NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The New Orleans Breakers (7-3) won it’s third straight game to close out the regular season and advance to the South Division finals for the second straight year on Sunday.
New Orleans defeated the Houston Gamblers at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis to secure the post-season invitation extended by USFL President Daryl Johnston in the locker room following the victory.
“Anytime you can do that as a team, it’s really cool,” Breakers head coach John DeFilippo told WGNO Sports. “And to accomplish something like that and goals you set months ago for a group of men that came together with not a lot of prep time that molded into a really tight-knit close team in that short time shows the type of people we have in that locker room.
“And they’ve done a great job all season, and I couldn’t be prouder of those guys,” he continued. “I’m so proud to be their coach.”
With the win, the Breakers will face arch-rival Birmingham (8-2), who won the league championship last season and have compiled a 19-3 overall record since the league restarted in 2022.
The Breakers dealt the Stallions one of those losses after splitting their regular-season matchups against their division foe. However, New Orleans is 1-4 in head-to-head competition with Birmingham in the past two seasons, including a 31-17 loss to the Stallions in the playoffs last year.
“Obviously, they are the best team in our league right now because the way you’re judged in professional sports is your record, so if you look at their record they are the best team in our league,” said Coach Flip. “So we have our hands full again like we do every single week in our league.
“Like we say every week, when that clock strikes zero, no matter how we do it, we gotta have one more point than the other team.”
The South Division finals will kick off in Birmingham on Sunday at 7 p.m., a day after the Michigan Panthers (4-6) play the Pittsburgh Maulers (4-6) in the North Division title game on Saturday.
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