Members of the St. Louis Battlehawks celebrate their season-opening victory over the DC Defenders. (Photo: Ellie Parker)

United Football League	1	2	3	4	Final
DC Defenders (0-1)	10	0	0	0	10
St. Louis Battlehawks (1-0)	3	3	7	3	16

ST. LOUIS, MO — The 2026 United Football League season opener turned out to be a record breaker for the St. Louis Battlehawks.

The Battlehawks defense registered a team-record seven quarterback sacks and held the defending league champion, DC Defenders scoreless for the final three quarters, on their way to a thrilling 16-10 win, Saturday afternoon at The Dome at America’s Center.

“I’m so proud of my guys, man,” Battlehawks head coach Ricky Proehl said. “The way they fought. We talk about finishing. At halftime, we talked about how this is what we worked for. Just to finish the ballgame.”

Pita Taumoepenu, the reigning UFL Defensive Player of the Year, led the St. Louis defense with 2.5 sacks, and helped shut down a DC offense that began the game by connecting on the first four-point field goal in football history and then added a touchdown near the end of the first quarter to take a 10-3 lead.

“We were just trying to be aggressive against them,” Taumoepenu said. “They have a good quarterback and good receivers, so we knew we had to attack them and try to disrupt them to keep them from making big plays on us.

“Then once we got started, we knew we had an advantage with our pass rush and how we know we can get after people. After that, it was just everybody try to get one and different guys were getting there and bringing their quarterback down.”

The Battlehawks defense sacked DC QB Jordan Ta’amu a team-record seven times in Saturday’s win. (Photo: Ellie Parker)

Even with its defense providing a strong pass rush and disrupting DC’s offense, St. Louis’ offense struggled in the early going. The Battlehawks had several dropped passes and a couple of surprising overthrows by quarterback Brandon Silvers, which kept St. Louis from moving the ball with any consistency.

DC led 10-6 at halftime.

The second half was a different story though. The Battlehawks began to move the ball with their running game and got a huge 43-yard catch-and-run from running back Kevon Latulas, which set the club up for its first touchdown of the season — a 10-yard pass from Silvers to tight end Tyler Neville — that put St. Louis up 13-10.

St. Louis had its best extended drive of the game on its next possession, which came after DC missed a field goal that could’ve tied the game, when the Battlehawks went 74 yards on eight plays to get inside the Defenders’ red zone.

DC managed to keep St. Louis out of the end zone though, and the Battlehawks had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Tucker McCann, which put the home team up by six early in the fourth quarter. It was McCann’s third field goal of the day.

“Tucker’s got a great leg and we know we can rely on him to make big kicks when we need them,” Proehl said.

Battlehawks TE Tyler Nevile celebrates scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in Saturday’s UFL game at The Dome at America’s Center. (Photo: Ellie Parker)

From that point on, it was all defense. St. Louis stifled DC the rest of the game.

Along with the seven sacks, the Battlehawks had five other tackles for loss, forced two turnovers, made a huge stop on fourth down, and held the Defenders to two first downs the entire second half.

“Like I said, once we got going, we knew we had an advantage,” Taumoepenu said. “It was a fun way to start the season and we just want to build on this and try to make this into something special.”

Silvers finished the day with 198 passing yards and the touchdown to Neville. Battlehawks newcomer Jordan Mosley had a game-high seven tackles, an interception, and a pass breakup.

Battlehawks WR Gary Jennings tries to break away from a DC defender during Saturday’s UFL opener at The Dome at America’s Center. (Photo: Ellie Parker)

The Battlehawks will enjoy 10 days off before returning to action on Tuesday, April 7. St. Louis will be in Frisco, Texas, to take on the Dallas Renegades. Kickoff that evening is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.

SCORING SUMMARY

Team	Qtr	Clock	Play	Score
DC	1	9:15	4-PT FG – Matt McCrane 60-yard four-point field goal	4-0
STL	1	5:44	FIELD GOAL – Tucker McCann 58-yard field goal	4-3
DC	1	1:22	TOUCHDOWN – Deon Jackson 1-yard run (2-pt conversion attempt failed)	10-3
STL	2	:02	FIELD GOAL – Tucker McCann 27-yard field goal	10-6
STL	3	8:08	TOUCHDOWN – Brandon Silvers 10-yard pass to Tyler Neville (PAT good)	10-13
STL	4	12:02	FIELD GOAL – Tucker McCann 58-yard field goal	10-16

2026 ST. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS SCHEDULE

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location	TV	Results
March 28, 2026 (Saturday)	11 am	Home	DC Defenders	The Dome at America’s Center		W, 16-10 (1-0)
April 7, 2026 (Tuesday)	7 pm	Away	Dallas Renegades	Toyota Stadium / Frisco, TX
April 12, 2026 (Sunday)	2 pm	Home	Birmingham Stallions	The Dome at America’s Center
April 18, 2026 (Saturday)	11:30 am	Away	DC Defenders	Audi Field / Washington, DC
April 25, 2026 (Saturday)	6 pm	Away	Orlando Storm	Inter&Co Stadium / Orlando, FL
April 30, 2026 (Thursday)	7 pm	Away	Louisville Kings	Lynn Family Stadium / Louisville, KY
May 8, 2026 (Friday)	7 pm	Home	Columbus Aviators	The Dome at America’s Center
May 16, 2026 (Saturday)	2 pm	Home	Houston Gamblers	The Dome at America’s Center
May 24, 2026 (Sunday)	6 pm	Away	Houston Gamblers	Shell Energy Stadium / Houston, TX
May 29, 2026 (Friday)	7 pm	Home	Dallas Renegades	The Dome at America’s Center