The Orlando Storm spotted the St. Louis Battlehawks 25 points Saturday night before they finally woke up.

Thanks to a couple of lucky breaks mixed with the Storm finally starting to execute on offense, Orlando started to make a game of this one, but the would-be rally was short-lived, and the Storm suffered their first loss of the season 25-17.

Orlando gained just 29 offensive yards in the first half to St. Louis’ 244 and a rally certainly looked unlikely with the Battlehawks taking a 25-0 lead with 11:52 left in the third quarter.

Orlando took advantage of a huge personal foul penalty after Elijhah Badger had caught a 13-yard pass from Jack Plummer and was standing out of bounce. He was leveled by Battleshawks’ player Trey Dean III, and the result was 28 yards on the play and finally Orlando had some momentum.

Plummer kept the drive alive with a huge 13-yard run on a 4th-and-1 play and two plays later he found Badger for the Storm’s first touchdown of the game to pull Orlando within 25-7 with 7:17 left in the third quarter.

The breaks kept coming for Orlando. The Storm forced St. Louis to punt on the next series and due to a huge rush, the Storm pushed blocker Kevon Latulas backward and punter Ryan Sanborn kicked the ball right into the back of Latulas.

The ball rolled backward to the St. Louis 1-yard line, and Elijah Dotson punched it in to pull Orlando within 25-14, with 5:20 left in the third.

Orlando failed to take advantage of a Nate Meadors interception in the fourth quarter and a field goal by Michael Lantz with 1:52 left in the game was all the Storm had left. A late rally inside two minutes fell short and Orlando lost for the first time.

More to come. Check back for players and coach reaction.