CANTON, OHIO – The Birmingham Stallions are the inaugural United States Football League (USFL) champions, and former Linfield Christian football standout, Lorenzo Burns, was there for the whole ride.
A new era of professional football was born when the USFL kicked off in April, and after 10 weeks of regular-season action and one round of playoffs, things ended with the title game Sunday, July 3. The Birmingham Stallions won after escaping with a 33-30 victory over the Philadelphia Stars.
The Stallions will go down in history as being the first USFL team to win a championship at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. It seemed only fitting as the Stallions were the best team throughout the regular season.
Temecula’s Lorenzo Burns represented the Temecula Valley area in the championship game, while Victor Boldin Jr., who went to Los Osos High School and attended Oregon State (Undrafted Free Agent with 49ers in 2017), and Ryan Pope from Lakewood High School, who went on to play at SDSU (Undrafted Free Agent with Rams in 2021), represented other Southern California areas of the CIF Southern Section.
As a leader on defense for the Stallions, Burns graduated from Linfield Christian school in 2016 where he was a three-time captain and finished his career with 166 tackles, 26 passes defensed, five interceptions and two fumbles. He also ran track and won the CIF Division 4 triple jump championship.
After graduating, Burns played for and graduated from the University of Arizona, starting 40 games including all 17 in 2019-2020. For his career he had nine interceptions and 26 pass breakups. In his final two seasons as a Wildcat, Burns was a Pac-12 honorable mention and, in 2019, he was voted as the team defensive MVP. The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed Burns off of waivers from the Arizona Cardinals on August 08, 2021. The former Temecula native signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent at the conclusion of the 2021 draft.
Burns, who had two interceptions and nine tackles this season, and one tackle in the championship game, joined the Stallions in the USFL’s inaugural year, where the league accomplished what the last two attempts at spring football failed to do — make it through its first season.
Both teams had to deal with a level of adversity in the second half of the title game when each team’s starting quarterback went down with an injury.
Birmingham’s quarterback J’Mar Smith was dealing with a leg injury and did not return in the fourth quarter. Alex McGough, who started at the beginning of the season before he was injured, replaced Smith, and finished off the game.
The Stars suffered the worst blow when their quarterback Case Cookus was carted off the field midway through the fourth. Head coach Bart Andrus confirmed after the game Cookus suffered a broken fibula. Before getting injured, Cookus threw for 222 yards and three TDs. KJ Costello replaced Cookus after he was carted off but got off to a tough start. On the first play, he threw a pick-six. Stallions middle linebacker Scooby Wright III, a former Cleveland Brown, intercepted Costello and took it back 44 yards for a TD to give the Stallions a 33-23 lead with 3:03 left.
Costello answered back with a 12-yard TD pass to Chris Rowland to cut the Stallions lead to 33-30 with 1:47 left. After the play, the Stars took a gamble with the fourth-and-12 rule at their own 33-yard line, which is an USFL alternative to an onside kick. The pass was incomplete, and the Stallions took over at the 33.
The Stars had one last chance, getting the ball back with 33 seconds left, but Costello threw his second interception. Christian McFarland made the pick to clinch the win for the Stallions. The deepest threat of the game for the Stars was Stallions running back Bo Scarbrough, who rushed for 122 yards and a TD on seven carries in the first half. Scarbrough finished the night with 133 yards for the Stallions as they outrushed the Stars 175-80.
The Stallions, who opened the season 8-0, looked like the USFL’s best team throughout the season with their lone loss coming by way of the Houston Gamblers. Bolden was selected the game’s MVP. He finished the night with six catches for 64 yards.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
