Showboats Finish Season With 19-12 Win Over Roughnecks

MEMPHIS (June 2, 2024) – Darius Victor scored two rushing touchdowns and the Memphis Showboats’ defense made a huge late-game stop as the Showboats defeated the Houston Roughnecks 19-12 Sunday night at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The victory in the season finale for Memphis (2-8) snapped an eight-game losing streak and bookended a season that started with a win over Houston and ended with a win over Houston (1-9).

Houston trailed 12-9 late in the third quarter, but looked to have taken the lead when Markel Roby intercepted Memphis quarterback Josh Love and took it all the way back to the end zone. The return for a touchdown was negated by a penalty during the return. The Memphis defense held Houston to a field goal early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 12-12.

On the ensuing possession, the Showboats took over at their own 47-yard line and drove 53 yards for the go-ahead score. Love passed for 44 yards on the drive and Victor hit paydirt from 2 yards out for his second score of the game. A Love-to-Daewood Davis pass for the one-point conversion left Memphis with a 19-12 lead and 6:10 remaining in the contest.

Houston drove all the way to the Memphis 13-yard line behind quarterback Nolan Henderson. But on 3rd-and-3 from the 13, Lamont McPhatter stopped Justin Hall for no gain. On 4th-and-3, the Showboats defense forced an incompletion with less than a minute left to seal the victory.

Memphis led 6-3 at the intermission in a battle of field goals. The Showboats’ Matt Coghlin was 2-for-2 in the first half, including a 46-yarder on the last play of the first half to give Memphis the lead at halftime.

The Showboats pushed their lead to 12-3 on a 2-yard Victor TD run with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter. Houston answered on its next possession with a 61-yard march capped by a Kirk Merritt 1-yard TD run. J.J. Molson’s early fourth quarter field goal tied it at 12-12.

Victor rushed for 54 yards on 10 carries and scored both the Showboats’ touchdowns. Love was 20-of-29 for 152 yards with 1 interception. Jonathan Adams paced the Memphis receiving corps with six receptions for 59 yards. Henderson led Houston with 43 yards rushing and 232 yards passing. Houston out-gained Memphis 323-203, but the Showboats’ defense found stops when they needed them. Memphis held Houston on 4th-and-2 from the Showboat 8-yard line in the first quarter and on 4th-and-3 on the final Roughnecks possession of the game.