ARLINGTON – Well, in the first two games of the United Football League’s 2025 season, the winners have outscored the losers, 64-15.
Coach Bob Stoops and his Arlington Renegades, playing at home at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday, scored early and often in a 33-9 win over San Antonio, a game broadcast nationally on FOX.
Friday night, St. Louis went on the road to Houston, and bodyslammed the Roughriders, 31-6 (UFL opens as St. Louis blasts Houston | The Football Beat).
There are two more games today, a doubleheader on ESPN: The Memphis Showboats will host Michigan at noon Eastern / 11 a.m. Central, and last year’s UFL champions, the Birmingham Stallions, will make the trip to Washington, D. C. to play the D.C. Defenders, a 4 p.m. / 3 p.m. kick.
Arlington (1-0) took an 8-0 lead on San Antonio on a 1-yard run by running back De’Von Smith, then a conversion from quarterback Luis Perez to Sal Canella, the Renegades’ tight end.
San Antonio kicked a field goal after picking off Perez, but would give up another touchdown – the longest touchdown run from scrimmage in UFL history – to Kalen Ballage, a 77-yarder. Perez’s conversion pass was good again, this time to wideout Deontay Burnett, and Arlington led 16-3 at halftime.
Smith got into the end zone again in the third quarter, another 1-yard run, and Perez and Burnett again connected for the conversion (24-3 Arlington).
The Brahmas missed a field goal attempt at the end of the third quarter, and the defense gave up another score: Ballage got in on a 2-yard run after an 11-yard pass from Perez to Burnett set it up. The conversion failed this time, but Arlington led 30-3. Each team would add another fourth-quarter score for the final.
Next week, Arlington will host Houston on Sunday, a noon Eastern / 11 Central kickoff on ABC, and San Antonio will be on the road for the second straight week: a Sunday night game in St. Louis (6:30 Eastern / 5:30 Central), to air on Fox Sports 1 (FS1).
