A dream season ended in nightmarish fashion for the D.C. Defenders with a stunning 35-26 loss to the Arlington Renegades in Saturday night’s XFL championship game at San Antonio’s Alamodome.
On Saturday, they took an early lead against the Defenders and never looked back in handing D.C. (10-2) its second loss of the season.
Arlington set the tempo early. In the first quarter, Arlington dominated possession, and the Renegades’ defense held the Defenders to minus-1 yard on four plays. Meanwhile, Arlington’s offense compiled 174 yards.
Renegades quarterback Luis Perez got the scoring started with a 41-yard pass to tight end Sal Cannella and later added a nine-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Tyler Vaughns to power the Renegades to a 14-0 first quarter lead. Taylor Russolino’s 29-yard field goal made it 17-0 with less than five minutes to go in the first half.
Arlington’s offense picked apart a normally dominant D.C. defense, expertly mixing short passes and running plays to extend drives.
“Arlington took it to us,” Defenders Coach Reggie Barlow said. “They played well. They played faster than us. They had a plan. Their offensive coordinator [Jonathan Hayes and Chuck Long are co-coordinators] did a really good job of keeping us off balance.”
Perez, who was traded from the Vegas Vipers to the Renegades after Week 6, made the most of his chances. He was named XFL championship game MVP after finishing with 288 passing yards and three touchdowns.
“I love seeing people get their opportunities and take advantage of it,” Barlow said of Perez. “It went from him being at another place and it not working out the way he wanted it to, but he stayed focused, stayed being a team player, played in a backup role and then when he got his opportunity he showed why he’s a solid quarterback.”
While the current iteration of the XFL doesn’t carry over statistics from the two previous versions of the league, the Renegades are the first champion crowned since the Los Angeles Xtreme defeated the San Francisco Demons in 2001. The rebooted league folded five games into the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Defenders were without the services of defensive back Michael Joseph, who led the team with four interceptions and two pick-sixes in the regular season, and it was clear they missed him. The Renegades converted 11 of 15 (73.3 percent) third downs.
D.C. was finally able to gather some momentum on offense early in the second quarter, but a Jordan Ta’amu pass intended for wide receiver Chris Blair was tipped and intercepted by Arlington’s Joe Powell, who also picked off Ta’amu in the teams’ Week 9 matchup.
Abram Smith, the XFL’s leading rusher, was able to get the Defenders on the board with a two-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds left in the first half and heated up in the second half with a 52-yard touchdown scamper on fourth and inches. Smith finished with 90 yards on 13 carries.
AB just doing AB things 😏
— D.C. Defenders (@XFLDefenders) May 14, 2023
52-YD TD run https://t.co/g1TzdTOFOp pic.twitter.com/isGlmTY0CR
The Renegades responded with a third-quarter touchdown by running back Leddie Brown to extend their lead to 26-12.
The Defenders countered with a 72-yard pass from Ta’amu to Josh Hammond, but penalties led to a meltdown to end the third quarter, which was capped by a 30-yard touchdown pass from Perez to Brown.
The collapse continued when Ta’amu threw his second interception of the game early in the fourth quarter, which led the Renegades to extend their lead to 35-20 with Russolino’s third field goal.
A fumble recovery by Defenders linebacker Reggie Northrup gave D.C. the ball back with 2:02 remaining. D.C.'s offense cut the lead to 35-26 with a 78-yard, 45-second drive that led to Hammond’s second touchdown. The momentum was short lived; the Defenders’ subsequent fourth-and-15 pass attempt was picked off by Renegades defensive back Cre’von LeBlanc.
Barlow said he made it a point to tell his players individually after the game that he appreciated and loved them. Saturday’s outcome was not what anyone on D.C.'s sideline envisioned but for the XFL coach of the year, there is a lot to embrace after a memorable season.
“This is a part of life,” Barlow said. “In life you have adversity, so this is a learning lesson. We lost the game but we still had a good season. [I’m] really proud of them.”