CANTON, OHIO – Once again St. Louis is home to professional football champions. St. Louis Slam earlier this year set out on a quest to win the team’s fifth Women’s Football Alliance championship. Though they’d beaten the Boston Renegades already once this season, they found themselves across from them again with the title “WFA National Champs” on the line.  

Boston Renegades entered the game as the defending champion, not an unusual feeling for them, as they’d won the past five championships. 

Renegades would get on the board first with a lofty pass to Ruth Matta who brought in an over-the-shoulder touchdown catch on the left side of the end zone. Matta would find the end zone during a long run only a few minutes later, netting Boston a 14 to 0 lead. 

Nearly half way through the first quarter, Slam’s running back, Jada Humphrey, burst up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown run, infusing life into the Slam. Less than a minute into the second quarter, Slam shocked the Renegades on a fake-punt run. Punter Kerri McMahan took the snap and darted to the right with terrific blocking in front of her and, 52-yards later, a touchdown. With nearly four minutes left in the first half, Slam’s quarterback Jaime Gaal found McMahan in the middle of the end zone. Slam took a 20 to 14 lead into halftime. 

The third quarter didn’t share the fireworks from the first half; only the Renegades found the end zone with little over a minute left to tie up the game 20 to 20 (kicker’s point after attempt blocked).

In the fourth quarter, Slam retook the lead quickly with a Kaylee Neutzling field goal, 23 to 20. Only two minutes later, Gaal found tight end Keyonna Smith on the slant, who raced off for another breakaway touchdown, giving the Slam a two-score lead, 30 to 20. What looked to be the start of a put-away drive took a wild turn as Renegades' Kylee O’Connor Harrel stripped the ball out of a Slam player’s hands, then ran it all the way in for a touchdown. Renegades crept closer, trailing 30 to 27. 

Inside the two-minute warning with the first down marker near the 20-yard line, Renegades looked to convert a fourth and five. Renegades’ quarterback Megan McFadden threw to Margaret Barden, who caught the ball right next to the marker. Before Barden could move, St. Louis’ defensive end Mary Altepeter slammed into Barden’s back, crushing any chance of crossing the marker. Slam ran the clock on the legs of Humphrey until the final whistle. 

St. Louis slammed the door on a sixth in a row for the Renegades as Slam emerged victorious in a narrow win, 30 to 27. “A perfect ending to a perfect season,” said the team on their social media page.