Three second-half turnovers doomed the Seattle Sea Dragons in their season opener at the D.C. Defenders.
The Sea Dragons had three more turnovers in the second half against the St, Louis Battlehawks on Thursday night in their first game in front of their home fans and another excruciating defeat.
Donnie Hageman kicked a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the game, lifting St. Louis to an 20-18 win Thursday night at Lumen Field
Seattle was in position to win when quarterback Ben DiNucci threw a fourth-and-eight touchdown pass to Jordan Veasy with 1:21 left, giving the Sea Dragons a 17-12 lead.
But the Battlehawks drove into field-goal range and the fans left stunned.
Seattle was determined to avoid similar mistakes Thursday night and it played a clean first half in taking a 12-8 lead at halftime.
Seattle lost a 22-18 heartbreaker at D.C., blowing a 10-point second half lead because of two interceptions, then losing a fumble on a play from the Defenders 1 with less than 20 seconds left.
This defeat hurt just as much.
Neither team had success on its opening drive, but Seattle got things going on its second drive, with much of the success coming surprisingly on runs — from running back Morgan Ellison and quarterback Nucci.
But the 13-play, 61-yard drive stalled at the St. Louis 11 and the Sea Dragons settled for a 29-yard field goal from Dominik Eberle to take a 3-0 lead.
Seattle went to the air on its next drive, scoring on just two plays. A 19-yard pass from DiNucci to Blake Jackson was followed by a 54-yard touchdown pass to the speedy Jahcour Pearson.
Pearson, who caught the Sea Dragons’ attention when he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.2 seconds at an open tryout, showed off that speed while pulling away down the sideline.
That was followed by a three-point conversion (a play from the 10) on a pass to Josh Gordon, giving Seattle a 12-0 lead.
The Battlehawks, who overcame a 12-point deficit to win their opener, finally got their offense going after being held to negative 1 yard in the first quarter.
They put together a 14-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that ended on quarterback A.J. McCarron’s 1-yard run. A two-point conversion (from the Seattle 5) trimmed the Sea Dragons’ lead to 12-8.
St. Louis was on the verge of scoring again just before the half after driving to the Seattle 24, but the Sea Dragons knocked them out of field-goal range by sacking McCarron, who fumbled on the play. St. Louis recovered, but it was a loss of 15 yards and it punted on the final play of the half.
Pearson made a big mistake when he fumbled trying to bring in a punt after St. Louis did nothing on its first possession of the second half. The Battlehawks recovered the fumble at the Seattle 23, but got nothing out of it after gaining five yards on three plays, then missing a 36-yard field goal.
Seattle fumbled on its next possession too, with running back Ellison losing the ball at his 42. This time, the turnover cost Seattle three points when Hageman made a 44-yard field goal.
A promising Sea Dragons drive ended prematurely in the fourth quarter when DiNucci lost a fumble on a third-and-one play from the St. Louis 18.
St. Louis took a 17-12 lead on a 44-yard touchdown pass from McCarron to Hakeem Butler with 7:14 left. The missed conversion kept the Sea Dragons deficit at less than a touchdown.
Seattle failed on a fourth-and-one play from its 35 on its next possession, but St. Louis missed a 50-yard field goal with 3:11 left.
That gave the Sea Dragons another big opportunity and this time they converted. But in the end, it didn’t matter.
Note
The father of Sea Dragons’ cornerback Chris Payton-Jones died Thursday morning. Payton-Jones played in the game and did a TV interview on the sideline during the game.