Stallions Bounce Back, Beat Brahmas 26-3
MAY 5, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
By Steve Irvine
The Birmingham Stallions defense bent on the opening possession of Sunday’s UFL game against the San Antonio Brahmas. The Stallions defense then spent the rest of the afternoon breaking the Brahmas offense in a 26-3 Birmingham victory in a matchup of the two teams that played in the UFL championship game last season.
San Antonio opened the game with a 56-yard pass and gained 69 yards on seven plays in the opening drive. The Brahmas closed the first half by driving 66 yards on three plays. Take away those two drives and the Brahmas managed just 43 yards on 32 offensive snaps the remainder of the game. The Stallions had three sacks with two of those coming from Ronnie Perkins and forced three turnovers. Cornerback Steven Gilmore had an interception while linebacker Tae Crowder had a fumble recovery. San Antonio managed just 24 yards on 13 carries and had more punts (8) than first downs (7).
“What a defensive performance,” said Birmingham head coach Skip Holtz. “I thought those guys were awesome. I thought defensively we played really well. We talked about what we wanted to do offensively is play the game a little more conservative, giving our quarterback an opportunity to stand in the pocket, throw some play action, some ball control stuff. I thought defense gave us an opportunity to do that because they kept getting off the field.”
One reason they got off the field was outstanding play on third down. San Antonio failed to convert on all 10 third down conversion attempts and missed its only fourth down try. One of the third down failures came on the opening series when Perkins sacked quarterback Kevin Hogan for a nine-yard loss on 3rd-and-6 from the Brahmas 14-yard line. San Antonio kicker Tristan Vizcaino missed a 41-yard field goal attempt on the next play.
That set the tone for the afternoon.
Offensively, the Stallions got a solid performance from starting quarterback Case Cookus and backup Andrew Peasley. Cookus, who was making his second start for the Stallions, was 16-of-23 for 166 yards with touchdown passes to Amari Rogers and Jace Sternberger. Peasley was 5-of-8 for 79 yards in his first UFL action.
Birmingham scored first on a 4-yard run by Ricky Person Jr. late in the second quarter. San Antonio wasted a chance to tie the score when wide open wide receiver Jontre Kirklin dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Hogan on what would have been a 51-yard touchdown pass with just over three minutes left in the first half. Three plays later, San Antonio punted into the end zone. Birmingham made the mistake hurt even more when the Stallions drove 80 yards with Amari Rodgers turning a short pass into a 43-yard scoring pass from Cookus to finish the drive with 30 seconds left in the first half.
San Antonio was able to quickly maneuver for a 26-yard field goal by Vizcaino to conclude the first half. But the Stallions had the momentum with a 12-3 lead.
Birmingham kicker Harrison Mevis had the only points of the third quarter on field goals of 49 and 50 yards. The Stallions iced the game with 9:37 left on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Cookus to Sternberger. Jordan Thomas added a two-point conversion reception from Cookus to make the score 26-3.
Birmingham (4-2 overall, 2-1 in the division) kept pace with the Michigan Panthers (4-2 overall, 2-1 in the division) at the top of the USFL Division. Michigan knocked off the XFL Division leading D.C. Defenders, 38-14, earlier Sunday.