Stallions Stop Slide In DTR’s Return to Orlando

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - May 4, 2026

By Steve Irvine

There was no Orlando Storm shutout this time. The Birmingham Stallions, in fact, got their first touchdown just three plays into their opening possession.

There was also no Orlando Storm victory this time. Instead, it was the Stallions scoring the first 14 points of the game and then finding a way to emerge with a 20-17 victory over the Storm at Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando.

“Great team win,” said Stallions head coach AJ McCarron, whose team shut out 16-0 by the Storm on April 18 at Protective Stadium. “I thought as a whole, we’ve been preaching the last two weeks (to have) discipline. We kind of changed philosophy in practice from a sense of if we false start, we do a down and back at the end of practice. As little as that seems, I think it made a big difference. I thought it was just an unbelievable team win and all three phases played extremely well.”

At the forefront of the victory was quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who was the backup quarterback for the Orlando Storm when the teams first met. He was excellent against his old team in his second start with the Stallions. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound Thompson-Robinson was 19-for-27 for 271 yards with a touchdown and also threw a key block on Snoop Conner’s 11-yard touchdown run on the Stallions first drive.

“It was great,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Obviously, a ton of familiar faces all around the building. I’ve been able to be here for five weeks prior to getting to the Stallions. I know that team, this city and the ins and outs of how things are run over there. I felt really comfortable all along. Yeah, man, it’s all about going in and putting in the work every day, making sure I’m staying on these guys about all the little details and all the stuff that can be missed throughout the week.”

He certainly looked familiar on an opening drive that consisted of a 7-yard run by Conner, a 56-yard pass from Thompson-Robinson to Jaydon Mickens and the 11-yard scoring run by Conner. The drive came after the Stallions defense got their first fumble recovery of the game when Olakunle Fatukasi fell on a loose football to end a promising Orlando defense.

Another huge play by the Stallions defense put the offense in good position for the second drive. Kyahva Tezino provided the big defensive play when he sliced into the backfield on 4th-and-1 from midfield and tackled the runner for a 2-yard loss. Thompson-Robinson found Justyn Ross for 30 yards on the ensuing drive, including an 11-yard touchdown strike, to give the Stallions the 14-0 lead.

Orlando (4-2) regrouped and scored on Jack Plummer touchdown passes of three yards to Chris Rowland and five yards to KJ Hamler to tie the game with 9:10 left in the half. But the Stallions (2-4) were able to carry a 17-14 lead into halftime after a 38-yard field goal by Anders Carlson with 3:04 left in the half.

The only second half scoring came on fourth-quarter field goals by Carlson (48 yards) and Orlando’s Michael Lantz (35 yards). The Stallions defense played a key role in holding that lead as they got a fumble recovery by Jaydon Peevy and another one by Fatukasi. Kyahva Tezino had the forced fumble on Fatukasi’s second recovery.

“Three huge turnovers,” McCarron said. “Great job of punching the ball out. I think we dropped probably three more interceptions, so we’re going to get on some Jugs (machine) when we get back. But I thought the defense played their tails off.”

The running game also played a key role, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Stallions looked to drain the clock. Conner had 61 yards on 16 carries while Tyrion Davis-Price had 30 yards on eight carries and added 33 yards on two catches.

“Listen we want to run the football and we know we can,” McCarron said. “We did it all camp. We’re confident in our O-line. Sometimes in these leagues, listen, you’re kind of rotating six to seven O-linemen. You got to find the right gel in there. We feel like we figured that out for the most part. Snoop and Ty did an unbelievable job, along with DTR using his legs using his legs when he needed to.”

It was a huge win for the Stallions, who ended a four-game losing streak and crawled back into the playoff picture with four games left to play.

“We understood coming into this,” McCarron said. “After last week, I feel we had a really good team meeting and then player meeting. Leaders on this team stepped up and talked and said, ‘Listen, we have to focus in on details and lock in on the things we need to do each and every day.’ Is it always going to be perfect? No. But our goal is 1-0 each and every week. But day-to-day process, just focus where our feet are at that time and if we do the right things we’ll be in good shape.”