Stallions Dominate Memphis In Tune Up For USFL Championship
JUNE 2, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
By Steve Irvine
Skip Holtz may have found himself a new offensive weapon in Sunday’s UFL regular season closing 46-9 victory over the Memphis Showboats at Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl Stadium.
“The thing that became evident today, Tae (Crowder) had 125 yards on two carries, we need to get him involved in the offense,” Holtz said with a smile. “I think that is one thing that came out today.”
Presumably, he was kidding. Crowder is firmly entrenched as one of the important cogs of a Stallions defense that could very well be the best in the UFL. But there is no arguing that the 6-foot-1, 236-pound linebacker, who played collegiately at Georgia, was excellent with the football in his hands during the dominating win for the USFL Conference champion Stallions.
Crowder’s first interception came in the first quarter when defensive end Steve Linton pressured Memphis quarterback Dresser Winn into a hurried pass that was tipped into the air by defensive tackle Willie Yarbary. Crowder grabbed the football and raced untouched into the end zone for a 50-yard score. His other interception came in the third quarter when he stepped in front of a Memphis receiver at the Stallions 25-yard line. He froze one defender by faking a pitch to fellow linebacker Chapelle Russell and then weaved his way to a 75-yard touchdown. Crowder became the first player in UFL history to score on a pair of interception returns in the same game. He also became the first Birmingham player to score a defensive touchdown this season.
“I feel like the coaches do a great job of working the turnover drills throughout the week,” Crowder said. “We were just flying around as a defense and it paid off today. Shoutout to the coaches for pushing us and working those drills throughout the week.”
He was asked where the idea of the fake pitch came from.
“High school days,” said Crowder, who is from Hamilton, Georgia. “To be honest, I seen my teammate running beside me. I was like if (the defender) stays right here, I’m going to pitch it. But he bit on the fake, so I just tried to make a play.”
The record-setting day for Crowder was simply part of a complete Stallions effort that included a crisp first half by quarterback J’Mar Smith, a solid appearance by backup quarterback Andrew Peasley, a blocked punt and two rushing touchdowns by Ricky Person Jr. and a defensive effort that shut the Showboats out for the final 40 minutes and 16 seconds of the game. The Stallions were 9-of-12 on third down conversions and successful on the lone team’s lone fourth down attempt.
Smith, who appears to have a firm grasp on the starting quarterback job heading into next weekend’s USFL Conference championship game against the Michigan Panthers at Protective Stadium. Smith completed his first eight passes and finished the first half 13-of-17 for 127 yards with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Amari Rodgers and a 37-yard strike to Jace Sternberger that came the play before Person’s 2-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for the Stallions. He led the Stallions to a 23-9 halftime lead and sat down for the remainder of the game.
Peasley played the entire second half. He was 9-of-14 for 93 yards through the air and rushed two times for 22 yards. He directed the offense to a pair of touchdown drives culminating in short scoring runs by Person and Larry Rountree III and also led the Stallions drives that finished with field goals of 49 and 54 yards by Harrison Mevis.
All in all, it was a good way to jump into the postseason.
“Coming into this game, our message was that competitors compete,” said Holtz, whose team finished the regular season at 7-3 and is seeking a fourth consecutive league title. “Everybody was telling me that there is no reason to play this game, that it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change the conference standings, doesn’t mess with home field advantage, just things that should make our football team unmotivated. We talked about the team that is going to have a chance in the end is going to be the team that improves the most over the course of the season. The team that is going to play with the most passion and play the most focused is going to be the one standing at the end. We have talked about the standard we have around here and that we were going to have to strive all season to reach it. Scoring on defense not once but twice was huge, that was the first time we have scored on defense this season. This game was just a real testament to these players and the attitude that they went out and played with.”