Stallions sink ‘Boats again

The Memphis Showboats were 0-2 against the Birmingham Stallions during the 2023 United States Football League season.

Both teams are in the United Football League this year, but the results remain the same.

Birmingham completed a season sweep of Memphis today in front of 5,609 fans at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, taking a 39-21 decision to improve to 6-0. With the result, the two-time defending USFL champions locked up a USFL Conference playoff berth.

“It’s always great to win,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “As I told our team in the locker room, winning is hard and it takes a total team effort from Sunday all the way through Saturday … I mean Saturday is where we see the result. But the way this team has worked the way that they have, and really done a great job of staying humble, going out and executing – I think they’ve been playing at a really high level together as a team.”

Memphis falls to 1-5 and hasn’t tasted a “W” since Week 1. The Showboats lost to the Stallions 33-14 at Protective Stadium in Week 3.

“I told them this was kind of a trap game,” Holtz said. “This was a team that we had beat in game one. We’re playing on the road, playing an early game … we’ve got to kind of bring our own energy.”

Memphis scored first but Birmingham scored more, shaking off a 6-0 deficit after one quarter to take a 22-9 lead into halftime.

Taco Charlton’s strip-sack of Case Cookus just before intermission helped set-up the winners’ third TD, one that put John DeFilippo’s team in a tough spot with 30 minutes to go.

It got tougher when a third quarter field goal made it a 25-9 game, and Adrian Martinez’s 79-yard TD toss to Kevin Austin Jr. basically gave the contest a “not who, but by how much” vibe entering the final frame.

It was the usual suspects getting it done for Holtz’s team, with big offensive plays combining with key defensive stops to whip up another recipe for victory.

Martinez went the distance behind center, going 23-36-0 for 368 yards and four touchdowns through the air.

He has alternated with Matt Corral as starting quarterback, and made the most of his latest opportunity.

“For me, I’m very fortunate to continue to play this game,” Martinez said. “You come to it from a standpoint of gratitude. I’m thankful to get this opportunity and my end goal is to get into the NFL.

“We have a great quarterback room with J’Mar Smith and Matt Corral, and we all share similar goals and we understand it’s tough. A lot of times only one guy can play. We’re all helping each other get to that end goal. We all want to win and we all want to enjoy this experience.”

Kevin Austin Jr. stepped up among receivers, catching four balls for 108 yards and a TD. Marlon Williams was on the paydirt end of two touchdown passes and C.J. Marable reeled in another.

Martinez found 10 different pass catchers on the day.

“I can go to sleep on the plane feeling alright, you know,” Martinez said. “I don’t want to look over my shoulder and go ‘Man, I didn’t get him the ball at all.’ I’d feel bad about that.”

Birmingham outgained Memphis, 466-220.

On defense, Kyahva Tezino once again led the way in total tackles with seven and had three solo. Nevelle Clark finished with six individual takedowns and the unit recorded three sacks and forced three turnovers which were ultimately converted into 14 points.

“Proud of the defense,” Holtz said. “We did a really good job of keeping them out of the end zone for the most part, except there at the end. I believe this was the first game we’ve given up over 20 points.”

Memphis QBs Cookus and Troy Williams each threw TD passes, but combined for just 161 yards.

The Showboats’ ground game was limited to 59 yards.

“We’re now six games into it and 6-0 is quite an accomplishment,” Holtz said. “We’ve still got a pretty strong test ahead of us with the four teams that we have remaining. I believe three of them have a winning record. So, we’ve just got to keep banging that rock and as we’ve said, we don’t want to be result oriented.

“We want to make sure that we are going to be as good as we can be and we’ve got to keep getting better.”

Scoring plays: Memphis, Sage Surratt, 10-yard reception from Case Cookus, 1:28 first quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Showboats 6, Stallions 0; Birmingham, Ricky Person Jr., 5-yard run, 11:55 second quarter, 2-point conversion, Adrian Martinez pass to Jordan Thomas, Stallions 8, Showboats 6; Birmingham, C.J. Marable, 4-yard run, 3:58 second quarter, 2-point conversion, Martinez pass to Thomas, Stallions 16, Showboats 6; Memphis, Matt Coghlin, 47-yard field goal, 1:45 second quarter, Stallions 16, Showboats 9; Birmingham, Marlon Williams, 28-yard pass from Martinez, :23 second quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 22, Showboats 9; Birmingham, Ramiz Ahmed, 45-yard field goal, 6:16 third quarter, Stallions 25, Showboats 9; Birmingham, Kevin Austin Jr., 79-yard pass from Martinez, 2:45 third quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 31, Showboats 9; Memphis, Coghlin, 45-yard field goal, 13:06 fourth quarter, Stallions 31, Showboats 12; Birmingham, Williams, 12-yard pass from Martinez, 5:21 fourth quarter, 2-point conversion, Martinez pass to Thomas, Stallions 39, Showboats 12. Memphis, Dee Anderson, 34-yard reception from Troy Williams, 2:29 fourth quarter, 3-point conversion, Williams pass to Anderson, Stallions 39, Showboats 21.

Standout stat: 13 – the number of consecutive games the Stallions have won dating back to 2023. With each victory, they break their own record.

Next up: The Stallions host the St. Louis Battlehawks next Saturday in a marquee matchup.

The game is set for 3 p.m. and will be televised by FOX.

Scary moment: Stallions DB Lorenzo Burns was injured with 6:08 left in the third quarter. He was strapped to a backboard and taken away via ambulance. While no report on his condition has been released, he did gesture to fans before he was loaded into the vehicle.

Tuning in: Although in-game attendance (with the notable exception of St. Louis) leaves much to be desired, couch potatoes seem to be enjoying the UFL.

Numbers released by the league earlier in the week show that the 18 UFL telecasts through Week 5 averaged 845,000 viewers. That’s 25 percent better than 2023’s average for all regular season USFL and XFL games through week 5, and a 38 percent increase over last year’s USFL and XFL regular season average across all linear networks.

Viewership in the coveted 18-49 demographic is up 33 percent from the USFL’s second season and the XFL’s first.

Network broadcasts are averaging 958,000 viewers, games on cable average 680,000.

OTD in 1991: The Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football lost to the Barcelona Dragons, 11-6, in a game played before 31,490 fans at Montijuic Stadium in Barcelona.

The Fire – victimized by five turnovers and a safety – fell to 3-4 with the loss.

Barcelona scored on the game’s first scrimmage play when linebacker Eric Lindstrom tackled Birmingham running back Elroy Harris in the end zone for a safety.