XFL Week 5 Recap: Guardians Continue Their Surge, Daniels Makes History, Defenders Back To Winning

By Daniel Yanofsky

After a few weeks of turmoil, the New York Guardians appear to be rolling following the team's second straight win this past Saturday. The Guardians rolled into Dallas and decimated the Renegades, 30-12.

Given the starting job for the second week in a row, QB Luis Perez continued to impress. Throwing for 229 yards while going 16-for-30, Perez threw one touchdown and one interception. His best throw was an 80-yard touchdown pass to Colby Pearson, who caught a total of 95 yards.

"I think Luis is a guy that the rest of the team both offensively and defensively look to him as kind of a calming force," stated coach Kevin Gilbride. "They all see him as a guy who is dependable. If things aren't going as we hoped, he's not going to get rattled or frustrated, and that he will give our team a chance to win."

WR Mekale McKay woke up for 67 yards on three catches. The run game was balanced, with Darius Victor rushing for 58 yards and Justin Stockton rushing for 41. The defense once again delivered with two interceptions, one thanks to linebacker Ryan Mueller.

Renegades QB Philip Nelson, filling in for the injured Landry Jones, went 28-for-49 with 210 yards. The Renegades are now 2-3.

The Guardians are now 3-2 on the season. They had back to MetLife Stadium on Saturday, March 14 to take on the undefeated Houston Roughnecks. The game will be on ABC at 2 p.m. ET.

- Speaking of the Roughnecks, they won a high-scoring bout against the Seattle Dragons 32-23. P.J. Walker continued to put on an MVP-caliber season; going 27-for-38 for 351 yards. He threw three touchdowns to go along with two interceptions. Complimenting Walker was Cam Phillips, who caught ten passes for 122 yards on 13 tries.

Walker ended up becoming the first player in XFL history to reach 1,000 yards passing. He is currently being looked at by the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.

One of the most entertaining aspects of the game for the Vipers was Trey Williams' interview following a TD. He channeled The Rock for the interview of the year.

- Following a two-game skid in which they were outscored 64-9, the DC Defenders finally scored more than ten points in a game. The team ended up beating the BattleHawks 15-6. Cardale Jones, who has been struggling, was benched following his seventh interception of the season. Backup QB Tyree Jackson threw for 39 yards and went 9-for-14.

While the passing game wasn't producing, the run game was on point. Jhurell Pressley ran for over 107 yards on 15 carries. It was different on the receiving end of the BattleHawks, as L'Damian Washington caught five passes on eight tries for 114 yards. St. Louis QB Jordan Ta'amu went 15-for-24 with 174 yards.

- In an extremely close game until the end, the Wildcats won their second game of the season against the Vipers 41-34. LA had a second-half comeback (after being down 17) that was partially because of QB Josh Johnson's 288 yards after going 20-for-46. He threw four touchdowns, each more impressive than the last.

Johnson also ran for 20 yards. WR Jordan Smallwood had over 86 receiving yards for the Wildcats, while Saeed Blacknall had three catches for 78 yards. Vipers QB Taylor Cornelius threw for over 300 yards and had a number of receivers helping him out. Dan Williams (86 yards), Reece Horn (90) and Jalen Tolliver (95) led the team.

Boogie Roberts secured the win for the Wildcats with a scoop following a dropped ball by the Vipers, running it into the endzone for a 23-yard TD. The big man's name is short for The Boogeyman.

The Vipers attempted to make things interesting towards the end of the game. However, the ball was intercepted in the endzone with 00:33 left in the game by the LA defense, the third Tampa Bay turnover of the game. The writing was on the wall following that drive.

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