When it comes to making history in spring football, no one does it better than the Birmingham Stallions. This team is one of the most resilient bunches you will see in the pro football scene, and they did the unthinkable this past weekend: mounting a 19 point comeback to top the Houston Roughnecks at home.
It was an absolutely wild finish, and one that left the Roughnecks dumbfounded as time expired. Birmingham was down 25-6 with 5:50 to go in the second quarter, and then went on to score 27 unanswered points en route to a 33-25 victory.
Let’s take a deep dive into what all went down this Sunday at Protective Stadium.
Houston’s Early Start
What we can identify from the first half of action: Houston had Birmingham’s number, plain and simple. They schemed up a Stallions defense that, up until this point, had been playing some really good football. However, Houston identified some of their weak points – which resulted in plenty of success up front.
ZaQuandre White, the former Stallion, was a terror through the first couple of quarters. As Birmingham and Houston traded scores to begin the game, White set the tone for a dominant first half by the Roughnecks – breaking free for a 52 yard touchdown scamper. Houston’s O-Line created a massive hole, and CB Madre Harper took a tough angle trying to catch White – who would not be touched.
Things would go from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. Case Cookus made a poor read, throwing the ball right to DB Damon Arnette, taking it to the house to make it 18-6 heading into the second quarter. It was as disastrous of a start as you could ask for, but Birmingham had their backs against the wall just 15 minutes into the game.
There were so many little details and mistakes from the Stallions in the first half – as they were simply beating themselves. For example, CB Mario Goodrich dropped what would have been a pick on Jalan McClendon – and then a ridiculous catch from Cyril Grayson…