UFL | Battlehawks five-game winning streak ended by Birmingham

St. Louis Battlehawks dropped the Birmingham Stallions 30-26 on Saturday in front of 14,056 fans at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.

The Battlehawks (5-2) and Stallions (7-0) traded leads four times in the second half, with Birmingham scoring the winning touchdown on a 40-yard pass from QB Adrian Martinez to WR Kevin Austin Jr. with 5 . :23 to play. The Gunners then scored a 1 point conversion to extend their winning margin to 4 points.

St. Louis took a 26-23 lead after RB Jacob Saylors rushed 7 yards for his third touchdown (second rushing TD) of the game with 7:34 to play in the fourth quarter. The touchdown erased a 23-20 deficit after the Stallions scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Martinez to WR Marlon Williams with 12:20 left in regulation.

St. Louis also went ahead, 20-17, with 6:17 to play in the third quarter when McCarron connected with Saylors on an 8-yard touchdown pass. WR Jerome Kapp gave the Battlehawks field position to start the drive at the Birmingham 11-yard line when he recovered a fumble with 7:41 left in the quarter.

The Battlehawks took their first lead of the game when Saylors rushed 1 yard for his team-leading third rushing touchdown of the season. He also rushed 5 yards on the ensuing 2-point conversion to put St. Louis up, 11-9, with 2:06 left in the first half.

However, the lead was short-lived. The Stallions scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Martinez to WR Deon Cain and a 5-yard pass to Williams for the 2-point conversion that put Birmingham back in front, 17-11, with 16 seconds left before halftime . St. Louis cut the lead to three points as time expired in the first half when K Andre Szmyt made a franchise-record 61-yard field goal.

A 13-play, 60-yard drive that covered 7:49 of the game led to the first points of the game for the Battlehawks. Szmyt made his team-high 13th field goal of the season, a 38-yarder to cut Birmingham’s lead in half, 6-3, with 13:43 left in the second quarter. The Stallions answered with a 13-play drive of their own that went 47 yards in 8:35. K Ramiz Ahmed capped the game with a 27-yard field goal to restore the Bears’ 6-point lead with 5:11 to play in the second quarter. Birmingham took an early 6-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by RB CJ Marable with 6:32 left in the first quarter.

The Battlehawks will return to XFL Conference play in Week 8 when they take on the DC Defenders at 11:00 a.m. CT on Sunday, May 19 at The Dome at America’s Center. The game will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN Xtra on Sirius XM Radio.