ARLINGTON, TX – July 7, 2026 – Few knew what to expect when the Louisville Kings traveled to St. Louis for a semifinal showdown with the Battlehawks. One team entered the postseason red hot. The other was searching for answers. The winner would earn a trip to the 2026 United Bowl.
Despite reaching the postseason together, the two teams arrived there on very different paths.
First-year head coach Ricky Proehl guided the Battlehawks to a 6-4 regular season and the No. 2 seed in the UFL. They built their identity around a punishing defense and one of the league’s most explosive playmakers in Hakeem Butler.
St. Louis led the UFL with 31 sacks and allowed just 19.6 points per game. Even through offensive inconsistency, it was clear their defense was capable of carrying them to victory.
By season’s end, Butler had been named Offensive Player of the Year after leading the league with 641 receiving yards in just nine games. His 22.1 yards per reception set a modern UFL benchmark, making him one of the league’s biggest home-run threats.
Still, the Battlehawks entered the postseason with questions. Quarterback instability had defined much of their season, and by the playoffs they had turned to their third starter, Luis Perez. They had also dropped two of their final three games, leaving momentum firmly on Louisville’s side.
The Kings couldn’t have been entering the postseason with more confidence.
After handing the offense to Chandler Rogers in Week Five, Louisville won five of its final six games and carried a four-game winning streak into the playoffs.
The Kings also transformed their identity. After ranking last in the UFL in rushing through five weeks, they averaged more than 175 rushing yards per game over the second half of the season and climbed to fourth in the league.
Defensively, Louisville was the most opportunistic team in the UFL, finishing with a league-best 17 takeaways and 13 interceptions.
That set the stage for a semifinal showdown inside The Dome at America’s Center, better known as The Battledome.
The only previous meeting between the teams came in Week Six during the Derby Classic in Louisville, when St. Louis completely shut down the Kings. The Battlehawks held Louisville to just three points, 12 rushing yards and a 2-for-14 performance on third down in a convincing 16-3 victory.
Louisville, however, never lost another regular-season game.
As expected, the first Sunday in June delivered one of the loudest environments of the season. The Battledome was rocking. The crowd, however, was silenced almost immediately.
The biggest storyline entering the game centered around Louisville’s rushing attack facing the league’s top run defense. On the Kings’ opening possession, former NFL 1,000-yard rusher James Robinson broke free for a 53-yard touchdown, giving Louisville the early momentum.
Later in the first quarter, UFL Special Teams Player of the Year Tanner Brown added to the lead with a booming 60-yard field goal, the first of two historic kicks. Thanks to the UFL’s four-point field goal rule, Louisville took an 11-3 lead into the second quarter.
St. Louis responded. Jarveon Howard powered in a short touchdown before Perez found Blake Jackson for the go-ahead score, sending the Battlehawks into halftime with a six-point advantage and the home crowd back on its feet.
But Louisville had made a habit of second-half surges throughout the season. Rogers capped an 89-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Winstead to reclaim the lead. St. Louis answered with a 45-yard field goal, but once the fourth quarter arrived, so did Louisville’s biggest plays.
Ian Wheeler turned the corner and sprinted 51 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, putting the Kings back in front.
Then came the kick nobody will forget. With less than five minutes remaining, Brown drilled a 63-yard field goal, the longest of the UFL season to extend Louisville’s lead to nine. The kick also made him the first player in football history to convert two field goals from 60 yards or longer in the same game.
The Battlehawks had one final opportunity. Instead, Louisville's defense delivered the finishing blow. Defensive Player of the Year Cam Gill recorded a critical sack before Steele Chambers intercepted Perez in the end zone to seal Louisville’s 29-20 victory.
The Kings walked into one of the toughest environments in spring football and never flinched.
Against the league’s top rushing defense, Louisville ran for 168 yards. Defensively, the Kings recorded four sacks, five tackles for loss and held St. Louis to just 4-for-15 on third down while avenging their Week Six loss.
The victory sent Louisville to the 2026 United Bowl in the franchise’s inaugural season and one step closer to completing a storybook first year.