The ABC television coverage of Sunday’s United Football League game between St. Louis and San Antonio showed one of Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron’s sons telling his dad before the contest: “We’re going to win this.”

Turned out he was right, but as with all St. Louis games this season, nobody could be sure until the closing seconds.

McCarron guided the Battlehawks offense to points on six of its eight full possessions against the Brahmas. St. Louis lost a fumble on its first possession of the second half, and the Battlehawks punted for the only time with 1:43 left to play. That opened the opportunity for another game decided by a score in the waning seconds.

But this time, the St. Louis defense stopped San Antonio on downs at the Battlehawks 44-yard line with 16 seconds remaining to preserve a 31-24 victory. The Brahmas had gone three-for-three on fourth-down attempts before the final failure at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

“You wish as an offense you can tuck that game away on your own,” McCarron said. “But that’s how the game goes sometimes. But hell of a win. Proud of the guys.”

St. Louis scored on all three of its first-half possessions to take a 17-9 lead. The opportunities were limited because San Antonio had a 17-play touchdown drive that used 8:59 of the second quarter.

The game’s first touchdown came on an 11-yard run by McCarron as the former Alabama All-American stepped through pressure in the backfield to break free with 4:33 left in the first half.

The touchdown run was the third of McCarron’s pro career. He also ran for touchdowns in the Houston Texans’ 35-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans in the NFL on Dec. 29, 2019, and the Battlehawks’ 20-18 victory over the Seattle Sea Dragons in the XFL on Feb. 23, 2023.

St. Louis ran for 113 yards against San Antonio, with running back Jacob Saylors contributing 62, including a 19-yard touchdown run as the Battlehawks took a 31-18 lead with 8:33 to play.

McCarron finished with 21 yards on four rushing attempts.

“In last week’s game, we kind of got on AJ a little bit because he’s not fleet of feet, he falls down a couple of times, he doesn’t run the ball,” St. Louis coach Anthony Becht said. “Today, a couple of key runs by him. And just in the pocket, I think he’s been extraordinary with his movement in the pocket extending plays, but also using his legs had a couple of key runs in this game, breaking some tackles and where he pulled it out of the back’s belly and came around and got us a nice little run as well. So those things are going to big because now when you talk about our offense – five-wide, two tight ends, quarterback run, all those different things, that’s a lot to handle week to week.”

McCarron threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Hakeem Butler with 10:56 left in the second quarter as St. Louis took a 14-3 lead.

Only two other plays from scrimmage in the game gained at least 20 yards.

For the game, McCarron completed 19-of-27 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also had two 2-point conversion completions, including a nifty shovel pass to tight end Jack Sutherland after the second TD.

“They really weren’t giving us anything deep,” McCarron said. “It was just a be-efficient type of day. We were hoping they’d give us a chance deep. They just didn’t. I was just proud of the guys matriculating the ball down the field, sustaining drives. That’s big in a game like this where the defense is not really giving you anything deep.”

St. Louis lost its season-opening game when Jake Bates kicked a 64-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to lift the Michigan Panthers to an 18-16 victory on March 30.

Last week, the Battlehawks beat the Arlington Renegades 27-24 on Andre Szmyt’s 22-yard field goal on the final snap of the game.

San Antonio sustained its first loss of the season to leave the XFL Conference standings tied at the top. The Battlehawks, Brahmas and D.C. Defenders have 2-1 records.

“It’s big,” McCarron said of the road win. “… To be able to have back-to-back wins within the division is big. We’re a 64- or 65-yard field goal away from being 3-0.”

The Battlehawks play the Memphis Showboats at 11:30 a.m. CDT Saturday at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis in their next game. ABC will televise the game.

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