On the ensuing kickoff, wide receiver Keith Mumphery caught the football then pitched it to Joe Powell on a reverse. Powell hit the sideline and dashed 84 yards for the TD.
“When Joe hit that next gear I was like, ‘Oh man, this could be a good one,’” Hayes said.
“I couldn’t hear myself think when he was running down the sideline.”
On the run
The one-two punch of running backs Matt jones and Christine Michael was a bruising force that the Guardians never controlled. Jones rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and Michael added 44 yards and a TD on 13 carries.
Jones leads the XFL with 224 yards rushing after three games.
The Reid XFL Roundup
The Battlehawks’ roster includes several players from the St. Louis area or Missouri. Guard Brian Folkerts, Florissant (Washburn University); defensive lineman Dewayne Hendrix, O’Fallon, Ill. (Pitt); receiver Marcus Lucas, Liberty, Mo. (Mizzou); and guard/tackle Brian Wallace, Florissant (Arkansas)… Receiver L’Damian Washington played for Mizzou and declared after the game, “We’ve got to open those upper decks. I think we can fill them up.” All fans were limited to the lower bowl of The Dome… Every XFL officiating crew includes at least one woman. Tangela Mitchell, an African American official, served as down judge. She is coordinator of student affairs services at Mercer University in Atlanta… Guardians starting quarterback Matt McGloin is flat-out terrible and was benched for the second time in two weeks on Sunday… As excellent as Jonathan Hayes has been as Battlehawks head coach, Guardians coach Kevin Gilbride has been as awful. His team is undisciplined, uninspired and was an embarrassment on Sunday… Hayes heard is first moment of discontent from fans when he chose to punt on fourth-and-two from the Guardians’ 42-yead line in the first quarter… OK, I know it will not happen. Can we drop the “Kroenke sucks” chant? Stan Kroenke is gone, his Rams are now worth more than $3 billion, his new stadium opens next season and it is scheduled to host the Super Bowl and the Olympics. It’s like chanting “IRS sucks.” You might hate it, but you ain’t gonna do anything about it.
