The 2025 USAFL season continued Saturday, May 31st on a day filled with tests for the Navy Blues.

Sticking to the script of cool and windy mornings, the Blues, assisted by Indianapolis and Minnesota players, started the afternoon against the Columbus Cats aided by the Cleveland Cannons. St. Louis and Columbus have always found room on each other's schedule and St. Louis has been able to shrink the losing deficit with each meeting. While the St. Louis midfield was able to create some chaos, Columbus was able to maintain control of the footy and lay on the gas to end the first half with a 21 - 0 lead over St. Louis. The second half St. Louis stuck to their guns and the defensive half was able to contain the Cats with the aid of high winds. The "four goal" winds allowed for St. Louis to move the ball into the forward half a handful of times but it was only Shane Branscum of Indianapolis who threaded the needle with a tight angle kick to give the Blues their only major score of the match. The Blues fell to the Cats 21 - 9

Immediately after the game concluded, St. Louis headed back out to the field for their next game against the combined side of Chicago/Nashville/Louisville. Chicago started with the "four goal" wind and was able to use it to their advantage to rack up 30 points against the Blues. Going into the wind, St. Louis midfield was able to find Liam Sawyer for a contested mark which led to Blues only goal of the first half. The second half saw a bit more opportunity as Full Forward Stephen Zenishek was able to sneak away from the Chicago defense to find open space for a mark and a goal. Shortly after, a crumb and handball found Patrick Kinney of the Indianapolis Giants in front of an open goal. Kinney was able to claim the rare stat of first USAFL kick and goal all in one go. An early loss in the second half saw rookie Troy Ostermann go down on their shoulder after a tackle and leaving the game. Return to play is unknown at this time. Chicago was able to snag one last goal going into the wind and pulled away with a 36-20 victory. 

A break in action allowed the St. Louis team to watch the tournament grand final between Chicago and Columbus in a tight game with Columbus taking the Midwest Cup with a 14 - 9 victory. 

The final game of the day told a different story. The University of Cincinnati Australian Football first hit the scene in early 2024 as one of two collegiate level clubs in the United States. Since their formation, these young men have been able to rally the students on campus to grow the size club on a trajectory that has been unseen by any club in the USAFL. The St. Louis Australian Football Club wanted to share our praise for their hard work and efforts. Now that all the cordial things have been said, let's get into it!

Due to injuries and a long day, both teams opted to play this final game of the day with 16s at 2x15 as opposed to 18s at 2x20. After losing the coin toss for the third consecutive time, the Blues got lucky as the combined side of University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Dockers declined to take the wind in the first half. Wanting to shake things up Senior Coach Rich Lozano moved Troy Kirk out of the midfield and into the forward half. This proved to be an excellent switch by Lozano, who recently achieved Gold level coaching accreditation from AFL Learn, as Troy Kirk was able to snag 4 goals in first half. Tossed in the mix was Stephen Zenishek who applied the signature "Don't Argue" to push away a Bearcat defender and trickle in a major score. The first half ended with a Blues lead of 32 - 0 over the Bearcats. Just like every team that played on Saturday, the crew from Cincy was able to use the wind to their advantage and start peppering the sticks with shots. Three major scores from the young guns shortened the Blues lead but St. Louis was able to find Dave Zitko in the forward half who laid on some smooth play to split the uprights. The final horn sounded on a 45 - 20 victory for the Blues.