In a UFL Championship Recreation between the Michigan Panthers and D.C. Defenders that featured eight former gamers for the Pittsburgh Steelers, six of these former Steelers emerged victorious Saturday evening because the Defenders rolled to a blowout win over the Panthers in St. Louis.
D.C. scored 31 second-quarter factors and cruised to the 58-34 win over the Panthers to assert the UFL Championship for the 2025 season.
For the Defenders, they featured the likes of RB Darius Hagans, CB Kiondre Thomas, OT Tykeem Doss, OL Jarrid Williams, kicker Matt McCrane and CB Isaiah Johnson as former Steelers on the roster beneath head coach Shannon Harris.
Hagans was a preferred title on the RB place in coaching camp forward of the 2023 season and was a UDFA out of Virginia State, however couldn’t stick in coaching camp. Thomas spent simply over every week with the Steelers in coaching camp final season, whereas Johnson was with the Steelers in rookie minicamp in 2022 earlier than being launched with an harm settlement in June of that yr.
Doss spent two weeks with the Steelers final summer time after being claimed off waivers from Baltimore, and later signed with the Defenders. Williams signed with the Steelers in June of 2023 and was launched shortly into coaching camp that summer time.
Kicker Matt McCrane is the one participant on the Defenders of the previous Steelers that really appeared in a recreation. He signed with the Steelers on the finish of the 2018 season when Chris Boswell landed on Injured Reserve and in the end drilled all three subject objective makes an attempt within the common season finale towards the Cincinnati Bengals that season.
Hagans didn’t see any touches offensively, however Thomas and Johnson had main contributions for the Defenders defensively. Johnson completed with two tackles within the win, whereas Thomas has an interception of UFL MVP Bryce Perkins, hoping arrange a landing within the fourth quarter to place the sport away for good.
McCrane drilled two subject targets within the win, connecting from 22 and 38 yards.
For the Panthers, defensive T.J. Carter and kicker B.T. Potter represented the previous Steelers within the UFL Championship.
The win for the Defenders capped off the second season for the UFL after the XFL merged with the USFL, creating the brand new league. Now, gamers are free to signal with NFL groups and attempt to get into coaching camps to make rosters.
