Of course, the Seattle Sea Dragons played another suspenseful game.
That’s become the norm for them in this XFL season. But for the second straight week, it was the Sea Dragons celebrating at the end.
The Sea Dragons broke away from a halftime tie, defeating the San Antonio Brahmas 15-6 on Saturday night at Lumen Field in front of 15,103.
“Anytime the defense gives up six points, you’ve got to win the game,” Sea Dragons quarterback Ben DiNucci said. “That was an awesome job by them all game.”
The Sea Dragons scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to take a nine-point lead, but with a three-point extra conversion possible in the XFL (on a try from the 10-yard line), it was still a one-possession game.
The Brahmas had two chances to score the possible tying touchdown, with the final opportunity ending when they failed on fourth-and-one at the Dragons’ 49 with 17 seconds left.
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Seattle’s first three games. The Sea Dragons lost their first two games in the final seconds before pulling out a 30-26 thriller with a late touchdown last week at Vegas.
“We’re almost expecting these games to kind of come down to the last possession,” said DiNucci, who was 28 of 41 for 264 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The interception came with 1:44 left in the game, giving San Antonio its final chance, but the Seattle defense stood strong.
It certainly was a huge win for the Sea Dragons (2-2) with just six games left in the regular season and undefeated Houston (4-0) coming to town Thursday.
“We lost two games on the last play of the game and now we’ve kind of put two back together,” said Sea Dragons coach Jim Haslett. “I think Thursday night it is going to be a great game. It really should be two teams undefeated teams playing, but it is what it is.”
The Sea Dragons forced a three-and-out on San Antonio’s first possession. Seattle was much more productive on its opening drive, moving 68 yards on 11 plays, but it didn’t lead to any points as the Sea Dragons failed to convert a fourth-and-one from the San Antonio 19.
The Brahmas (1-3), who were averaging just 232 yards per game on offense entering the game, went 60 yards on its second possession before settling for a 38-yard field from Parker Romo just before the end of the first quarter.
Neither team did much offensively after that until late in the second quarter, when Seattle got the ball at its 15 with 1:46 left in the half. Sea Dragons quarterback Ben DiNucci quickly drove his team down the field, and he capped a seven-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Green with 37 seconds left in the second quarter.
That was enough time for San Antonio to get into field-goal range after it was aided by a 25-yard pass interference penalty that negated a Seattle interception.
Romo made the Sea Dragons pay, kicking a 57-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
Seattle regained the lead on a 35-yard field from Dominik Eberle with 1:58 left in the third quarter to take a 9-6 lead.
The Sea Dragons padded that lead when Morgan Ellison capped off a 59-yard drive with a 1-yard run that came one play after a 23-yard pass to Gordon.
Seattle tried a two-point conversion from the 2-yard line and failed, giving the Brahmas hope. But the Sea Dragons defense stopped San Antonio twice to clinch the win.
Note
The quarterback for the Houston Roughnecks, Brandon Silvers, was the starting quarterback for the 2020 XFL Seattle Dragons in four of their five games before the team switched to former Seahawk B.J. Daniels.
The season was canceled after the fifth game because of the pandemic and not long after, the league declared bankruptcy.
Silvers is off to a hot start for unbeaten Houston, having completed 88 of 135 passes for 962 yards, with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. He ranks second in the league — behind DiNucci — in passing yards.