Defense forces winning stops
Two touchdowns set up by interceptions, including fourth-quarter score that seals victory
The Houston Roughnecks were expected to rely on their offense this season.
But for the second consecutive game, a fourth-quarter interception helped secure a win, with the Roughnecks improving to 2-0 with a 28-24 victory over the St. Louis BattleHawks at TDECU Stadium on Sunday.
“We talk about it every week, every day, about taking the football away,” Roughnecks coach June Jones said.
Cam Phillips caught three touchdown passes for the Roughnecks, the last in the fourth quarter after Jeremiah Johnson flipped the field on a 64-yard interception return to the St. Louis 6. Quarterback P.J. Walker’s run from 2 yards out — the game’s first successful conversion after a touchdown — put the Roughnecks up 28-18 with 9:32 left
Houston’s Sergio Castillo capped the game’s opening drive with a 45-yard field goal after Sammie Coates was called for illegal touching on what would have been a long touchdown pass from Walker three plays before.
St. Louis (1-1) responded when running back Matt Jones took a Jordan Ta’Amu screen pass 25 yards for a touchdown to make it 6-3.
The Roughnecks found the end zone on their second drive when Walker threaded the needle with a 7-yard pass over the middle to Phillips, giving them a 9-6 lead.
After Houston failed to score on its next two drives, Cody Brown returned an interception 50 yards to the 1, and running back James Butler punched the ball into the end zone on the next play to put the Roughnecds up 15-6.
Jones was expected to lead one of the league’s most prolific offenses, and after two games, his is the highest-scoring in the XFL with 65 points. But Houston’s defense has been equally impressive at times.
It stopped St. Louis on fourthand-2 with less than six minutes to play in the second quarter, setting up a seven-play, 68-yard drive that ended when Walker rolled of out the pocket and found Phillips in the back of the end zone, putting the Roughnecks
up 21-6.
Houston dominated the second half of its season opener a week ago. But the BattleHawks looked to reverse that trend Sunday, scoring on its first two drives of the half to get within 21-18.
Ta’Amu threw his second touchdown pass to De’Mornay
Record: 2-0.
Saturday: at Tampa Bay, Raymond James Stadium, 1 p.m. TV: ABC.
Pierson-El for a 1-yard score, then stretched the ball across the line to finish a 4-yard touchdown run on the following drive, making it a three-point game.
“When momentum turns, they’re taking the ball for long drives,” Jones said. “And (when) you don’t answer that, it just multiplies, and that’s what happened.”
Johnson’s interception turned momentum back to the Roughnecks.
“The night before, we talked about this,” Jones said. “There’s going to be adversity in the game, and you have to hang together and fight through it, and we did.”
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