The Birmingham Stallions stayed undefeated in the United Football League by sidestepping an upset attempt by the St. Louis Battlehawks on Saturday.
Adrian Martinez threw three touchdown passes and the Stallions survived two gaffes in the punt game to post a 30-26 victory in a showdown at Protective Stadium between the teams with the league’s best records.
Birmingham moved to 7-0. St. Louis dropped to 5-2.
“Wow, what a great game,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said after his team rallied twice in the fourth quarter to take the lead. “We talked about before the game that this was two good football teams that were going to battle all the way down. …
“Just two teams fighting their tails off. But I am very, very proud our team was able to come away with a victory today even with some of the mistakes we made.”
Two third-down completions by quarterback AJ McCarron and a roughing-the-passer penalty got the Battlehawks in position for running back Jacob Saylors’ third touchdown of the game – a 7-yard run with 7:34 to play.
McCarron’s 2-point conversion pass to wide receiver Jahcour Pearson was nullified by a holding penalty, and St. Louis couldn’t connect the second time around, leaving the Battlehawks with a 26-23 lead.
