ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The Arlington Renegades lose to the Birmingham Stallions in the battle of champions in their home opener on Saturday.
The game got off to a shaky start, with both teams having their initial drive end in a turnover in opposing territory. It was a stalemate for most of the first half until Renegades QB Luis Perez connected with new addition Isaiah Winstead for a 52-yard touchdown. At that point the Renegades gained full control of the game and looked as if that was going to be the story heading into halftime, but that wasn’t the case. After being benched for a couple series, Stallions QB, Matt Corral responded with a huge drive right before the half to tie it up at 11. Backup QB Adrian Martinez got some action until he left the game with a lower leg injury.
In the 2nd half, the Stallions pulled ahead and didn’t look back. RB CJ Marable put the team on his back with a couple huge plays including a 28-yard catch and run. In the 4th,he got into the endzone making it a two-score lead which proved to be too much to overcome. The Renegades looked a step slow on defense along with sloppy tackling and breakdowns in the secondary. On offense, despite the run game being non-existent, they were 0-2 in the red zone and had 2 drives stall directly due to penalties. The Renegades only had 2 penalties in the 2nd half but the timing in which those penalties occurred, put the offense behind the 8-ball.
Coach Stoops attributed the offensive struggles to a lack of the run game. The confidence Stoops had in the run game showed in the amount of attempts they had in the 2nd half, which was 5. The Renegades ran for 59 yards on 3.3 yards per carry as a team. Stoops thought the pass game struggled as well, stating “the timing wasn’t what it needed to be, but I have all the confidence in the world in Luiz [Perez] to make those throws.”
The Renegades look to regroup for next week as they travel to St.Louis to take on the Battlehawks Saturday, April 6 on ABC. D210SPORTS is your home for all Renegades updates this season!
