Stallions remain undefeated by turning back Roughnecks

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Birmingham quarterback Adrian Martinez passed for three touchdowns and ran for two as the Stallions extended their winning streak to 15 games with a 35-28 victory over the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday night.

With Birmingham undefeated and Houston holding one win after seven weeks of play in the United Football League's 2024 season, the outcome wasn't supposed to be that close. The Stallions had beaten the Roughnecks 32-9 on April 27.

But with one second to play at Protective Stadium in Birmingham on Saturday night, Houston had the football at the Stallions 24-yard line. The upset attempt ended when linebacker DeMarquis Gates sacked Reid Sinnett on the final snap.

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"Everybody wants to look at records," Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. "And you talk about whether you're 1-6 or 7-0, it doesn't matter. You've still got to put the ball on the tee, and you've got to go play the game. And if you have stupid penalties, you get a stop on (fourth-and-2) and you rip your helmet off - I don't know why - but you rip your helmet off, it's a 15-yard penalty. We get a 15-yard penalty at the end when we punted the ball for grabbing somebody's face mask. We certainly did not play a very clean game."

Martinez completed 19-of-31 passes for 173 yards with three touchdowns and one interception and ran six times for 44 yards and two touchdowns.

The Stallions turned two breaks into breathing room on each side of halftime.

With the Roughnecks trailing by one point, Houston linebacker Christian Sam was offside on a Birmingham punt with 1:17 left in the first half. The Stallions then moved 60 yards in eight plays for a 4-yard touchdown run by Martinez with 11 seconds left in the first half for a 21-14 lead.

Birmingham opened the second half with a nine-play, 52-yard scoring drive capped by Martinez's 10-yard touchdown toss to wide receiver Amari Rodgers for a 28-14 lead with 9:58 left in the third quarter. During the series, Deon Cain fumbled on a 10-yard gain on an end-around, but running back Larry Rountree III came up with the loose football.

"You can be in a tie game," Holtz said, "and if you can score before half and you can score at the beginning of the third quarter, you're up 14 points when they get their opportunity to go back on offense. I thought that was huge.

"We were fortunate. They jumped offside when we were trying to punt it and that gave us the first down. That gave us another opportunity to get going again. And so I thought the offense made some really nice plays."

Quarterback Nolan Henderson entered the game for Houston and sparked a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended on his 3-yard run on fourth down.

Birmingham matched the touchdown with Martinez's 8-yard run to cap a six-play, 50-yard series, and Rountree's 1-point conversion run had the Stallions ahead 35-20 with 1:24 left in the third quarter.

A fumbled snap on fourth-and-1 at the Birmingham 8 spoiled Houston's next possession, which featured three third-down conversions. But the Roughnecks got the football back on the next snap at the Stallions 21 when Rountree lost a fumble.

With Sinnett back in for Henderson, who got hurt on the fumbled snap, the Roughnecks cashed in the turnover with a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Braedon Bowman, a former South Alabama standout. The TD came after Stallions linebacker Damon Lloyd got an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for celebrating after a fourth-and-2 stop at the Birmingham 13.

The Stallions hadn't punted in the game until their final two possessions, when leading by seven points, they punted twice.

Just as a sack would end Houston's final possession, Taco Charlton's third-down sack ended the Roughnecks' first fourth-quarter chance to overtake Birmingham. The Roughnecks' second chance got a jumpstart with an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against the Stallions on the punt return.

"It was a heck of a football game," Holtz said. "If you wanted a good football game, you got a chance to see it."

With a playoff spot already secured and an 8-0 record, the Stallions play the San Antonio Brahmas at 2 p.m. CDT Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Birmingham Stallions defensive end Taco Charlton sacks Houston Roughnecks quarterback Reid Sinnett during a United Football League game on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.(Photo by Stew Milne/UFL/Getty Images)

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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