The San Antonio Brahmas will play their third game in a row in St. Louis next week, but they won’t be playing the Battlehawks.

After defeating St. Louis 25-15 in the playoffs on Sunday night, the Brahmas will play the Birmingham Stallions in the United Football League Championship Game.

San Antonio and Birmingham will square off for the spring-football league’s first title at 4 p.m. CDT Sunday at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. FOX will televise the game.

Birmingham qualified by defeating the Michigan Panthers 31-18 on Saturday in the USFL Conference Championship Game. The Stallions suffered their only loss of the 2024 season to San Antonio 18-9 on May 25.

The Battlehawks and Brahmas played in St. Louis on Sunday because St. Louis defeated San Antonio 13-12 in the regular-season finale on June 1 to earn the No. 1 seed for the XFL Conference. The Battlehawks also defeated the Brahmas 31-24 on April 14 – the only game this season in which San Antonio has allowed more than 19 points.

But when San Antonio running back Antonio McFarland ran 61 yards for a touchdown with 10:08 left in the second half, the XFL Conference Championship Game seemed over.

The Brahmas owned a 19-3 lead and a 299-96 advantage in yards gained while St. Louis had a quarterback who walked out late for the second half because of treatment for an ankle injury. AJ McCarron had missed two games because of the injury before returning for last week’s victory over San Antonio. On the final snap of the first half with St. Louis at its 30-yard line on Sunday night, McCarron had been knocked down on a pass, and he didn’t get up until most of the players were already in the locker room.

But on fourth-and-5 at the San Antonio 31, McCarron connected with wide receiver Hakeem Butler for a 28-yard gain. The series concluded with a 1-yard touchdown pass from McCarron to tight end Jake Sutherland with 6:06 left in the third quarter to cut the Brahmas’ lead to 19-9.

On San Antonio’s next snap, a handoff went awry, linebacker Pita Taumoepenu picked up the loose football and ran 10 yards for a touchdown to cut San Antonio’s advantage to 19-15 with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter.

In the short period between the St. Louis’ touchdowns, McCarron told a TV interviewer on the bench: “I feel like (expletive).” But the Battlehawks still ran a Philly Special on a 2-point conversion attempt after Taumoepenu’s TD. McCarron caught the pass, but he didn’t reach the goal line.

San Antonio regained control of the game and added two field goals by Ryan Santoso on its remaining three possessions while registering third-down sacks on St. Louis’ next two series. The first possession stalled after a 39-yard connection from McCarron to wide receiver Darius Shepherd, and Andre Szmyt missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt on the second possession to snap a streak of 13 successful kicks for the Battlehawks. The game ended with St. Louis on the San Antonio 10-yard line.

A former St. Paul’s Episcopal star and Alabama All-American, McCarron was the only player from an Alabama high school or college to appear in the UFL semifinal game. He completed 19-of-29 passes for 179 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

San Antonio quarterback Chase Garbers completed 15-of-21 passes for 197 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

The Brahmas rolled to 213 yards and one touchdown on 35 rushing attempts, with McFarland getting 115 yards on 11 carries and John Lovett totaling 83 yards on 18 carries.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.