Birmingham Stallions ‘smell the blood in the water’ in overtime victory

The Birmingham Stallions will head into the final three weeks of the regular season tied for fourth in the United Football League standings after blocking a field-goal attempt on the final snap of the fourth quarter and scoring on back-to-back overtime plays on Saturday night.

The Stallions’ 21-17 victory over the Dallas Renegades left each team with a 3-4 record, a mark shared by the Louisville Kings. The top four teams in the standings advance to the UFL playoffs.

After falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter on two 15-play scoring drives by Dallas, Birmingham tied the score for the second time in the second half on an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to wide receiver Jaydon Mickens and Anders Carlson’s extra point with two minutes left in the fourth quarter at Protective Stadium.

As with the Stallions’ first touchdown – a 46-yard connection between Thompson-Robinson and wide receiver Daewood Davis on fourth-and-11 with 3:57 left in the first half – the tying TD came on a fourth-down snap.

Dallas responded by moving 31 yards in eight plays to reach the Birmingham 35-yard line with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Running back Ellis Merriweather converted a fourth-and-1 snap with a 2-yard run, the Stallions lost a super challenge for a holding call, Merriweather lost a fumble at the end of a 6-yard reception and video review restored possession to the Renegades by ruling the ball-carrier down at the Birmingham 35 in a two-play sequence.

A 1-yard loss by Dallas’ running quarterback, Luke Lehnen, preceded Colton Theaker’s 53-yard field-goal attempt, which defensive tackle Jayden Peevy blocked to send the game into overtime at 17-17.

“He’s been awesome,” Birmingham coach AJ McCarron said of Peevy. “You know, he was cut by Orlando, and there were bad reports out there of him not being a team guy. I’ll tell you this: JP deserves to be on an NFL team after this season. And he’s been nothing but the best teammate and the best dude to deal with. Like, he has jelled right with our team. He causes zero issues. He’s never late. He does everything the correct way. And I’m proud of him.”

The UFL overtime features best-of-three, alternating-possession 2-point tries from the 5-yard line.

Dallas lost the coin toss, then lost the game.

On the Renegades’ first attempt, Birmingham committed two penalties, putting Dallas on the 1. But defensive tackle Ricky Correia stacked up Lehnen’s QB sneak, a ruling that withstood video review but did not satisfy Renegades coach Rick Neuheisel.

“It pretty much looked like our quarterback got in,” Neuheisel said. “… I don’t see how you say he didn’t get in.”

Thompson-Robinson scrambled in for 2 points to put Birmingham in front.

When Stallions defensive tackle Isaiah Coe sacked quarterback Austin Reed, Birmingham had an opportunity to win on the next snap, and Thompson-Robinson threw to Mickens in the end zone for the victory.

“With the way the rules are set up, that kind of makes the most sense that you want them to go first,” Thompson-Robinson said, “knowing that you’re going to have an opportunity. So when they don’t get it, you smell the blood in the water. You only get one chance at it, too. To make the most out of that one chance is the something that we’ve been practicing for weeks. This is the first time getting it in game, but we have been practicing those plays for weeks, so we knew what we were going to get called, guys knew where to go and line up, and we just went out there and executed.”

The Stallions won despite a 15:34 time-of-possession disadvantage, one turnover to Dallas’ none, three more penalties than the Renegades and a 2-of-10 showing on third down.

“What I’m most proud of is the fact that we are becoming a team that can battle through adversity and jell together and play good football at the right time,” McCarron said. “And this part of the season, you got to be able to play good team football and you’ve got to have some of these wins in your season where you battle through and just find a way to win. And I thought it was a great job by the boys tonight.”

Thompson-Robinson completed 12-of-26 passes for 159 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and ran once for 4 yards before producing back-to-back scoring plays to close the contest and send Dallas to its fourth consecutive loss.

Thompson-Robinson had completions for 15 yards to Mickens and 18 yards to wide receiver Jabre Barber to put the Stallions in position for Carlson’s 40-yard field goal that tied the score at 10-10 with 8:59 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Including the 2-point tries, Birmingham scored on its final four possessions after scoring once on its first seven.

The Stallions play the Columbus Aviators at noon CDT May 17 at Protective Stadium in Birmingham. FOX will televise the game.

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