by The USFL kicked off tonight as the New Jersey Generals visited the Birmingham Stallions. After a slow first half at times, it would have a thrilling finish as the hometown Stallions won 28-24 in the games closing seconds.
The game began with both teams scoring quickly as it was 7-7 within 4 minutes. Oddly enough, the quick start was just the beginning of what turned out to be a very long quarter that took an hour of real time to play and didn’t wrap until 8:20 EST after a 7:35 kickoff as each team had 16 plays in the quarter.
The Generals struck on the game’s opening possession as Luis Perez hit a double covered Randy Satterfield on a nice 49-yard launch to set up shop deep inside Stallion territory. The Generals would then face a fourth and 1 from the 10 shortly after, they went for it and got it to continue the drive. Moments later they would open the scoring with a pass from Perez to Satterfield in the middle of the endzone to jump out to a quick 7-0 lead.
The Stallions wasted no time at all answering as they took their first drive down the field with ease to score. After a few passes got them in striking position, the Stallions cashed in with a beautiful 35 yard pitch and catch from Alex McGough to Osir Mitchell in the back of the endzone to tie the game just four minutes in. The rest of the quarter was spent in the backfield for each team, as no one moved the ball and it ended 7-7 after one.
The Generals would capture the first turnover of the game near midfield two minutes into the second quarter when McGough overthrew his receiver by 10 yards and it landed in the lap of Lunai of the Generals at their own 47-yard line. They would cash in on the turnover as Perez hit tight end Braedon Bowman in the right part of the endzone to score. It was a great scrambling throw from Perez who found a tight window for Bowman. The pass catching tight end had two big catches on the drive.
The first half would end 14-7 Generals as the Stallions simply couldn’t find the endzone. The General defense held the Stallions to just 88 total yards, with most of them coming on the first drive. Lunai had the pick in the first half, and also 4 tackles. Perez finished the half with 142 yards and 2 touchdowns. The half could of ended 17-7 but Nick Rose hooked a 47 yard attempt.
The Generals would put together a 12-play drive midway through the third quarter and it looked like more points were inevitable. They marched inside the Stallion ten but couldn’t punch it in for a touchdown and had to settle for a field goal attempt by Nick Rose. He shanked this one left from 19 yards and the game remained 14-7 as NJ once again missed a golden chance to go up by two scores. A 7-and-a-half-minute drive was wasted.
This time, the Stallions capitalized on the miscues of the Generals as Vic Bolden and Mitchell lit up the secondary for one big catch after another. Within the blink of an eye, suddenly the Stallions were threatening to score and then did just that as CJ Marable rumbled in from 2 yards to score. The drive took less than 3 minutes and it was their best drive since the start of the game.
J’Mar Smith who checked into the game for the injured starter McGough, used looks to Mitchell and Bolden to set up prime scoring position for the Stallions to tie it at 37 seconds left of the third quarter. The Stallions continued to stick with the two QB look, and this time it paid off as Smith had the hot hand to tie the game at 14.
The Generals responded strong, as De’Andre Johnson checked into the game to lead them. He is a rushing quarterback and that is exactly what they used as they ran a nice 11 play, 66-yard drivee to paydirt. The drive was run heavy and it paid off with Johnson taking it in on a quarterback keeper from 2 yards out to put them ahead 21-14.
At that point in the game, the Generals had used the dual quarterback combination perfectly as Johnson had ran for 57 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Meanwhile their traditional dropback passer Luis Perez was 14 of 19 for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
The Stallions were up for their part of the sudden shootout however as they cruised down the field themselves in a matter of minutes. In a drive that took less than 3 minutes off the clock, the Stallions tied it up when Smith hit tight end Cary Angeline in stride from 27 yards out to tie the game with 5:51 eft to play.
From there, the Generals took the air out of the ball, and began to run down the throats of the Stallions. In fact, the constant running tallied 23 straight run plays at one point late in the fourth quarter. The two-minute warning arrived with the Generals at the 47 of the Stallions on a 3rd and 10. Another run was called on a overload zipper that saw Johnson sprint out for 8 yards.
Coach Mike Riley chose to go with struggling kicker Nick Rose from 47 yards out to attempt to give the lead. The snap was high, but wrangled and he connected on a kick that started way left, but just snuck between the uprights.
It was time for the Stallions to put together a game winning drive in front of their home town fans who were very local and ready to cheer at a moments notice. The Stallions were led by Smith who took them down the field with ease. He got them to the Generals 8 yard line with 33 seconds to go on a first and goal situation. The drive was aided by a face masking penalty as well.
The 10-play drive would result in a Smith touchdown run off of a broken pass play from 4 yards out to capture the thrilling win for the Stallions! Smith had been looking for Bolden, before cutting back to his left and through the center of the defense across the goal line.
