By: Mike Bell
Opening Day of Spring football was upon us today as the Michigan Panthers and St. Louis Battlehawks closed out the Saturday schedule on Day 1 of the UFL Season. The St. Louis Battlehawks were heavy betting favorites going into the game with a spread of 6.5 points over the Michigan Panthers. Official attendance for today’s game stood at 9,444 for this Easter weekend.
The first quarter for both teams was dominated by defense on both sides of the ball. Both Quarterbacks had slow starts as McCarron and Perry both saw heavy pressure from the defensive fronts causing rushed passes and a few sacks. E.J. Perry struggled to get off his first read and the defense made him pay with an early interception in double coverage. A.J. McCarron almost matched him with a near pick as well. Frank Ginda, last year’s USFL DPOY was all over the field helping the front four hold the Battlehawks to 0-3 on third down conversions. Neither running game could get going and particularly the left side of the line was struggling in run blocking for the Panthers in the first quarter.
The second quarter continued to show how aggressive both front 7’s were playing on defense. E.J. Perry eventually led the Panthers down the field to the Battlehawk’s 5 yard line. However, Perry would force a throw into tight coverage that was tipped for an interception in the Battlehawks end zone. The Battlehawks then marched down the field on their best drive of the half to secure a FG as time expired to take a 3-0 lead at halftime. Both teams were held to under 100 total yards at half as the defenses set the tone for the game.
The Battlehawks opened up the third quarter with the ball and Daniel Wise quickly put an end to that drive with one of his two sacks on the day. E.J. Perry finally found his rhythm in the very next drive with 3 big first down throws to 3 different receivers as he would lead a 93 yard, 8 play drive finishing with a rushing touchdown. A.J. McCarron would lead a methodical drive of his own as he had big passing plays of 19 and 27 yards respectively. The Battlehawks rushed to the line before quarter end to try and draw an offsides from the Panthers from the 5 yard line. The offense ended up flinching but not before the clock struck zero. Coach Mike Nolan would challenge the play but lose his final timeout going into the fourth quarter.
Defensive Tackle Walter Palmore set the tone to open the 4th quarter with an absolute clutch tackle for a loss on 4th down on Battlehawks ball carrier Wayne Gallman. Wes Hills came alive on the next drive ending the running struggles for the Panthers. Hills had a monster run of 19 yards only for the drive to be stalled out by a costly holding penalty and sack. After a face mask penalty thwarted the Panthers causing a 3 and out, the Battlehawks would find a way to the end zone with a pass from McCarron to Sutherland to make the score 9-7 Battlehawks. Wes Hills continued to show his presence with big runs of 18 and 24 yards and E.J. Perry finished off the drive with another rushing touchdown and successful two point conversion to take the lead 15-9 with 5 minutes left in the game. McCarron would answer back with a deep pass to Ateman for 25 yards and follow it up with an absolute bullet to Sutherland for the go ahead score 16-15.
Under a minute to play, Hightower caught a crucial 15 yard catch on 4th down to keep the drive alive with seconds ticking off the clock. After two straight incompletions, the Panthers were faced with a 4th and 10 with only 8 seconds to go. What happened next could only be written in story books as a completely unknown kicker, Jake Bates, who hasn’t kicked a FG in a game since High School made his 64 yard kick only to be iced by Coach Anthony Becht. Bates lined up for a second try and nailed the official game winner and entered himself into Michigan Panthers and UFL lore as the Panthers took down the Battlehawks in Game 1 of the season 18-16.
After the game, Coach Anthony Becht said they just were not capitalizing on all 3 phases of the game and just couldn’t put it all together today. Both he and QB A.J. McCarron were blown away by the fact Jake Bates nailed back to back 64 yard field goals to win the game. A.J. mentioned they have a lot of young guys on the team that just need a little more time to sync together but noted they have the right group of guys to make this work. When asked what was the most significant factor in the Panthers defense today he said “the front 4 guys were just so big.”
In the post game conference for the Panthers, Coach Mike Nolan mentioned he found his confidence in Jake kicking a Field Goal of that distance in recent practices. “He would line them up in practice, one after another, and drill them.” He would go on to say he thought they had a good chance based on Jake’s effort in practice and showing his range pregame as well. Jake Bates was very humble in answering questions and was just happy to have the chance to play for the Panthers as they were the only team willing to give him a shot going into camp. E.J. Perry shared that Jake came over to him on the sideline before the last drive and told him “just get it to the 45 and I’ll get it”. E.J. said “I did the math for a second and thought there was no way, he must have meant the 35. I tried my best to get us there but we had to settle on the 42 yard line.” Jake said “I just went out there and felt I had nothing to lose, it was such a far kick, I didn’t feel the pressure of that because it was so far.” When asked if being iced played any kind of mental factor, Bates said, “I forgot that icing was even a thing so I kicked the first one not realizing I could be iced. The second one I just lined up like I do in practice when I kick one after another.” Perry and Bates were asked if they were going to try and make it 70 next week to where Perry said “my goal next week is to make it a 55 yarder or get us to a point we don’t need a game winner at all.”
The Michigan Panthers are back at home next week April 7th at 12PM EST as they face the other winner from today and last year’s USFL Champions, the Birmingham Stallions. The St. Louis Battlehawks travel back home for their first home game of the year in the Battle Dome as they aim to set the bar for attendance records for the UFL. They will face the Arlington Renegades coming off a tough loss today to the Stallions.