Stallions Ground Aviators Behind Big Day From Gilmore, Defense

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - May 17, 2026

By Steve Irvine

The Birmingham Stallions took a step forward on Sunday afternoon. That carries more importance than the script for the Stallions 14-3 UFL victory over the Columbus Aviators on a blistering hot day at Protective Stadium.

The script, by the way, didn’t include a whole bunch of successful offensive football. The Stallions defense made sure that script worked out just fine, even though it might have been fun to watch for a former quarterback.

“It might not be pretty,” said Stallions head coach AJ McCarron after his team improved to 4-4 and maintained the fourth UFL playoff spot with two weeks left in the regular season. “Everybody might not love it, but guess what? It goes in the win column.”

Truthfully, fans of defensive football might have found Sunday’s game extremely entertaining, take away one coverage bust by the Aviators (2-6) on a well-designed offensive play that resulted in the lone touchdown of the game. Overall, the Stallions gained just 144 total yards, converted just 2-for-8 on third down and was held scoreless in the first half. But, thanks to the defense, the 29-yard connection from Dorian Thompson-Robinson to wide open tight end Jordan Thomas provided all the points that Birmingham needed.

“Yeah, one of my favorite calls of the day, we've been repping that play for weeks,” said Thompson-Robinson of the throwback touchdown pass that featured the 6-foot-5, 285-pound Thomas escaping down the field unnoticed. “So to finally get it off the call sheet, we knew if it wasn't a perfect look, we'd be pretty disappointed. I actually had to buy a little bit extra time because I couldn't find him, believe it or not, through all that traffic (in the backfield). JT did a great job. (Tyler Davis), the other tight end and the offensive line, did a wonderful job selling it, protecting my edge over there so I could, again, have time to find him and throw him the ball. Obviously, JT did a great job getting his width and then making a great catch.”

Thanks to the defense that score would have been enough. The Stallions defense held the league’s leading rushing team to 61 yards on the ground, had a season-best five sacks by five different defensive players and 10 tackles for loss, received interceptions by Steven Gilmore and Tae Crowder and Columbus was only in the red zone one time. Gilmore’s interception ended the Aviators’ only trip to the red zone and Gilmore also came up with a huge play on special teams in the fourth quarter.

Gilmore’s second big play of the game came just after Jayden Peevy sacked Columbus quarterback Jalan McClendon on 3rd-and-2 from the Birmingham 35-yard line.  Columbus, which was trailing 7-3 at the time, opted to attempt a 55-yard field goal by Jonah Dalmas. Gilmore came off the edge at the snap, blocked the kick, raced to the sideline to pick up the loose ball and finished off the play with a 55-yard return for a touchdown. When he was done, Birmingham held what, on a day like Sunday, felt that an insurmountable lead with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter.

“I ain't gonna lie, Coach (Kevin) Sherrer, he told me he really liked (that particular field goal block) at the start of the drive,” Gilmore said. “He was like, if they kick another field goal, he’ll just call the block from me. I just went as fast as I can to go get it. When I seen it, I seen (the holder) was kind of late putting the ball down. I just try to go get it, you know, make a play.”

So what was his thought when he got to the loose football?

“Get to the end zone,” Gilmore said. “Score, you know, try to make something happen really. Big play mentality.”

On Sunday, that’s exactly what the Stallions needed to walk away with the win. Fittingly, the final big play of the day came from a Stallions defender when Tae Crowder intercepted a pass to put the game on ice with 1:21 remaining. Crowder also had a game-high 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup.

Now, the teams are preparing for another matchup with the Stallions traveling to play at Columbus on Saturday afternoon.