St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron used some “old-school Bama” to give the XFL’s largest crowd something to roar about on Sunday.

With 38,310 inside the Dome at America’s Center, McCarron threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Darrius Shepherd with 11 seconds left in the first half to break a 3-3 tie with the Arlington Renegades and send the Battlehawks to a 24-11 victory.

Before the touchdown pass, McCarron gave several hand signals to his receivers, including touching his elbow.

After the touchdown pass and his subsequent 2-point conversion throw to running back Brian Hill, McCarron was asked during ESPN2′s telecast what the elbow signal meant.

“I can’t tell you that,” McCarron said, adding, “That’s old-school Bama.”

Greg McElroy, McCarron’s immediate predecessor as Alabama’s quarterback, was the analyst for the telecast and already had informed viewers that McCarron had changed the play so Shepherd would run a corner route, and the wide receiver was all by himself to make the touchdown catch.

After the Battlehawks played their first three games on the road, their home opener attracted more than three times as many people as the average XFL game in the first three weeks of the league’s 2023 season.

The XFL had averaged 12,272 spectators at its 12 games, with the largest crowd of 24,245 coming in San Antonio for St. Louis’ 18-15 victory over the Brahmas in the season-opening contest for both teams.

In the 2020 season, when the XFL played five weeks of its planned 10-week schedule before going under in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the largest crowd had been 29,554 in St. Louis for the Battlehawks’ game against the New York Guardians on Feb. 23.

“This is awesome,” McCarron said of the turnout. “This embodies what St. Louis is about – blue-collar, hard-working people.”

The St. Louis defense intercepted Arlington quarterback Kyle Sloter three times and recovered a fumble on Sunday.

The Battlehawks offense got 89 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and 26 yards on two receptions from Hill.

Hill scored on a 15-yard run to give St. Louis a 17-3 lead with 6:48 left in the third quarter. Hill’s TD run was preceded by three consecutive completions by McCarron for 11 yards to wide receiver Hakeem Butler, 20 yards to Hill and 19 yards to wide receiver Steven Mitchell.

McCarron completed 20-of-27 passes for 214 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against the Renegades.

After Arlington cut the St. Louis lead to 17-11 with 12:40 to play, the Battlehawks responded with a six-play, 67-yard drive. McCarron capped the series with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Butler just as the QB took a full-steam hit.

A 1-point conversion pass to tight end Jake Sutherland completed the scoring with 9:55 remaining.

While St. Louis improved to 3-1, the Renegades dropped to 2-2.

The Battlehawks play at home again in Week 5 of the XFL season when the D.C. Defenders visit the Dome at America’s Center at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday. FX and ESPN+ will televise the game.

The Defenders gave St. Louis its only loss 34-28 on March 5 in a game that featured a brawl in the final seconds, which resulted in three players being suspended and six players and two coaches fined by the XFL.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.