Guardians Reopen The Dome with Battlehawks, falling 29-9

By Allen Austin

Looking to rebound from a disastrous trip to the Nation's Capital in week 2, the Guardians (1-2) helped St. Louis usher in a new era of professional football, losing vs the Battlehawks ( 2-1) on Sunday. It was another rough outing for the newest tri-state franchise.

With all eyes on Matt McGloin a week after publicly criticizing the coaching staff of the New York squad, he came out looking for better results. What he got was...a rib injury that took him out of the game early. Marquise Williams took over. McGloin would return to finish the first half, but Williams returned for the start of the second half. McGloin would finish the game going 8/11 and 84 yards with an INT, and Williams going 7/15 for 94 yards. A third QB would make an appearance for the Guardians, Luis Perez, and he would finish going 4/5 for 80 yards and a TD. Perez has been well documented off the field, as it has been said he learned to play the position of quarterback by watching YouTube.

The first quarter had the Guardians down 6-0, after an opening drive that saw the Battlehawks go in for first score of the game courtesy of a 14 yard rushing touchdown by former NFLer Christine Michael.

The second quarter saw the Guardians get on the board with a field goal, but that positivity was quickly erased with the first kickoff return for a touchdown in XFL history, by Joe Powell. The Battlehawks later added a field goal of their own, going up 15-3. Soon after, a blocked punt led to yet another St. Louis touchdown, followed by a successful two point conversion. The first half misery for New York was capped by a McGloin interception as they were driving to get something on the board to close the half.

The second half didn't go as planned early, with another set of penalties backing them up to start the half, eventually punting away their first drive. There were a few drives where Tim Cook had a few good rushes, but ultimately led to fourth down non conversions. Once Perez came in, half way through the fourth quarter, the Guardians finally put some more points on the board, with a TD pass from Perez to Austin Duke. Perez would get sacked on the three point attempt following the score.

The Guardians seemed pretty undisciplined with 6 penalties, all before 9:33 to go in the first half. They finished the game allowing 86 penalty yards, to the Battlehawks 20.

Kevin Gilbride and company will have to figure out a gameplay for next week, when the team returns home to face the LA Wildcats at 2 pm on Saturday.

Game Notes:

St. Louis seemed thrilled to have football back, with a loud Battlehawks chant erupting thoughout the dome with a minute left to go in the first half.

The Guardians went only 1/9 on third downs.

Guardians Center Ian Silberman had to be repremanded by officials, and it was visible on the telecasts that he had to be talked to by his coach about his on field behavior.

This contest was the first professional football game in St. Louis in 1,529 days, since the Rams headed out west.