Houston Gamblers Top Birmingham With John Hoyland’s Easter Miracle

The Houston Gamblers and Birmingham Stallions faced off today for the first time in three years…technically speaking. In a special edition of Easter Sunday football in the UFL, Kevin Sumlin met an old adversary, taking on Birmingham – the team he dethroned back in 2022 during the regular season.

Week one told a different story for these two teams. Houston got absolutely rocked by Dallas, losing 36-17 on the road. On the other hand, the Birmingham Stallions squeaked out a tight win over Louisville on the road, advancing to 1-0 with A.J. McCarron at the helm.

Let’s take a look at what went down on Sunday evening, in Shell Energy Stadium’s debut.

First Quarter

Houston received the opening kickoff, and looked entirely different than they did in week one. With Hunter Dekkers starting the game over Nolan Henderson, the offense was in a rhythm early. Completions to Jontre Kirklin and Justin Hall sparked their drive, with Marcus Yarns and Jalen White producing on the ground.

However, Kyahva Tezino and the Stallions would have other plans. Inside the five yard line, Tezino punched the ball out while Yarns was closing in on the end zone, and Tre Norwood recovered for Birmingham.

Backed up inside their own 10 yard line, the Stallions put together an excellent drive. Matt Corral looked confident and collected, threading the needle on a couple of throws to extend the possession. However, on 4th and 1 deep inside Houston’s territory, Tyler Siskey opted to go for it – and Quinton Newsome came up with the pass breakup to shut down that drive.

After a quick start for Houston, they stalled out mid-field. Hunter Dekkers threw three passes in a row that just missed the target, and they had to punt. Luckily, they were just barely still in their own territory, meaning Mike Rivers could boot it away.

Second Quarter

Matt Corral was on point to begin this game, but characteristically, made a rough mistake during a great drive. He lofted a bomb to Deon Cain, but severely underthrew the route, allowing Kary Vincent Jr. to sit on it for the interception.

Dekkers continued to make plays. While he wasn’t able to put Houston in the end zone, his mobility was on display, with Eric Price calling designed QB runs to throw off Birmingham’s defense. They ultimately settled for a 32 yard field goal from John Hoyland, making it 3-0.

The offensive struggles continued for Birmingham. A couple of incompletions led to another punt, and Houston took advantage. Even though Dekkers exited the game with a shoulder injury, Henderson came in and performed – utilizing his mobility to keep plays alive. They could not find a way to punch it in the end zone, though, settling for another Hoyland field goal.

This left the door open for Birmingham to cash in before halftime, and they did. Matt Corral was back in a groove, finding Deon Cain and Justyn Ross for sizeable gains. With less than 30 seconds to go in the quarter, Corral fired a dart to Jaydon Mickens in the end zone, which gave Birmingham a 7-6 lead.

Heading into halftime, the Stallions were up one, and ready to receive the football.

Third Quarter

Birmingham came out firing, carrying the momentum over from their last scoring dive. Houston’s defense had a couple of mental errors and breakdowns, leading to a Deon Cain score – wide open down the seam due to busted coverage from Anthony Hines.

Houston continued to put together good possessions, but could not find ways to get six points on the board. Henderson got them deep in the red zone, but on 3rd and 1, an excellent defensive play from Alex Cook resulted in a short field goal from Hoyland.

Birmingham had to punt, with Damon Arnette making an outstanding stop in the backfield. The Stallions’ ground game was effective throughout most of this game, but they had difficulties converting on third downs.

Heading into the final period, Houston was in an interesting position. They got all the way down to the one yard line, but Birmingham’s defensive line held strong – pushing them backwards a few yards. In the midst of it all, Henderson dislocated his finger, which made it appear like Taulia Tagovailoa was about to see his first snaps in the UFL.

Fourth Quarter

With it being fourth and goal, Houston settled for the chip shot field goal. The Stallions could not get out of their own way, though. Carlton Johnson, who was beat by John Ross, made an incredible recovery – picking off Matt Corral to give Houston the ball back.

Things got pretty interesting on Houston’s ensuing possession. After getting inside the 10 yard line again, they settled for another field goal. However, Mike Pereira reviewed the field goal attempt, noting that Birmingham lined up in an illegal formation.

This resulted in the Gamblers being gifted a fresh set of downs at the five yard line. Jalen White ran it in from a few yards out, and Houston finally regained a lead. More importantly, they scored a touchdown during their sixth red zone trip.

The Stallions put together a much needed scoring drive to regain the lead. Corral was efficient, with a couple of completions to Justyn Ross, who’s quickly becoming one of his favorite targets alongside Jaydon Mickens. Anthony McFarland capped off the drive with a two yard scoring touchdown, giving Birmingham a 20-19 lead.

Houston’s final possession was absolutely wild. Birmingham put them in a 4th and 6 situation, and while their attempt failed, a horsecollar tackle from Dyontae Johnson gifted Houston another chance (offsetting penalties). Nolan Henderson converted, but A.J. McCarron threw his challenge flag – and won – with severe holding from Houston’s O-Line. On 4th and 16, with their last gasp of air, Nolan stood in the pocket and delivered a strike to Armani Rogers, who held on just long enough to be ruled a catch for the first down.

Birmingham put Houston in another fourth down situation, with Steven Gilmore getting the stop – but it still wasn’t over. Kevin Sumlin challenged for Defensive PI, and won. With seconds left, John Hoyland knocked through a 50 yard field goal as the game expired – lifting Houston to a last second 22-20 victory, shocking Birmingham.

Standout Playmakers

QB Nolan Henderson: A lot of credit needs to be given to Henderson. After what was a putrid performance last week, Nolan was benched – but came right back in this week when Dekkers went down. He went 15-23 for 186 yards, converting so many big plays (including on the ground). Without his efforts, Birmingham would have ran away with this game.

“It’s fitting it’s Easter, because I did a lot of praying this week, for resilience. It was tough last week, to go through that. God is good.” – Nolan Henderson

RB’s Jalen White & Marcus Yarns: Last week, Houston’ s running backs only got six carries. This time around, Eric Price made sure to feed them the ball, which paid off in dividends. Houston rushed for almost 140 yards with these two backs alone. They’re explosive and dynamic backs, who will elevate this offense to another level moving forward.

WR Jontre Kirklin: Kirklin is coming into his own in Houston. He had five receptions (six targets) for 85 yards, leading the Gamblers in that category. Jontre will likely find himself back in the All-UFL conversation this year if he can keep up this production.

CB Carlton Johnson: Johnson ended up taking on some of the tougher assignments of the day, and came away with a crucial, momentum-changing interception that couldn’t have come at a better time. Johnson led the team in tackles with six, to go along with an interception and PBU.

K John Hoyland: Obviously, Hoyland had to make an appearance on this list. He made all five of his field goal attempts, including the walkoff from 50 yards out. John also connected on one XP.

Birmingham

WR Deon Cain: Cain flashed today, looking like the All-UFL prospect we’ve come to know and love at this level. He had five receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown on the day.

S Alex Cook: Cook has quietly emerged as one of the UFL’s better safeties. He tallied nine tackles, a TFL, and a PBU for Birmingham.

Major Takeaways

The Houston Gamblers looked like a much more competent football team this week. There’s still plenty to clean up, but they were actually competitive in all three phases of the game. Most importantly, they were able to run the crap out of the football. Last week, they gave their RB’s just six carries, due to the early large deficit. That changed against Birmingham. The Stallions front seven had a tough time slowing down Jalen White and Marcus Yarns, who rushed for 174 yards and a score alongside Dekkers and Henderson.

“I thought we were efficient when we ran the ball today. At least when it was between the 20’s. We ran well, we blocked for them. Shoot, what’d we rush for, 174 yards? That’s pretty good. We had 76 plays today. We had the ball for 37 minutes. In this game, in this league, that’s a lot of football plays with that clock running the way its running. That means we were efficient with the running game.” – HC Kevin Sumlin

Red zone efficiency will have to be worked on heading into week three. Houston was one-for-six in the red zone, and would’ve zeroed had it not been for an illegal formation on the field goal attempt by Birmingham. That said, the offense was humming with Eric Price getting the ball to their playmakers. It’s amazing what one week of preparation can do. The Gamblers accumulated 407 yards of offense, and also saw improved third down efficiency (7-15).

It’s another week, but a similar story for the Birmingham Stallions. This time, they weren’t able to close it out (although, one could argue that they did multiple times, only for penalties to get in the way). Matt Corral was tremendous, completing 21 of 27 pass attempts for 226 yards and two scores. The problem? His two interceptions. Corral admitted post-game that he “got greedy”, instead of taking what the defense was giving him. Those are the types of moments that have defined Matt’s UFL career so far. Without those two turnovers, the Stallions probably could have run away with this one.

Defensively, there’s a lot to like in Birmingham. They’ve committed to the “bend not break” mantra, having held Houston to just one touchdown during six red zone trips. That said, what’s going to prevent this unit from making it very far is their pass rush. Players such as Izayah Green-May have flashed when it comes to generating pressure, but it hasn’t resulted in sacks. Far too often, Dekkers and Henderson were able to avoid said pressure, extending plays and drives. Birmingham has to get home to the quarterback, because their secondary has been playing lights out – but they can’t hold up forever.

“We gotta be better about lining up in the right gaps. For whatever reason, talking to Sherrer tonight, we just had way too many mis-alignments. Guys not in the right gaps, not keeping contain. Again, self-inflicted wounds.” – HC A.J. McCarron

Final Thoughts

The Houston Gamblers were a much more prepared team this time around, and took down Birmingham in a fashion none of us expected. With Hoyland’s big leg, and a ground game that sparked this offense, the Gamblers showed that they’ve got more potential than some might think in the league this year. For the UFL, this was another strong showing, with a matchup that came right down to the wire.

Week two of the UFL concludes with a special edition of “Tuesday Night Football”, when the Dallas Renegades host the St. Louis Battlehawks at 8pm ET on FS1.

Did you enjoy this UFL game between the Houston Gamblers and Birmingham Stallions? Which players impressed you? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!