D.C. cornerback Michael Joseph’s interception with 55 seconds to play sealed a 28-20 victory over the St. Louis Battlehawks on Saturday night that allowed the Defenders to remain the XFL’s only unbeaten team.

Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron was trying to connect with wide receiver Steven Mitchell on a first-and-10 snap at the St. Louis 41-yard line when Joseph came through with his fourth interception of the season at the D.C. 37.

On St. Louis’ previous possession, the former Alabama All-American had thrown a 50-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, then connected with him again on the 2-point conversion pass with 4:19 remaining to keep the Battlehawks in the game.

Under the guidance of former Alabama State wide receiver and coach Reggie Barlow, the Defenders improved to 5-0 on the legs of running back Abram Smith, who had the best game for an XFL ball-carrier this season. Smith ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries.

Smith scored from 62 yards out with 9:22 left in the first quarter that was the longest run in the XFL this season until he scored on a 70-yarder as D.C. took a 20-6 lead with 12:24 left in the third quarter. In between, Smith scored on a 5-yard run with 1:54 remaining in the first half — a touchdown that followed a lost fumble at the St. Louis 14 by McCarron on a sack.

The Battlehawks couldn’t keep up with Smith as they had 10 first-half penalties, including a holding call that nullified a touchdown pass to wide receiver Darrius Shepherd in the second quarter.

But even after Smith’s three touchdown runs, St. Louis was within eight of the lead when Battlehawks wide receiver George Campbell made a one-handed catch in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

D.C. had only 12 completions for 90 yards in the game, but three of them came on consecutive snaps by quarterback Jordan Ta’amu to move the Defenders into position for a 10-yard touchdown run by the other quarterback, D’Eriq King, and Ta’amu’s 2-point conversion run with 12:16 remaining that provided the winning margin.

McCarron completed 22-of-34 passes for 236 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and ran four times for 12 yards.

At 5-0, the Defenders opened a two-game lead on St. Louis in the North Division and set up a showdown with the South Division leaders, the Houston Roughnecks, at 6 p.m. CST March 27 at Audi Field in Washington. ESPN2 and ESPN+ will televise the game.

The Roughnecks have a 4-1 record after losing to the Seattle Sea Dragons 21-14 on Thursday night.

The Battlehawks visit the Vegas Vipers at 6 p.m. March 25. FX and ESPN+ will televise the game.

Both of St. Louis’ losses have come to the Defenders, who beat the Battlehawks 34-28 on March 5. That game ended in a ruckus that led the XFL to suspend three players and fine six players and two coaches. But Saturday night’s game didn’t have those problems.

Last week, 38,310 spectators, the largest crowd in XFL history, watched St. Louis defeat the Arlington Renegades 24-11 in its home opener at the Dome at America’s Center. The attendance for Saturday night’s game was 35,868.

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