After three seasons of spring football, the Birmingham Stallions had a 32-4 overall record and three league championships. But the opening game of the Stallions’ fourth season looked a long way from that success as the DC Defenders registered eight sacks in an 18-11 United Football League victory on Sunday.

And the sacks wrote the ending to the story at Audi Field in Washington.

When the Stallions got the football for the final time at their 44-yard line with 1:50 to play and no timeouts after a 53-yard field goal by DC’s Matt McCrane, the Birmingham offense had 10 net yards to show for the second half. And while quarterback Alex McGough went 0-of-3 passing and was sacked once on the next six snaps, he also had two scrambles that totaled 45 yards to put the Stallions at the DC 19 with 43 seconds to play.

But back-to-back sacks by defensive end Andre Mintze and defensive tackle Joe Wallace ended the game.

In the second half, McGough didn’t complete any of his eight passes, threw one interception and got sacked seven times. McGough went 10-of-15 for 89 yards with one touchdown in the first half, when the Defenders registered one sack.

DC’s sacks took 73 yards off Birmingham’s offensive total as the Stallions finished with 16 passing yards and 122 rushing yards. McGough accounted for 84 of the rushing yards on eight carries.

Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu was sacked once on Sunday. He completed 17-of-37 passes for 211 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

After getting a 53-yard field goal from Harrison Mevis on its second possession, Birmingham took an 11-6 lead with 14:14 left in the first half. McGough connected with running back C.J. Marable on a 12-yard touchdown pass, then hit wide receiver Marlon Williams for a 2-point conversion.

The Defenders retook the lead with eight seconds left in the first half by going 75 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. Ta’amu’s 35-yard completion to wide receiver Jaydon Mickens moved DC to the Birmingham 14-yard line, and a roughing-the-passer penalty on linebacker Kyahva Tezino on an incompletion on the next snap put the Defenders on the Stallions 2.

Ta’amu connected on a third-and-goal throw to wide receiver Chris Rowland for a 4-yard touchdown and a 12-11 lead just before time expired in the first half.

The Defenders played one week after head coach Reggie Barlow resigned to become the football coach at Tennessee State. Quarterbacks coach Shannon Harris served as the interim coach for DC.

The Stallions play the Michigan Panthers at 7 p.m. Friday at Ford Field in Detroit. FOX will televise the game.

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