'It's amazing and a blessing': Victor Bolden Jr. helps Birmingham Stallions win USFL title

CANTON — The USFL's season started in Birmingham, Alabama ended in Canton and now the Birmingham Stallions will take the league's championship trophy back to Birmingham. 

The Birmingham Stallions won the new league's championship after escaping with a 33-30 victory over the Philadelphia Stars on Sunday night. The Stallions will go down in history as being the first USFL team to win a championship at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. 

Both teams had to deal with a level of adversity in the second half when each team's starting quarterback went down with an injury.

Birmingham's quarterback J'Mar Smith was dealing with a leg injury and didn't 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. Despite throwing one interception, the Stallions still had faith in the former NFL seventh-rounder. He completed 70% of his passes, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Victor Bolden Jr. with 3:16 left to give the Stallions a 26-23 lead.. 

"We have plenty of confidence in Alex (McGough). He is a playmaker with the ball in his hands," Bolden said. "We knew we had to ... step up and make the play when (our) numbers are called. We had nothing but confidence in Alex and we got it done."

Bolden was selected the game's MVP. He finished the night with six catches for 64 yards. To him, it was his biggest achievement in his football career. 

"This the biggest award I've gotten," Bolden Jr. said. "It means the world to me. To do it in a moment like this with a group of guys that we have, bonded and what we've built, it's amazing and a blessing."

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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. Cookus threw for 222 yards and three TDs. On two of those TDs, he connected with Jordan Suell. The Stallions' defense made Cookus uncomfortable in the pocket as the front seven kept bringing the heat on the former Northern Arizona quarterback. Cookus was sacked four times. 

"He's a warrior," Andrus said. "Maybe it could've been a little different here but it wasn't. He's a warrior."

The Stars had no answer for Stallions running back Bo Scarbrough as he rushed for 122 yards and a TD on seven carries in the first half. He finished the night with a 133 yards. Scarbrough had a 69-yard run that led to a 28-yard field goal for a 20-9 Stallions lead at the half. The Stallions had outrushed the Stars 175-80.

"Bo brings a heavy presence and this was the type of the game with the safeties coming downhill and they were trying to take away Victor (Bolden) by double-teaming him and guys over the top," Stallions head coach Skip Holtz said. "Then they started taking it away from Marlon (Williams) and it made a huge hole on the middle of the field and all they got to do is make one miss and there was green grass in front of us. Bo did that tonight. "

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. 

"I've dropped a few picks this year and I messed up on a few coverages sometimes. It was cool to finish this off and do right," Wright said.

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.

"We are obviously disappointed. I felt at the end that it could've gone either way in the fourth quarter. It didn't go our way," Andrus said. "There was a lot of things to overcome in that fourth quarter."

The Stallions, who opened the season 8-0, looked like the USFL's best team throughout the season. The Houston Gamblers gave them their lone loss.

For Holtz, that loss was the reality check Birmingham needed before making the run to the title.

"I think it was good for us. It was humbling. It made us realize that we were not invincible. That if we don't do what we're supposed to do, we could be beaten by anybody," Holtz said. "The difference between the top and bottom in this league is not very high. I think it was a great eye-opening experience for us and it was a great thing that happened to us ."

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