SHOWBOATS STUN STALLIONS, END UNBEATEN RECORD
The Memphis Showboats created the first real shock result of the 2025 United Football league season at the weekend, becoming the first team to defeat reigning champions Birmingham at home in more than two years.
The Showboats, who have suffered several narrow defeats this season, finally earned their first win in dramatic fashion on Friday night as they snapped Birmingham’s home win streak by winning an overtime shootout 24-20 at Protective Stadium. In what was also the UFL’s first overtime game — where teams have three alternating two-point conversion attempts apiece — the Showboats struck first, aided by back-to-back Birmingham penalties, before stopping the Stallions on their opening try. After both teams then came up empty on their second attempts, debutant QB Dresser Winn connected with Dee Anderson on a successful third attempt to secure victory for the ’Boats.
Winn, making his first start in nearly 900 days, dating back to his time at UT-Martin, finished 17-of-29 for 235 yards and a touchdown. He opened the game with a strike to Anderson for a 78-yard TD — the longest play of the season in the UFL — giving Memphis an early 8-0 lead after a successful two-point run by Jalen Jackson. Matt Coghlin added a 32-yard field goal to make it 11-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“It’s huge to to throw a punch like that,” Winn smiled, “but my biggest concern is hitting a lot more shorter stuff, getting some more completions. We sputtered at times, and we can’t have that. But, when you can have those explosive plays, it makes it a whole lot easier on the play caller, the quarterback and everybody out there.”
Birmingham trailed 11-3 late in the first half and looked to cut into the deficit with a long field goal on the last play of the half. The kick, however, fell short and Isaiah Hennie, set back deep in case of such an event, caught the ball eight yards deep in the end zone before setting up his blockers and raced down the Memphis sideline for a 108-yard ‘Kick Six’ to increase the Showboats’ advantage to 17-3 at the interval. The score was the second of its kind in Showboats’ history after Derrick Dillon returned a missed field goal 109 yards for a TD on the last play of the first half versus the Pittsburgh Maulers in May 2023 when the team played in the reboot of the USFL. Hennie’s return, meanwhile, set a new UFL record for longest play of any kind since the inception of the league.
“I’d been out there for a couple of kick returns, so I knew which way the wind was blowing,” Hennie smiled in the postgame press conference. “As soon as they said they were going field goal, I didn’t even wait for it — I just ran onto the field because I knew we were going to get a ‘Kick Six’ [opportunity]. It’s something we’ve practiced, something we went over — and then we just executed it. It’s kind of a one-off play, so not a lot of teams practice it, but we have and everybody did their job and we made a play.”
Former Showboats QB Case Cookus led Birmingham back in the second half with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Thomas early in the third quarter, before another field goal early in the fourth closed the gap 17-12. Coghlin answered with a 37-yard field goal to put Memphis up 20-12, but Cookus tied the game in the final minute with a six-yard pass to Marlon Williams and a successful two-point conversion to Jace Sternberger, sending the game to overtime.
Steele Chambers led the Showboats defense with a game-high 10 tackles (seven solo), his fourth game this season as the team’s top tackler. Memphis also recorded three sacks — one each from P.J. Hall, Izayah Green-May and Nasir Player — while Eli Walker added the team’s first interception of the season at the Memphis 1-yard line, thwarting a Birmingham scoring threat.
“What stood out to me was to go 0-4 and then be in a game like that, you know how easy it is for all those guys to like lay down right there at the end,” Winn concluded. “But we’ve got some men in this room, good ball players, and to stick around at the end like that and to play through all that was was pretty impressive to me.
“That was a character time; that’s when you learn about your team. Throughout my career, I’ve always loved it if we’re down by seven or we’re down by 14 and you have to fight your way back because you learn about your team. And I think we learned today that the character in our locker room is real. We have some players that won’t blink and are going to play to the end. I’m proud of everybody.”
Cookus was 15-of-33 for 145 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and also led the Stallions in rushing yards, with 83 on six carries.
Memphis remain on the road this week, travelling to Houston to face the Roughnecks at TDECU Stadium on Saturday, when they will welcome back one of their top weapons from last season. Daewood Davis has been activated off the injured reserve list after being unable to join the team at the beginning of the season due to an injury suffered in training camp with the Carolina Panthers this past summer. Davis was number two in the UFL in receiving touchdowns (5), sixth in receptions (41) and seventh in receiving yards (446) last season, and set a UFL record for longest pass reception with an 82-yard touchdown against the Michigan Panthers at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium last April.