ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Yep, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Battlehawks hulking center was careful not to poke the bear.

Panasiuk and his teammates will get a chance to even the score with the San Antonio Brahmas when the teams meet in the Battlehawks’ home opener at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in front of what should be a raucous and rowdy crowd at The Dome at America’s Center.

The 6-foot-4, 300-pounder can’t shake the disappointment of last year’s 25-15 loss to San Antonio in the United Football League semifinals.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ was chosen to host the 2024 championship game and cruised into the final four contest brimming with confidence.

The hopes for a title game appearance came crashing to end with a 10-point loss to a team the Battlehawks beat twice (31-24 and 13-12) during the regular season.

Now, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ has a chance to erase that memory somewhat.

Yet the players are sticking to the just another game mantra.

“Right now, they’re in our way of getting to 2-0,� Panasiuk said.

Quarterback Manny Wilkins, who scored twice and threw for 189 yards last week in a 31-6 season-opening win over Houston, echoed the same sentiment.

“Every game has i’s own significance,� Wilkins said. “We treat every game as a championship game. We respect every opponent.�

Still, the sting still lingers 302 days after the most painful setback in the history of the franchise.

“They pretty much beat us from top to bottom the entire game,â€� ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ coach Anthony Becht said. “Hopefully, that’s a driving force.â€�

Birmingham went on to beat San Antonio 25-0 in the championship game, claiming a title the Battlehawks had hoped to claim with home-field advantage.

Becht has a simple solution he passed along to his players as the team heads into the UFL’s marquee matchup of the second week.

No fired-up words of revenge. No talk of getting even.

“Just play better than you did against them than the last time we played them,� Becht said.

Once again, like last season, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ enters the contest on a high after a strong all-around effort in Houston on March 28. Wilkins hit on 17 of 22 passes and also scored twice on short TD runs. Running backs Jacob Saylors and Jarveon Howard shined behind a dominant offensive line. Saylors amassed 145 total yards. Howard scored on a scintillating 74-yard TD run to nail down the victory.

The Battlehawks offensive line, led by Panasiuk, was chosen as the league’s offensive player(s) of the week. Jaryd Jones-Smith, Abdul Beechum, Juwann Bushell-Beatty and Steven Gonzalez shared the award.

The offensive line even earned a nickname for its dominating performance. The five-some has been dubbed, “The Knights of Colombo,� after offensive line coach Marc Colombo.

San Antonio is coming off a 33-9 loss to Arlington in its season opener March 30.

“Every team can beat any other team in this league,� the 29-year-old Wilkins said. “Nothing is a surprise.�

The Battlehawks flexed their muscles against Houston. Lukas Denis and Qwynnterrio Cole picked off passes as they held the Roughnecks scoreless until a meaningless fourth quarter touchdown.

The impressive effort by the stop unit was somewhat overshadowed by the offense.

“Great effort in every facet of the game,� Becht said.

Becht noted before the season opener that he planned on using both Wilkins and Max Duggan in the quarterback role. The two had battled neck and neck during training camp without a clear winner.

But Wilkins led the team on four successive scoring drives in the first half and Duggan never got to see any action until the fourth quarter when the contest was all but decided.

“I’m really proud of Manny,� Becht said. “There was a lot of talk about how many snaps, what series. It’s really up to the players to decide how that goes. I really don’t want to put anyone else in a player’s position.�

Wilkins took total charge of the offense. He was caught on microphone barking at his teammates as he entered the huddle in the third quarter. “Stop talking,� Wilkins said as the stunned players went into silence mode.

A former standout at Arizona State, Wilkins doesn’t remember the particular incident.

“I’ve got to run (the offense) the way it’s designed to run,� Wilkins said.

Becht believes his team found the perfect formula against Houston. The challenge comes in repeating that magic.

“Every player that started that game needs to continue to play well,� Becht added. “If they buy into that plan, they’ve got a high probability of performing at that level again.�