No one can deny how great it was to see the over 14,000 fans that packed Lynn Family Stadium for the Birmingham Stallions and Louisville Kings season opener, but unfortunately for the Kings, it did not end well for them as they fell 15-13.
While it was a disappointing result for the Kings, there were still some standout performances from the team with quarterback Jason Bean's first professional start with 226 yards and one touchdown to two interceptions while also leading in rushing with 27. Louisville had three receivers with 59 or more years with Lucky Jackson leading the way with 73 yards and a touchdown.
After the game, the Kings spoke with the media as they shared more about their experience on the field and what it meant to them to have the fans come out the way they did.
Members of Louisville Kings spoke after the game
Kings head coach Chris Redman did not get the homecoming win he was hoping for, but he still got a gutsy performance from his team. For Redman, though, it was more about the fans that supported them from start to finish on a cold Friday night in Louisville.
"Well, first of all, it was an incredible atmosphere. You know, the fans really showed up, and the city of Louisville really did their part. I just, you know, love the stadium, and it was an incredible atmosphere. You know, my first time coaching, so it was an incredible experience. These guys fought really hard. Obviously, it's hard to do when you have some turnovers, and we get off the field on third down. Those are things that we're going to work on. But I felt like a little tight early. I thought we had a good stretch there in the middle, and had some injuries and things kind of threw us off. But I see so much potential in this team. I am not giving up on any person. I love the locker room. That locker room was so hungry after the loss like that because we all know how much we left on the field. But, you know, it's— you got to put a team together. All the credit goes to Birmingham coming out here and having a great drive on the last one. You know, obviously, uh, you know, we, we felt like, you know, they had to go earn it, and they did."
There was some scary moments in the fourth quarter where wide receiver Isaiah Winstead was out with a head injury earlier in the quarter and safety Kenny Robinson Jr. getting knocked out late in the quarter with an injury. Redman gave an update on how the two are doing with good signs for both of them.
"Yeah, they're both going to be fine. It was very scary. Both incidents were very scary. But yeah, they're both going to be fine. We'll talk to them after the game, and we're going to get them checked out, and cleared and stuff like that. So we'll go back and make sure how serious it was. But it looks, it looked probably scarier than it was. But we're still going to take all the necessary precautions moving forward, and they're going to be okay."
All eyes were one Bean as he played well in his first professional start with the Kings utilizing his legs on multiple play action bootlegs called and him calling his own number on runs. As for the interceptions, the first one was a drop and the second was late in the fourth quarter with a forced pass into coverage. UFL News Hub asked Bean on how he felt his performed overall in the game and how the team did.
"It's obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but, you know, I think there's a ton of stuff on film that we can look to build on. You know, I think there's some things we can correct too, you know. So I'm just looking forward to getting back in next week and, you know, looking over the film and continuing to, you know, get better and figure out the things that we need to fix and get those corrected and come back in next week and try to get a win."
The unsung heroes of the night for the Kings was the defense that held a high-powered Stallions offense to 15 points and 319 total yards of offense. There were some emerging stars on that side of the ball for Louisville with Travis Bell (nine tackles, one tackle for loss), Cameron Dantzler (seven tackles, two pass deflections, one tackle for loss), and Xavier Carlton (three tackles, two tackles for loss). Redman praised the defense for keeping them in the game the whole time.
"Yeah, I thought Travis Bell had an incredible game, and he was our lead guy in the middle there that was getting some good penetration and making some incredible plays. I thought they shut the run down really well, you know, at certain parts. You know, a lot of room for improvement. But the defense as a whole, you know, they play good. And you're right, that's an incredible offense over there. And, you know, I think a lot of people thought that was going to be a 30 to 40 point type of team or whatever. And so I'm very confident in our defense. And I know there's a lot of guys out there that, you know, they've been working really hard, and it's starting to— it will show up. And there is not one person in that locker room in the locker room that was not still excited about this team. And that to me is encouraging. And we're going to bounce back."
Louisville showed a couple of big things: they can more than support a professional football team and the Kings are going to be competitive this season. Now Redman and company have to prep for their first road game of the regular season with a Week 2 showdown against the Orlando Storm.