Mess with the bull, and sometimes you get the horns.
After more than a year of competition and 15 consecutive victories, the Birmingham Stallions finally wound up on the wrong end of the scoreboard again. The San Antonio Brahmas (7-2) ended the run, topping the two-time defending United States Football League champions, 18-9, on Saturday in front of 11,839 fans at the Alamodome.
“All right, what a win,” San Antonio coach Wade Phillips said. “I mean, credit to Birmingham for not losing a game for two years … what an accomplishment. But our team stepped up. I thought all sides of the ball really played well.”
Birmingham (8-1) still has everything to play for in this inaugural United Football League season, with a host date against Michigan in the USFL Conference Championship Game set for June 8 at Protective Stadium.
San Antonio, meanwhile, locked up dome field advantage for the XFL Conference Championship Game against St. Louis with the upset coupled with the Battlehawks’ loss to Arlington.
Skip Holtz’s team was down 12-3 to San Antonio at intermission (their lowest first half point output since starting play in 2022) and had generated only 111 yards of total offense.
Still, they battled back over the final 30 minutes and trailed only 12-9 with 9:34 left in the fourth quarter. However, with San Antonio facing a third-and-26 play at the Birmingham 27, Kenny Robinson was called for unnecessary roughness. That penalty against the Stallions kept alive a drive that led to a Brahmas’ TD and 18-9 cushion.
Yet with two minutes to go, San Antonio had to punt the ball back to Birmingham from deep in its own territory. The kick went 64 yards, and the visitors needed a touchdown and 3-point conversion to stay alive.
Instead, Teez Tabor picked off an Adrian Martinez pass at the 1-yard line with 22 seconds to play.
“Brad Wing had a 64-yard punt at the end of the game that was a game winner basically,” Phillips said. “Our defense came up with an interception, and our offense played really well.”
Thus, the streak was over.
“I want to certainly give an awful lot of credit to San Antonio and Coach Phillips,” Holtz said. “I thought they played as clean as I’ve seen a team play all year. I mean, they didn’t put the ball in danger, they didn’t have a lot of penalties. They protected the quarterback and I thought they played one of their best football games of the year.”
Martinez was 18-32-1 through the air for 211 yards and a TD, while rushing for 56 yards. His favorite target was Jace Sternberger, who caught seven balls for 110 yards and Birmingham’s only touchdown.
“I can’t compliment him enough, the way that that son of a gun stood up and competed,” Holtz said. “We talked about it was going to be a day of contested catches, it was going to be a day that there was gonna be a lot of pulling and tugging and you’re gonna have to make some plays in open space and everything was going to be contested, but that’s what it is against good defensive football teams. And I thought Jace answered that bell today.”
The Stallions managed just 78 rushing yards, a rare case of the ground game being stifled.
Defensively, DeMarquis Gates has seven solo tackles and a sack, while Kyahva Tezino finished with six individual takedowns.
“I feel like we didn’t put our best foot forward today,” Holtz lamented. “In the first quarter we had three drops, and it was hard to get anything going.”
The news was much better for the winners – obviously.
They rolled up 329 yards of total offense and Chase Garbers returned to the lineup. Although he didn’t start, he finished with 139 aerial yards, going 16-23-0.
Jontre Kirklin had 66 receiving yards and threw his team’s only touchdown pass on a trick play in the first quarter.
Morgan Ellison was San Antonio’s big scorer on the afternoon with two rushing TDS but it was Anthony McFarland who put the most dents in the Birmingham defense, getting 82 yards on 15 totes. He also contributed 34 yards on catches.
Jordan Mosely was in on eight tackles and Tavante Beckett took part in seven.
“I’m excited about what we have ahead of us,” Holtz said. “I certainly didn’t like the way we played, and I’ve got to do a better job in a lot of areas, but I credit San Antonio. They did what they needed to do tonight to win the football game.”
Scoring plays: San Antonio, Justin Smith, 36-yard reception from Jontrae Kirklin, 6:49 first quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Brahmas 6, Stallions 0; Birmingham, Ramiz Ahmed, 34-yard field goal, 9:16 second quarter, Brahmas 6, Stallions 3; San Antonio, Morgan Ellison, 1-yard run, 5:47 second quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Brahmas 12, Stallions 3; Birmingham, Jace Sternberger, 15-yard reception from Adrian Martinez, 12:49 third quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Brahmas 12, Stallions 9; San Antonio, Ellison, 9-yard run, 8:35 fourth quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Brahmas 18, Stallions 9.
Standout stat: 3. The number of points the Stallions scored in the first half, the fewest in the team’s history.
Next up: The Stallions close out the regular season against the Michigan Panthers next Saturday at Protective Stadium. The game is set for 1 p.m. ESPN is providing TV coverage and fans can listen on ESPN Xtra on Sirius XM.
Historic ties: Birmingham and San Antonio have shared space in seven different alternative football leagues – the World Football League, American Football Association, original United States Football League, World League of American Football, Canadian Football League, Alliance of American Football and now the UFL.
The cities’ first meeting on the pro football gridiron came on September 13, 1975, when the WFL Birmingham Vulcans defeated the San Antonio Wings, 33-24, at Legion Field.
Until today their most recent meeting was in 2019. The San Antonio Commanders edged the Birmingham Iron, 12-11, in an AAF clash at Legion Field.
OTD in 1991: The Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football closed out the regular season with a 28-7 victory over the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in front of 16,335 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The win, which wrapped up a playoff berth for Birmingham (5-5), was highlighted by James Henry’s 50-yard punt return for a TD. The teams also combined for 11 turnovers – seven courtesy of the winless Skyhawks (0-10).
OTD in 1995: Former Alabama quarterback Danny Woodson was one of 28 players released by the Birmingham Barracudas as the franchise made its final roster cuts in preparation for its inaugural Canadian Football League season.