Orlando Storm remain unbeaten with UFL's first-ever shutout at Birmingham
The Orlando Storm continued their perfect season Saturday at Birmingham and in doing so, hit a pair of UFL milestones. The 16-0 victory over the Stallions was the first-ever shutout in the three-year history of the UFL, and the Storm became only the second team in the league’s existence to start the season 4-0.
The Storm defense was impressive, allowing Birmingham to convert only 1 of 13 third-down plays in the whitewash. Birmingham came into the game leading the UFL in third-down conversion percentage.
Orlando held Birmingham to just 59 yards in the second half and 166 total yards for the game, including just 36 yards on the ground. Safety Josh Minkins and linebacker Tavante Beckett led the way with six tackles each, and defensive end Keshawn Banks had his fourth straight game with a sack.
“Really proud of my football team and I want to give a shout out to my defensive coordinator Donnie Abraham,” Storm coach Anthony Becht said. “To come out in somebody’s backyard, their home opener … it was good to come in and just stay focused and get the job done.
“To be 4-0 is special. I’ve never been 4-0 as a head coach.”
Undefeated Storm hope winning provokes Orlando fan frenzy
The Storm got on the board early, capping an 80-yard scoring drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Jack Plummer to Cam Camper to put the Storm up 7-0. The highlight of the drive was a 36-yard Plummer completion to Elijhah Badger on a third-and-8 play.
Plummer helped himself in the second quarter with a 34-yard run during a drive that ended with a 19-yard field goal by Michael Lantz to give the Storm a 10-0 lead going into halftime.
The Storm managed only two Lantz field goals - 46 and 45 yards - the rest of the way, but the defense held Birmingham in check.
“It was a grind on offense for us … we just couldn’t get it clicking,” Becht said. “(Birmingham) played hard and they got a lot of guys in the box. We’ve gotta evaluate and look at that. I think, offensively, we can be a lot better.”
Plummer was 17-of-27 passing with 182 yards and a touchdown, tied for his lowest output of the season. Plummer, who led the UFL at 70% completion rated coming into the game, was held to a season-low 63%. Running back Jashaun Corbin averaged just 3.2 yards a carry and posted 58 yards on 18 carries.
“Offensively, we’ve gotta finish in the red zone,” Becht said. “You don’t get a lot of touches in the first half. We had that chance to go down deep in the red zone, and we just don’t block it up right when we have our big personnel in there and it cost us. Congrats to them for making the stop.”
But the defense saved the day. Orlando did not force a turnover, but Banks, along with cornerback safety Jaylen Mahoney and safety Mishael Powell, each had tackles for loss.
“We’ve got a lot of talent in the defensive line and the pass rush was great. They leaned on the quick game and when you have two edge guys (Banks and Chris Garrett) like we do, they’re problems, you can’t just go back there and just toss it down the field.
“I thought our secondary responded. Now, I’d like to see our secondary pick off one of the five, I think, we dropped. We gotta take advantage of that.”
Orlando will be back in action Saturday when the Storm return home for a date with the St. Louis Battlehawks, Becht’s former team, at Inter&Co Stadium at 7 p.m. (ESPN).
Storm trade
After the game, the Storm announced a trade, sending backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the Stallions for quarterback Matt Corral, showing Becht’s commitment to Storm starter Plummer, and defensive end Amani Bledsoe.
The Storm held Corral to just 83 yards (13-of-20) passing on Saturday before he gave way to Michael Hiers. Corral, who played at Ole Miss, was once a commitment to the Florida Gators while in high school at Long Beach (Calif.) Polly, flipping to Ole Miss five days before the early signing day in 2017.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.
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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 8:05 AM.