by Canton, OH – The Birmingham Stallions have been the class of the USFL all season long, and continued that trend tonight as they punched their ticket to the league championship game next Sunday with a convincing 31- 17 win over the New Orleans Breakers. They scored in all three phases of the game on their way to victory.
In a league where special teams are so crucial, the Stallions began the game with incredible field position in Breaker territory. They couldn’t do much with it however and had to settle for a 52 yard field goal attempt that was wide right.
The Breakers had no such problems however as they used the short field to score on their first possession, courtesy of a Jordan Ellis touchdown that made it 7-0 early. Kyle Sloter was 4 for 4 on the drive, for 41 yards.
The Stallions dominated the time of possession in the first quarter, 10:36 to 4:24 but still trailed after one quarter of play, 7-0. They did close out the quarter in the midst of a drive that saw them at the Breaker 23 yard line on second and 8. The Stallions would cash in with a 23 yard pitch and catch from J’Mar Smith to Osirus Mitchell touchdown. Smith put it on the money as Mitchell spun around to catch it, tying the game at 7 all.
Demarcus Gates intercepted Sloter on the next Breaker drive and return it 60 yards for a pick six to put the Stallions ahead 14-7 with 11:13 to go in the first half. Gates hit the ground while catching the ball off the deflection, but no one touched him so he alertly got up and ran with it. The Stallions scored twice in the quarters first 3 plus minutes to take the lead.
The Breakers pieced together a double-digit play, 80 yard drive to tie the game late into the second quarter. This score coming on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Sloter to Jordan Ellis. This tied the game at 14 with 61 seconds to play.
The Stallions weren’t having it however as on the very next play, it was Victor Bolden taking the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. The Stallions had now scored in all three phases of the game to take a 21-14 lead into the break.
After a both teams exchanged field goals to make it 24-17 early in the fourth, there was no more scoring for quite some time as it remained a one score game for the bulk of the final quarter. Finally, with just 44 seconds left, Smith put it away for good with a sneak up the middle to seal the deal at 31-17.
Next weekends championship game will be back in Canton, next Sunday at 7:30 between the Stallions on the Philly Stars who defeated the New Jersey Generals earlier today, 19-14.
