The Roughnecks stick around, but Martinez leads the Stallions to victory

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Houston was able to pull a game together late, but the Stallions held off the visiting Roughnecks thanks to a five-touchdown performance from MVP favorite Adrian Martinez for a 35-28 victory at Protective Stadium.

Birmingham jumped out to an early 12-0 lead with their first two scores after AJ Thomas went down with his third pick of the season. Touchdown passes to Deon Cain (9 yards) and Binjimen Victor (12 yards) set up a Houston three-and-out, the latter set up by Amari Rodgers’ return to Roughneck territory.

Houston got on the board soon after with the first of two touchdowns from Mark Thompson, a 37-yarder set up by a nice block from Justin Hall, who caught the ensuing two-point pass.

Ramiz Ahmed kicked a 45-yard field goal for Birmingham to start the second quarter before JJ Molson missed a 51-yard field goal for Houston. However, Donal Rutledge Jr. got the ball back for the Roughneck offense moments later when he picked off Martinez, and Thompson found the end zone to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive and bring the score to 15-14.

Birmingham responded with an 11-play drive of its own, needing just 1:49 to drive down the field for a rushing score from Martinez late in the half. The Stallions then took a 28-14 lead with Martinez’s 10-yard field goal to Rodgers to start the third.

Backup quarterback Nolan Henderson led a 10-play Houston drive that ended with his first touchdown of the season before an 8-yard trip to the end zone by Martinez and Larry’s one-point run Rountree III gave the Stallions their biggest lead of the match (35-20) moments later.

Houston’s next drive ended on the 11th play when Henderson fumbled, but Rountree coughed it up on the next play to set up Reid Sinnett’s scoring strike to Braedon Bowman and a two-point pass to Hall.

After the Birmingham defense forced a three-and-out on Houston’s next possession, the Stallions also punted, giving the Roughnecks an extra shot with 0:14 on the clock. Sinnett completed two passes to Keke Chism for a total of 34 yards before DeMarquis Gates sacked Sinnett on the final play of the game to seal the victory.

Now, some notes following the Stallions’ Week 8 victory

He finished 19 of 31 for three passing touchdowns, with six carries for 44 yards and two scores on the ground. His five total touchdowns broke the league single-game record he set in Week 6 against Memphis.

Martinez connected with 10 different receivers Saturday night, none for more than 30 yards.

After just one turnover in the previous three games, the Stallions’ offense lost the ball twice in Week 8. They nearly lost it a third time when Jimmy Moreland knocked the ball out of Cain’s arms, but Rountree recovered. Birmingham will need to tighten things up to maintain their winning streak over the past two weeks.

The Stallions can wrap up home-court advantage in the playoffs next week against San Antonio before meeting Michigan in back-to-back matchups. Birmingham closes its regular season at home against the Panthers, and the teams will face off again in the USFL Conference championship game on Saturday, June 8 at 3 p.m. on ABC.

You can find Kacy Sager on X (Twitter) at @THESagerbomb.

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