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On Saturday, the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks embraced April Fool’s Day by jokingly saying a relocation to Los Angeles. A day later, the crew made authentic headlines, with veteran kicker Donny Hageman drilling a 59-yard discipline purpose towards the Roughnecks. Not solely was the profitable kick the longest of the 2023 season, however the longest in XFL historical past.
Hageman, 30, was drafted by the Battlehawks after a three-year hiatus from skilled soccer. Undrafted out of San Diego State in 2016, the particular teamer had solely made two 50-yard discipline targets in his profession previous to Sunday’s sport towards Houston, together with each faculty and stints within the Arena Football League and now-defunct Alliance of American Football.
His document kick helped St. Louis take a 17-9 halftime lead over the Roughnecks on Sunday.
Hageman initially started his faculty profession at Mt. San Antonio College, a public neighborhood faculty, earlier than transferring to San Diego State. He made his professional debut with the AFL’s Los Angeles Kiss in 2016, however didn’t try a discipline purpose that season. After three years out of professional soccer, he resurfaced with the AAF’s San Diego Fleet and tied for the league lead with 14 discipline purpose conversions on the 2019 season. His greatest numbers got here throughout his first 12 months at San Diego State, the place he went 20 of 25 on FG tries, and in addition made all 37 additional factors.