EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Tommy Maddox threw two touchdown passes and Juan Cortez kicked three field goals to lead the Los Angeles Xtreme to a 22-7 victory over the New York-New Jersey Hitmen on Saturday night.
The heavily promoted “Blood Feud” between Hitmen coach Rusty Tillman and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who provides color commentary on XFL broadcasts, never really materialized despite Ventura’s best efforts.
Before the game in front of the Giants Stadium crowd of 27,479, XFL sideline reporter Fred Roggin asked Tillman if he was afraid of Ventura.
Tillman laughed at the question, and Ventura responded: “He’s speechless. He didn’t talk last week, and he won’t talk this week.”
Later, Ventura criticized Tillman when the Hitmen were forced to take a timeout because the wrong personnel was on the field.
“It’s the responsibility of the head coach to keep things running smoothly,” Ventura said. “Why does he pass the buck?”
Then at halftime, Roggin asked Tillman how he felt about Ventura’s criticism of his play calling.
“Good for him,” Tillman said. “I really don’t care.”
The Hitmen (1-4) dropped to 0-3 at home and missed on a scoring opportunity when they took the opening kickoff and drove to the Los Angeles 16 before quarterback Wally Richardson was hit by Jeff Russell and fumbled.
Leomont Evans recovered at the Xtreme 11 and returned the ball to the 35.
Maddox, who was 23-of-37 for 287 yards, led an 11-play, 65-yard drive capped by Maddox’s 5-yard TD pass to Josh Wilcox. Maddox ran in for the point after.
The Hitmen responded with a 10-play, 71-yard drive that wascapped by Richardson’s 8-yard pass to Zola Davis. Marcus Hinton caught Richardson’s pass for the extra point.
Cortez kicked field goals of 34 and 27 yards before halftime to give the Xtreme a 13-7 lead.
Jermaine Copeland’s 5-yard reception at 9:17 of the third quarter made it 19-7.
A 27-yard field goal by Cortez early in the fourth quarter capped the scoring.
Summary
XFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
LOS ANGELES 7 6 6 3 22
NYNJ 0 7 0 0 7 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: LOS - TD, BRETT WILLIAMS 5 YD PASS FROM TOMMY MADDOX
(TOMMY MADDOX RUN FOR CONVERISON), 9:59. Drive:
10 plays, 65 yards in 5:06. Key plays: Shehee
9-yard run to Loa Angeles 44; Maddox 10-yard
pass to McDonald to New York 40; Maddox 24-yard
pass to Rachel on 3rd-and-1 to New York 7. LOS
ANGELES 7-0
2ND QUARTER: NYN - TD, ZOLA DAVIS 8 YD PASS FROM WALLY RICHARDSON
(WALLY RICHARDSON PASS TO MARCUS HINTON FOR
CONVERISON), 1:12. Drive: 10 plays, 71 yards in
6:04. Key plays: Aska 42-yard run on 3rd-and-1
to Los Angeles 20. LOS ANGELES 7, NYNJ 7
LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 36 YD, 6:52. Drive: 8 plays, 53
yards in 5:09. Key plays: Maddox 17-yard pass
to Rachal on 3rd-and-15 to New York 26. LOS
ANGELES 10-7
LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 27 YD, 12:16. Drive: 6 plays, 27
yards in 3:04. Key plays: Maddox 19-yard pass
to Copeland to Los Angeles 49; Maddox 13-yard
pass to Copeland to New York 38; Maddox 17-yard
pass to Rachel to New York 26. LOS ANGELES 13-7
3RD QUARTER: LOS - TD, JEREMAINE COPELAND 5 YD PASS FROM TOMMY MADDOX
(PAT FAILED), -5:43. Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards
in 5:34. Key plays: Maddox 25-yard pass to
Copeland to New York 25. LOS ANGELES 19-7
4TH QUARTER: LOS - FG, JOSE CORTEZ 27 YD, 2:11. Drive: 13 plays, 74
yards in 7:20. Key plays: Maddox 16-yard pass
to Shehee to New York 24. LOS ANGELES 22-7
ATT: 27,479
