St. Louis Battlehawks Wide Receiver Gary Jennings (12) is tackled by a DC Defenders player on Apr. 13 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, MO (Source: West Newsmagazine/Lou Countryman photo)

If the Battlehawks want to play UFL Championship game, their home stadium, they will have an uphill battle as the team suffers their first loss of the season against the D.C. Defenders 27-15. St. Louis dug themselves in a hole when they turned the ball over first, which led to a Defender’s field goal made by place kicker Matt McCrane putting the team up 3-0. Then Defender’s quarterback Jordan Taamu hit Ty Scott on a 62-yard touchdown pass to give the team a 9-0. After an interception made by Defender’s cornerback Michael Ojemudia, McCrane increase the lead 12-0 after making a 42 yard.

St. Louis finally got on the board when Quarterback Manny Wilkins hit Frank Darby with a 35-yard touchdown pass, but the two-point PAT attempt failed.  Place Kicker Roderigo Blankenship made a 40-yard field goal for the Battlehawks to make it 12-9 with 6:08 left But Defender’s quarterback Jordan Taamu engineered an eight-play, 61-yard drive that ended in a 10-yard touchdown pass Briley Moore-McKinney to make it 18-9. Then Blackenship kicked a 47 yard field goal with 1:20 to close the lead to 18-12.

It was during halftime UFL owner Dany Garcia and UFL president and chief executive officer Russ Brandon announced that the title game would return to St. Louis this season. The title game is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday Night on June 14 and will be televised on ABC. In the third quarter, Blackenship kicked a 56-yard field goal to close within 3 points, 18-15 heading into the 4th quarter and it looked like the Battlehawks could pull off a win but that ended when, Ta’amu fired his 3rd touchdown pass that was deflected and landed in the hands of WR Cornell Powell to give the Defenders a 24-15 lead with 2:20 left in the game. DC’s defense finished the job when Safety Sam Kidd intercepted Manny Wilkins to seal the game. Place Kicker Matt McCrane hit a 50-yard field goal with 1:34 left to cap the scoring to make the final score 27-15.

The Defenders snapped a seven-game home winning streak by the Battlehawks, dating back to Week 9 of the 2023 season. The next game for the Battlehawks will be on the road against the Arlington Renegades at 11:30 a.m. CT on Saturday, April 19 at Choctaw Stadium.