Million Dollar Game – Saturday April 21 11:28 PM ET, Xtreme 38, Demons 6
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Former NFL backup Tommy Maddox threw for two touchdown passes, and Jose Cortez, a roofer from Oregon, kicked four field goals as the Los Angeles Xtreme beat the San Francisco Demons 38-6 on Saturday in the first XFL (news – web sites) championship game.
The “Million Dollar Game” drew a crowd of 24,153 to the 90,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum. Attendance was some 10,000 fewer than the Xtreme’s inaugural game at home, but almost double the gate of 13,081 for Los Angeles’ semifinal victory over Chicago a week earlier.
The Xtreme’s defense, led by Ron Carpenter’s two interceptions, shut out the Demons until the final 25 seconds after earlier blanking San Francisco in the regular-season finale.
Reggie Durden scored on a 71-yard punt return as Los Angeles took control of the title game by building a 21-0 halftime lead.
The Xtreme, who finished 9-3, will split the $1 million bonus 45 ways because the 38 players on the regular roster voted to include the seven players on their practice squad. That works out to $22,222 per man, about half what each earned for the entire 10-game regular season.
Maddox, a former UCLA star who was out of football and running an insurance agency two years ago, completed 16 of 28 for 210 yards and was intercepted once.
Cortez, who finished the inaugural XFL season by making 24 of his last 26 field-goal attempts, connected from 37, 34 and 50 yards, the 50-yarder as time expired in the first half. He added a 22-yarder in the third quarter.
Saladin McCullough rushed for 109 yards on 20 carries for Los Angeles.
The Demons, who finished 6-6, were unable to generate any offense against the Xtreme, who had beaten them 24-0 in the final regular-season game after losing 15-13 in the season opener at San Francisco.
In the rematch for the title, the Demons’ Mike Pawlawkski threw for just 74 yards, completing 8 of 20, with two interceptions.
The Xtreme so dominated that their first punt of the game came early in the fourth quarter.
Until third-string quarterback Oteman Sampson ran 21 yards for a TD in the final minute, the closest the Demons had come to scoring was when Mike Panasuk’s 44-yard field goal try fell short in the second quarter.
Cortez’s 37-yarder gave Los Angeles the lead on its first possession. Early in the second quarter, Maddox faked a pitchout to the left, then threw back to his right to a wide-open Josh Wilcox in the end zone for a 1-yard TD.
Durden’s return came on off Pawlawski’s quick kick. Two Xtreme players collided and fell as they went for the ball downfield, the ball bounced free, and Durden picked it up and ran untouched down the left sideline.
Cortez then tacked on two more field goals before halftime.
Maddox threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jeremaine Copeland to pad the lead to 28-0 in the third quarter.
While small, the crowd was lively and vocal. Some fans wore Xtreme jerseys, a few sported Demons jerseys, but even more wore Raiders silver and black.
The losing Demons earned $7,000 each for making it to the title game.
Vince McMahon, whose World Wrestling Federation and NBC jointly own the XFL, presented the championship trophy, giving fans handslaps as he worked his way down the stands and onto the field.
Although the XFL’s TV ratings were poor this year, McMahon has said the league will be back for a second season.
Summary
XFL CHAMPIONSHIP
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
SAN FRANCISCO 0 0 0 6 6
LOS ANGELES 3 18 10 7 38 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 37 YD, 6:01. Drive: 7 plays, 19
yards in 4:10. Key plays: McCullough 15-yard
run to San Francisco 30; Maddox 14-yard pass to
Copeland on 4th-and-5 to San Francisco 19. LOS
ANGELES 3-0
2ND QUARTER: LOS - TD, JOSH WILCOX 1 YD PASS FROM TOMMY MADDOX (PAT
FAILED), 0:53. Drive: 8 plays, 79 yards in
5:04. Key plays: Maddox 17-yard pass to
McDonald to San Francisco 38; Maddox 32-yard
pass to Leatherwood to San Francisco 6. LOS
ANGELES 9-0
LOS - TD, REGINALD DURDEN 71 YD PUNT RETURN (PAT FAILED),
5:21. LOS ANGELES 15-0
LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 34 YD, 14:40. Drive: 10 plays, 50
yards in 2:05. Key plays: Maddox 16-yard pass
to Gibson to San Francisco to midfield; Maddox
17-yard pass to McDonald on 3rd-and-9 to San
Francisco 22; Maddox 13-yard pass to McDonald
to San Francisco 9. LOS ANGELES 18-0
LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 50 YD, 15:00. Drive: 1 play, 0
yards in 0:02. Key plays: Carpenter 44-yard
interception return to San Francisco 32. LOS
ANGELES 21-0
3RD QUARTER: LOS - TD, JEREMAINE COPELAND 19 YD PASS FROM TOMMY MADDOX
(SALADIN MCCULLOUGH RUN FOR CONVERISON), 5:44.
Drive: 2 plays, 25 yards in 1:18. Key plays:
San Francisco 27-yard punt plus 5-yard
ineligible player downfield penalty to Demon's
25. LOS ANGELES 28-0
LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 22 YD, 13:29. Drive: 9 plays, 42
yards in 6:16. Key plays: Carpenter 9-yard
interception return to San Francisco 45; Maddox
15-yard pass to McDonald to San Francisco 16.
LOS ANGELES 31-0
4TH QUARTER: LOS - TD, LATARIO RACHAL 10 YD PASS FROM RASHAAN SHEHEE
(RASHAAN SHEHEE RUN FOR CONVERISON), 11:44.
Drive: 8 plays, 30 yards in 4:59. Key plays:
Barnes interception at San Francisco 30;
Milanovich 23-yard pass to Copeland on
4th-and-11 to San Francisco 8. LOS ANGELES 38-0
SAN - TD, OTEMAN SAMPSON 21 YD RUN (PAT FAILED), 14:35.
Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards in 2:51. Key plays:
Barnes 15-yard pass to Roberson plus 15-yard
personal foul penalty on Xtreme to Los Angeles
47; Sampson 15-yard run to Los Angeles 36;
Sampson 15-yard pass to Cunningham to Los
Angeles 21. LOS ANGELES 38-6
TEAM STATISTICS
SAN LOS
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 12 19
Rushing 3 5
Passing 8 12
Penalty 1 2
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-9 3-12
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0 3-4
TOTAL NET YARDS 149 349
Total plays 44 61
Average gain 3.4 5.7
NET YARDS RUSHING 47 106
Rushes 14 27
Average per rush 3.4 3.9
NET YARDS PASSING 102 243
Completed-attempted 11-27 18-34
Yards per pass 3.4 7.1
Sacked-yards lost 3-13 0-0
Had intercepted 3 2
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-34.6 1-42.0
RETURN YARDAGE 166 183
Punts-returns 0-0 4-77
Kickoffs-returns 8-158 2-53
Interceptions-returns 2-8 3-53
PENALTIES-YARDS 8-50 8-65
FUMBLES-LOST 2-1 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 26:55 33:05
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: San Francisco (Mike Panasuk 44).
San Francisco rushing: Oteman Sampson 2-36, Kelvin Anderson 11-12,
Mike Pawlawski 1-minus 1.
Los Angeles rushing: Saladin Mccullough 20-109, Rashaan Shehee
6-minus 1, Team 1-minus 2.
San Francisco passing: Mike Pawlawski 8-20 for 74 yards, 2 INT, 0 TD,
Pat Barnes 2-5 for 26 yards, 1 INT, 0 TD, Oteman Sampson 1-2 for 15
yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Los Angeles passing: Tommy Maddox 16-28 for 210 yards, 1 INT, 2 TD,
Scott Milanovich 1-4 for 23 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD, Rashaan Shehee 1-1
for 10 yards, 0 INT, 1 TD, Noel Prefontaine 0-1 for 0 yards, 1 INT, 0
TD.
San Francisco receiving: Jimmy Cunningham 6-71, Sean Manuel 2-12,
Brian Roberson 1-15, Kelvin Anderson 1-11, Travis Moore 1-6.
Los Angeles receiving: Darnell Mcdonald 7-82, Jeremaine Copeland
4-67, Frank Leatherwood 2-36, Damon Gibson 2-21, Saladin Mccullough
1-26, Latario Rachal 1-10, Josh Wilcox 1-1.
San Francisco tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Pete Destefano
3-0-0, Wendell Davis 7-1-0, Dwayne Harper 2-2-0, Kevin Kaesviharn
6-2-0, Toby Wright 4-2-0, Greg Williams 5-2-0, Jamie Reader 1-0-0,
Jon Haskins 3-2-0, Otis Floyd 2-1-0, James Williams 5-1-0, Pene
Talamaivao 2-0-0, Albrey Battle 0-2-0, Eric England 1-0-0, Jimmy
Cunningham 1-0-0, Lee Cole 2-0-0, Craig Powell 1-2-0, Abdul-salam
Noah 1-0-0, Jermaine Miles 1-0-0, Travis Moore 1-0-0, John Dewitt
2-0-0, Kelvin Anderson 1-0-0, Team 1-0-0.
Los Angeles tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Ron Carpenter 0-1-0,
Clifton Abraham 3-0-0, Jeff Russell 4-0-0, Dell Mcgee 4-0-0, Ricky
Parker 3-0-0, Leomont Evans 4-2-0, Matt Keneley 2-0-1, Latario Rachal
1-0-0, Dave Richie 2-0-1, Jamal Duff 2-0-1, Ramondo Stallings 2-0-0,
Juan Long 0-1-0, Damon Gibson 1-0-0, Curtis Eason 0-0-0.
Interceptions: San Francisco (John Dewitt 1 for 8 yards, Toby Wright
1 for 0 yards); Los Angeles (Ron Carpenter 2 for 53 yards, Leomont
Evans 1 for 0 yards).
Fumbles lost: San Francisco (Jamie Reader).
Opponent's fumbles recovered: Los Angeles (Latario Rachal).
Officials: Referee-David Witvoet, Umpire-Al Granado, Head
linesman-Jerry Bergman, Line judge-Tom Hofmann, Back judge-Dino
Paganelli, Side judge-Michael Sheahan, Field judge-Paul Engelberts.
A: 24,153; T: 2:57.
