A.J. McCarron’s big passing day leads Battlehawks past Guardians

St. Louis quarterback A.J. McCarron posted 420 yards and six touchdowns as the Battlehawks cruised past the visiting Orlando Guardians 53-28 on Saturday.

McCarron, who completed 28 pf 35 passes with no interceptions, engineered a pair of touchdown connections to both Hakeem Butler and Steven Mitchell Jr. and also hooked up with Darrius Shepherd and Jake Sutherland on one touchdown apiece.

Orlando (1-9) briefly grabbed a 12-9 lead midway through the second quarter on a special teams trick play as punter Mac Brown connected with Jordan Thomas on an 84-yard touchdown pass. They again went ahead at 20-17 on Quinten Dormady's 45-yard touchdown to K.D. Cannon.

St. Louis (7-3) responded quickly by re-taking the lead each time, and then separated for good with three straight touchdowns to open the second half, one of which was a 66-yard reception by Butler. Butler paced all receivers with nine grabs for 164 yards.