SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) –

In front of a crowd sprinkled with Utah Jazz, University of Utah, Brigham Young University and mostly Salt Lake Stallions gear, the Stallions won their first game of the season, beating the Arizona Hotshots 23-15.

Not only did the Stallions’ aggressive defense come to play, but the offense looked its best in front of the fan base.

After a week of questions about Josh Woodrum’s injury status, the Stallions’ quarterback completed 22 of 31 passes for 178 yards. He drove his team down the field to score three touchdowns, completed a two-point conversion and got in field-goal range for kicker Taylor Bertolet, who made the 53-yard kick.

Wide receiver De’Mornay Pierson-El was Woodrum’s favorite receiver with eight catches, followed by Kaelin Clay’s five receptions and Kenny Bell’s four.

Pierson-El caught all eight of his targets for 90 yards and scored a touchdown in the second quarter, making it the Stallions’ first touchdown in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Pierson-El also made a 14-yard play in the drive that led the Stallions to a rushing touchdown by running back Joel Bouagnon. Woodrum then connected with Pierson-El for the two-point conversion to give the Stallions a 23-12 lead.

As expected, the Stallions’ defense was physical and played aggressively, which pleased head coach Dennis Erickson.

“Obviously, we played good on defense,” he said. “We have every time we played.”

With great effort from both sides of the ball, the Stallions became the second team this season to score in each quarter of a game. The other was Arizona in Week 1 against the Stallions.

Woodrum said the team fed off of the energy of the fans.

“Anytime you’re playing at home and the crowd is cheering for you when you do something good, and booing when the (other) team does something good, or whatever the situation, it always gives you some energy,” Woodrum said. “To be on the road the first two weeks is obviously not ideal, and we couldn’t be happier to get this win today.”

Although five former BYU players and one former Utah player were inactive, eight former Utes were playing on their home field along with two former Utah State players for Salt Lake.

“(Salesi) Uhatafe and (Jeremiah) Poutasi, both offensive linemen are real leaders,” Erickson said. “Ryan Cummings played just as good as anybody on the offensive front. He’s a big-time leader for us.

“Then on defense, Tenny (Palepoi), Sealver (Siliga) and Gionni Paul. And you can’t forget Trevor Reilly. Reilly has played in the league (NFL) and those guys are excited to come back and play here. It was different than any other place we’ve played. They were home.”

The Stallions next host Orlando on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

“I hope it’s cold next week when Orlando comes,” Erickson said. “I hope it’s really cold. I hope it snows.”