Announcers: John Schiffren, Tom Luginbill, Harry Douglas, Stormy Buonantony
The D.C. Defenders returned home to face the Arlington Renegades in front of what was expected to be a sellout crowd. The Defenders already had a spot in the Norther Division playoff game, but they were still interested in securing the top spot and home field advantage.
Meanwhile, for the Renegades, a win would secure a spot in the playoff game and knock the San Antonio Brahmas out of contention.
McCrane kicked off for DC and the ball went into the end zone. Arlington’s starting quarterback Luis Perez began his drive on the Arlington 15. Perez was pressured, but he still connected to Rannell Hall for a 12-yard gain. A DC offside penalty moved the sticks again, and then a short pass to Leddie Brown led to a 24-yard gain. A 15-yard face-masking penalty moved the markers to the DC 9-yard line. A short Brown run drew another DC Defenders face-masking penalty and the ball was placed on the 2-yard line. Arlington could not punch it in and they settled for a 23-yard Taylor Russolino field goal to make the score 3-0 for Arlington.
The Arlington kickoff was returned to the DC 29. DC Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu passed to Ethan Wolf for a 16-yard pickup, and then to Chris Blair for 19 more yards. A 22-yard pass to Chris Blair put the ball on the Arlington 9, and then Jordan Ta’amu capped a short but effective drive by passing 9-yards to Josh Hammond for the Defenders touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 6-3 for DC.
Arlington’s Luis Perez started on his own 12-yard line. He passed to Tyler Vaughns for a 5-yard gain and then handed to De’Veon Smith for a 7-yard rush and a first down. Perez would go back to Vaughns for 12 more yards. On 1st down, Perez passed to Rannell Hall for 7 yards and then failed to connect passes to Becker and Arconado. Arlington was prepared to punt, however an “illegal substitution” penalty on DC led to an Arlington first down.
Leddy Brown caught a pass for 9-yards, and then he was handed the ball for a 2nd down rush and he was stuffed. Backup quarterback Kelly Bryant was brought in. He faked the handoff and ran it himself for 24-yards. On 3rd and 10, Luis Perez was sacked for a 7-yard loss. A 43-yard Taylor Russolino field goal was missed wide left.
Ta’amu started his drive on the DC 34-yard line. Ta’amu’s first two passes were batted down, both by Arlington’s Willie Taylor.
At the end of the 1st quarter the score was 6-3 for the DC Defenders.
On 3rd down Ta’amu could not connect a pass to Chris Blair. The Defenders had to punt.
Joe Powell fielded the punt at Arlington’s 21-yard line. Luis Perez handed to Brown for a short 3-yard run, and then he threw to Nate Becker just short of the first down marker. After a 3rd down rush the Renegades were still short. Arlington head coach Bob Stoops questioned the markers and he was not satisfied with the explanation. Arlington was forced to punt.
Ta’Amu started on the DC 30, and passed to Jackson for 9-yards on 2nd down. An Arlington penalty moved the chains. A nice pass to a wide open Ethan Wolf was nullified by a DC penalty. A pass downfield to Lucky Jackson drew a defensive pass interference penalty putting the ball on the DC 41. Ta’amu passed long down field 37-yards to Brandon Smith who caught the ball on the sidelines with one foot inbounds. An 8-yard pass to Armstead was followed by a 14-yard pass to Lucky Jackson in the end zone for the DC touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 12-3 for DC.
From his own 35-yard line, Perez rushed for 1-yard. On 2nd down, a short pass to Caleb Vander Esch was good for 3 more yards, and then an 8-yard pass to Winningham moved the chains. Perez went back to Vander Esch for 8 yards, and then to Sal Canella for a 14-yard catch up to the DC 34. A 9-yard pass to Vander Esch was followed by a Luis Perez short pass to Caleb Vander Esch that was converted into a 25-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 12-9 for DC.
D’Eriq King was brought in at quarterback. He rushed for 8-yards and then handed to Smith for a 2-yard gain that moved the chains. King passed 26-yards to Hammond to put the ball on the Arlington 40, and then passed to Blair for a 13-yard gain to the 27. At the two-minute warning the DC Defenders were 1st and 10 on the Arlington 27-yard line.
King passed to Smith for a 20-yard gain and then passed to Lucky Jackson in the end zone for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Jazz Ferguson was good, making the score 20-9 for DC.
Perez took the ball on his own 24, but a penalty pushed them back. Passes to Sal Cannella and Leddie Brown left the Renegades at 3rd and 7 with 0:19 remaining. Perez was able to connect to Sal Cannella for a 14-yard gain and a first down near midfield. Perez was pressured and sacked at his own 40-yard line. Perez passed 14-yards to Sal Cannella as the clock ran out.
At half time the score was 20-9 for the DC Defenders.
DC Took the kickoff and Ta’amu went three and out. The Defenders punted the ball.
From their own 18-yard line Perez handed to De’Veon Smith for a 2-yard loss. DC penalties gave the Renegades a first down on their own 26. A 14-yard pass to Tyler Vaughns was fumbled, but the play was reviewed and the Renegades retained possession. Perez passed to Becker up to the DC 44-yard line, and then a pass to Arconado was stopped for a 3-yard loss. A scrappy De’Veon Smith rushed for 8-yards, and then a Luis Perez pass was intercepted by D.J. Swearinger and returned 62-yards for a DC touchdown. D’Eriq King was brought in for the 2-point conversion attempt and tried to run it in, but could not. The score was now 26-9 for DC.
McCrane kicked off and Arlington brought the ball out to their own 26. A 7-yard pass to Sal Cannella was nearly intercepted by Santos Ramirez. A rush by Leddie Brown moved the chains. Arlington’s drive stalled and they were forced to punt.
Ta’amu started on his own 28-yard line and rushed 12-yards. Two passes to Moore-McKinney moved the chains and a pass to Smith was good for 9-yards more. A pass intended for Hammond was intercepted by Joe Powell and returned 90-yards to the DC 31.
Perez handed to Smith for a 2-yard rush, and then passed to Winningham14-yards to the DC 15.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 26-9 for DC.
On 3rd and 6 from the DC 11, a pass was incomplete. However, a roughing the passer call moved the sticks to the DC 5-yard line. De’Veon Smith rushed to the 1-yard line, and on the next snap rushed the remaining 1-yard for an Arlington touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 26-15 for DC.
DC’s backup quarterback D’Eriq King started on his own 26-yard line. An Arlington penalty helped King move the chains. King handed to Abram Smith for a 16-yard rush and another first down, and then he passed to Smith for a 12-yard gain to the Arlington 40. An Armstead run went in the wrong direction and he was dropped for a 6-yard loss. An 18-yard pass to Josh Hammond made up the loss and more. On 3rd and 10, a D’Eriq King pass was picked off by Colin Schooler and returned to the Arlington 33.
With 5:22 remaining, Perez passed to Brown for 7-yards, and then went to Cannella for a 10-yard gain and a first down. A pass to Payton was good for 23-yards, and then a pass to Vaughns made 17-yards to the DC 10-yard line. On 1st down, Perez rushed 6-yards and slid to the DC 4-yard line. On 2nd down a pass to Cannella on the goal line was incomplete. At the two-minute warning Perez faced 3rd and goal on the DC 4.
On 3rd down, Perez passed to Brown who made 3-yards. On 4th down, Perez passed incomplete into the end zone, but a defensive pass interference call was made giving the Renegades a new set of downs. On 1st down, De’Veon Smith easily ran the ball in for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Vaughns was good, making the score 26-23 for DC>.
With 1:20 remaining, Arlington opted for 4th and 15 from their own 30 instead of an onside kick. Perez was pressured and he scrambled, and then connected a 25-yard pass to Sal Cannella at midfield. Perez connected to Vaughns for a 6-yard gain. On 4th and 4 with 0:32 on the clock, Perez could not connect with Brown and turned over the ball on downs. Arlington head coach Bob Stoops used his challenge and asked for a review of holding on DC’s Santos Ramirez. The challenge was successful and Arlington was given a first down.
Perez passed 9-yards to Brown, and then handed to Brown for 13-yards more to the DC 17. With 0:15 remaining, Arlington used their final time-out. Perez rushed 8-yards and went out of bounds at the DC 9. A 27-yard Taylor Russolino field goal tied the game at 26.
In XFL overtime, each team gets three tries at a 2-point conversion.
In Arlington’s first try, Perez passed to Sal Cannella but he was well covered and he could not reel it in.
In DC’s first try, Ta’amu passed to Lucky Jackson in coverage and Jackson could not get the ball.
In Arlington’s second try, Perez passed to Cannella and Ramirez broke up the play.
In DC’s second try, Ta’amu passed complete to Josh Hammond for 2-points.
In Arlington’s third try, Perez passed to Vander Esch and Bellamy knocked the ball down.
DC did not need to attempt their final try.
Final score was DC Defenders 28, Arlington Renegades 26 (Overtime).
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 O F
ARL 3 6 0 17 0 26
DC 6 14 6 0 2 28
------ ARLINGTON RENEGADES ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Luis Perez 31/41 335 8.2 1 1 25 2 - 14
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
De'Veon Smith 12 43 3.6 2 9
Leddie Brown 8 31 3.9 0 13
Kelly Bryant 1 24 24.0 0 24
Luis Perez 3 15 5.0 0 8
Caleb Vander Esch 1 9 9.0 0 9
Rannell Hall 1 0 0.0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 26 122 0.0 2 24
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Sal Cannella 7 92 13.1 0 25 10
Leddie Brown 6 69 11.5 0 24 8
Tyler Vaughns 6 63 10.5 0 17 7
Caleb Vander Esch 2 28 14.0 1 25 2
JaVonta Payton 2 23 11.5 0 23 2
Nate Becker 2 22 11.0 0 16 3
LuJuan Winningham 2 22 11.0 0 14 2
Rannell Hall 2 19 9.5 0 12 3
Shaun Beyer 1 0 0.0 0 0 1
Brandon Arconado 1 -3 -3.0 0 -3 3
TEAM TOTAL 31 335 0.0 1 25 41
Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
0 0 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Darnell Sankey 6 4 10.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Colin Schooler 4 2 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 2.0 1 0 0
De Vante Bausby 3 1 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Will Hill 3 1 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Josiah Coatney 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Joe Powell 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Bruce Hector 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Isaiah Graham-Mobley 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
T.J. Barnes 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 1 0
Tomasi Laulile 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Cameron Hunt 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Will Clarke 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bunmi Rotimi 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Darren Evans 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Shakur Brown 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Cre'Von LeBlanc 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Mike Horton 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Ryan Mueller 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 28 20 48.0 0.0 - 0.0 6.0 2 1 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Joe Powell 1 90 0
Colin Schooler 1 8 0
TEAM TOTAL 2 98 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Joe Powell 2 11 5.5 9 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Rannell Hall 4 94 23.5 32 0
Leddie Brown 1 32 32.0 32 0
TEAM TOTAL 5 126 0.0 32 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Taylor Russolino 2 3 66.7% 27
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Marquette King 2 106 53.0 0 0 54
------ DC DEFENDERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Jordan Ta'amu 14/20 188 9.4 2 1 37 0 - 0
Deriq King 6/9 76 8.4 1 1 26 0 - 0
TEAM TOTAL 20/29 264 0.0 3 2 37 0 - 0
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Abram Smith 10 27 2.7 0 16
Jordan Ta'amu 2 14 7.0 0 12
Deriq King 3 9 3.0 0 8
Ryquell Armstead 4 1 0.3 0 4
Pooka Williams 1 -1 -1.0 0 -1
TEAM TOTAL 20 50 0.0 0 16
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Josh Hammond 5 74 14.8 1 26 7
Brandon Smith 2 57 28.5 0 37 2
Chris Blair 2 32 16.0 0 19 7
Abram Smith 3 29 9.7 0 12 3
Briley Moore-Mckinney 3 26 8.7 0 11 3
Lucky Jackson 2 20 10.0 2 14 2
Ethan Wolf 1 16 16.0 0 16 2
Ryquell Armstead 1 8 8.0 0 8 2
Jordan Ta'amu 1 2 2.0 0 2 1
TEAM TOTAL 20 264 0.0 3 37 29
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Abram Smith 1 0 1
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Francis Bernard 7 3 10.0 0.5 - 3.5 0.0 0 0 0
D.J. Swearinger 7 1 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Reggie Northrup 3 3 6.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Dejuan Neal 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Santos Ramirez 4 1 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Michael Joseph 5 0 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Caraun Reid 3 2 5.0 0.5 - 3.5 1.0 0 0 0
Kentrell Brice 2 1 3.0 0.5 - 3.5 0.0 0 0 0
Fadol Brown 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Joseph Wallace 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Andre Mintze 1 1 2.0 0.5 - 3.5 0.0 0 0 0
Jamal Brooks 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Travon Fuller 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Malik Fisher 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Ferrod Gardner 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Gabe Wright 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jacub Panasiuk 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Montae Nicholson 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 46 16 62.0 2.0 - 14.0 2.0 1 0 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
D.J. Swearinger 1 62 1
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 1 12 12.0 12 0
Jequez Ezzard 1 14 14.0 14 0
TEAM TOTAL 2 26 0.0 14 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Pooka Williams 4 91 22.8 28 0
Brandon Smith 1 22 22.0 22 0
TEAM TOTAL 5 113 0.0 28 0
Kicking
FGM FGA FG% LNG
0 0 0.0% 0
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Daniel Whelan 2 106 53.0 0 1 59
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS ARL DC
TOTAL PLAYS 68 49
TOTAL YARDS 434 314
YARDS PER PLAY 6.4 6.4
FIRST DOWNS 29 22
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 15 14
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 6 4
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 4 8
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 27.3% 62.5%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 100.0% 0.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 321 264
PASS COMPLETIONS 31 20
PASS ATTEMPTS 41 29
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 1 2
YARDS PER PASS 7.8 9.1
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 1 3
SACKS ALLOWED 2 0
SACK YARDS LOST 14 0
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 113 50
RUSH ATTEMPTS 25 20
YARDS PER RUSH 4.5 2.5
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 2 0
PENALTIES 8 11
TURNOVERS 1 2
FUMBLES 0 0
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 1
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 33:49 26:11
