Getting Linux on a Surface can be hard.
How did you format the USB drive? I could never get a usb to boot on my Surface Go unless it was made in Rufus using Windows. I believe you need to format the USB (with no iso) as an unbootable disc with fat32 and GPT and THEN put the iso you want on it. (Two separate operations on the same USB stick.)
There's also a custom Linux Kernel just for Surfaces that you can use for better driver compatibility.
Edit: I see you mentioned Ventoy. I got some ISOs to work with it, but most didn't. Then again, I couldn't get some ISOs to work with Rufus either.
Yes. College age hunks in tight spandex rubbing up against each other. What's not to like?