Saturday night in Vegas is usually something special to behold. In this case the spectacle was two winless teams battling to stay out of the basement in a baseball stadium with a football field painted on the infield. Something had to give at Cashman Field when the Orlando Guardians and the Vegas Vipers came together to do battle. Unfortunately, one team would go home still looking for their first win, even after half the 2023 XFL season had transpired.
Orlando had a rough time in their week four game against Houston. They fell behind 20-0 and could never come back, losing 44-6 in one of the biggest blowouts of the season. Orlando quarterback Paxton Lynch did relatively well, completing 18 of 30 passes for 267 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. It was Orlando’s defense that could do nothing right, as Houston scored six times and averaged 7.6 yards per play.
In week four, Vegas was man-handled by the DC Defenders from the beginning, as quarterback Brett Hundley fumbled the snap on the opening drive and DC capitalized on the turnover for a touchdown. The Vipers made a game of it, but they could not stop the Defenders, losing 32-18 on the road. Luis Perez looked good, completing 23 of 32 passes for 283 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Vegas totaled 394 yards on offense, which is quite good, especially against a stingy Defenders squad. Perhaps their offense is now on track?
Orlando took the kickoff on their own 33. Paxton Lynch had a solid opening drive with an 8-yard pass to Lenoir and a 16-yard pass to Latimer. Lynch handed to Martin for good gains. Finally, a 14-yard pass to Charleston Rambo took the ball to the Vegas 5-yard line. Quinton Flowers came in to run the ball but was stopped. An offside penalty against Vegas gave Orlando 1st and goal on the 1-yard line. Flowers easily ran it in for the touchdown. The 1-point conversion was good making the score 7-0 for the Guardians.
Vegas quarterback Luis Perez took over for the Vipers at their own 48-yard line. The Vipers went three and out and punted back to the Guardians. Paxton Lynch got the ball on the Orlando 8-yard line and could not move forward, going three and out himself. Orlando punted back to Vegas.
Vegas started their drive on the Orlando 40. On 3rd and 5 Perez connected a 35-yard pass to Jeff Badet for a touchdown. A 2-point conversion pass to Smith was good, giving the Vipers the lead over Orlando 8-7.
Paxton Lynch seemed determined to answer with points. After gaining one 1st down, Lynch was sacked for a loss. At the end of the 1st quarter Orlando was 3rd and 13 on the Vegas 45-yard line.
Penalties hurt Orlando and Paxton Lynch found himself at 4th and 6 on the Vegas 38. Lynch ran the ball and was stopped well short of the first down.
Luis Perez was happy to take over, and a 27-yard pass to John Lovett moved the chains to the Orlando 34. Another successful pass to Lovett saw a 30-yard gain to the Orlando 3-yard line. A pass to a wide-open Rod Smith in the end zone gave Vegas their second touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 14-7 for Vegas.
Orlando took the ball on their own 30. Paxton Lynch went three and out and the Guardians had to punt back to Vegas. Luis Perez started on his own 35. Perez got two first downs and then the drive stalled. A 39-yard field goal by Bailey Giffen made the score 17-7 for Vegas.
#12 Quinten Dormady was put in at quarterback for Orlando. Dormady took over on the Orlando 29, and passed to Lenoir twice for a 1st down. A 15-yard pass to Latimer moved the chains again. On 4th and 2 on the Vegas 37 Dormady connected a pass to Logan Carter for a 9-yard gain. Then, Quinten Dormady passed to Charleston Rambo for a 25-yard touchdown. Quinton Flowers’ 1-point conversion run attempt was stuffed. The score was now 17-13 for Vegas.
With 42 seconds remaining, Vegas took over on their own 27. Perez connected to Cinque Sweeting for a first down on the Vegas 45. With 20 seconds remaining the Vipers took a time out. A pass down field to Allison was incomplete, and then a pass to Jeff Badet was good on the Orlando 43 with 8 seconds remaining. A second pass to Badet was complete on the sideline with 3 seconds left. A 56-yard field goal attempt by Giffen missed.
At half time, the score was 17-13 for the Vegas Vipers.
Vegas took the kickoff in the 2nd half. Luis Perez started a Viper drive on his own 47-yard line. A defensive pass interference call gave the Vipers a first down on the Orlando 25. Perez handed to Rod Smith for a 3-yard gain, and then Vegas was penalized 10-yards for blocking from behind. Then, Perez completed a pass to Brandon Dillon for a 13-yard gain. On 3rd and 1, Rod Smith ran 6 yards to move the chains. An unnecessary roughness call against Orlando gave the Vipers 1st and 10 on the Orlando 10-yard line. An end zone pass to Cam Sutton was incomplete, and then Perez handed to Rod Smith who took the ball to the 1-yard line. Another handoff to Rod Smith and he went in for the touchdown. A 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 23-13 for Vegas.
Orlando got the ball on their own 27 and Quinten Dormady came back on to lead Orlando. Dormady spread out his attack with passes and running plays. An 8-yard pass to Logan Carter moved the chains, followed by a 7-yard Martin rush and a Latimer catch that moved the chains again. A 14-yard pass to Carter put the ball on the Vegas 34-yard line. An 18-yard catch by Thomas gave Dormady a 1st down on the Vegas 5-yard line, and then a Martin run gave the Guardians a touchdown. A 2-point conversion pass to Latimer was incomplete making the score 23-19 for Vegas.
Vegas took the ball on their 29-yard line. Perez was effective in moving the ball, handing to Lovett for a 11-yard rush, passing to Geronimo Allison for a 21 yard gain, and then passing to Cinque Sweeting for 14 yards taking the ball to the Orlando 9-yard line. A 5-yard pass to Travis Koontz made it 3rd and 4. Unfortunately an illegal substitution penalty brought Vegas back to the 9-yard line.
A roughing the passer call on Maponga gave Vegas a first down. Orlando head coach Terrell Buckley challenged the call and the ruling on the field stood. At the end of the 3rd quarter Vegas was 2nd and goal on the Orlando 2-yard line.
Vegas led off the 4th quarter with a Rod Smith rush for a touchdown. The 1-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 29-19 for the Vipers.
Orlando was sticking with Dormady at quarterback, who started the Guardians drive on his own 27-yard line. A pass to Charleston Rambo moved the ball to the Vegas 45, and then a 31-yard pass to Latimer moved the chains to the Vegas 14. A 7-yard rush by Thomas was followed by a 2-yard rush by Darrington for a touchdown. A 1-point conversion Darrington rush attempt was good. The score was now 29-26 for Vegas.
On the kickoff return, Vegas was charged with a holding penalty pushing them back to their own 13-yard line. On 3rd and 3 Perez connected a 25-yard pass to Cam Sutton on the Vegas 45. A pass to Cinque Sweeting moved the chains to the Orlando 42, and then Geronimo Allison caught a pass at the first down marker for another fresh set of downs. After two short running plays, on 3rd and 5 Perez connected to Jeff Badet for a 25-yard touchdown. The 1-point conversion attempt failed making the score 35-26 for Vegas.
Orlando took the kickoff to their own 29-yard line. Dormady handed to Thomas and he was stuffed for a 4-yard loss. An Orlando holding call made it 3rd and long. The Guardians were forced to punt.
With 3:34 on the clock Vegas took the ball on their own 23-yard line. The Vipers could not move the ball as the clock ticked down to the two-minute warning.
Vegas punted the ball and Orlando returned it to their own 39-yard line. A pass to Eli Rogers gave Dormady a first down on the Vegas 45. A 45-yard pass to Cody Latimer was good for an Orlando touchdown. The 3-point conversion pass to Logan Carter was incomplete. The score was now 35-32 for Vegas.
With 1:11 remaining, instead of an onside kick, Orlando opted for 4th and 15 on their own 30. Unfortunately, Quinten Dormady was sacked.
Las Vegas took possession, however they could not run out the clock. On 4th down, Bailey Giffen was brought in for a 33-yard field goal which was good. An illegal formation penalty against Orlando caused Vegas to take the penalty instead of the field goal, and attempt a 4th and 1 play. A pass to Cinque Sweeting failed and Orlando took over on their own 10 yard line.
Dormady was sacked on 1st down. With 6-seconds remaining Dormady had time for one play. However, a false start penalty negated their chance and the game ended.
The final score was Las Vegas Vipers 35, Orlando Guardians 32.
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
ORL 7 6 6 13 32
VGS 8 9 6 12 35
------ ORLANDO GUARDIANS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Quinten Dormady 22/25 256 10.2 2 0 45 2 - 14
Paxton Lynch 5/9 47 5.2 0 0 16 2 - 11
TEAM TOTAL 27/34 303 0.0 2 0 45 4 - 25
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Jah-Maine Martin 9 36 4.0 1 9
Devin Darrington 6 17 2.8 1 6
Paxton Lynch 4 16 4.0 0 8
Deddrick Thomas 3 15 5.0 0 7
Quinton Flowers 2 2 1.0 1 1
TEAM TOTAL 24 86 0.0 3 9
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Cody Latimer 8 124 15.5 1 45 8
Charleston Rambo 5 69 13.8 1 25 5
Lance Lenoir 5 41 8.2 0 10 8
Logan Carter 3 31 10.3 0 14 4
Eli Rogers 3 19 6.3 0 8 4
Deddrick Thomas 2 14 7.0 0 18 2
Jaylen Smith 1 5 5.0 0 5 2
TEAM TOTAL 27 303 0.0 2 45 33
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Quinten Dormady 1 0 1
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Caeveon Patton 4 7 11.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Terrance Plummer 6 1 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Najeem Hosein 4 3 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Terrance Smith 5 2 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 1 0
Tye Smith 2 3 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Trevon Sanders 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Stansly Maponga 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jacoby Jones 1 2 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 1
C.J. Holmes 2 1 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Trumaine Washington 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Nick Coe 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Lakia Henry 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Erroll Thompson 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Shaquille Wiggins 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Baylen Buchanan 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Matt Elam 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Gerald Willis 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 31 28 59.0 0.0 - 0.0 3.0 0 1 1
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Justin Rogers 1 7 7.0 7 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Justin Rogers 6 99 16.5 19 0
Kicking
FGM FGA FG% LNG
0 0 0.0% 0
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Mac Brown 3 143 47.7 0 0 52
------ VEGAS VIPERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Luis Perez 20/28 269 9.6 3 0 35 0 - 0
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Rod Smith 18 62 3.4 2 9
DeAndre Torrey 6 29 4.8 0 26
John Lovett 5 23 4.6 0 11
Luis Perez 2 9 4.5 0 5
TEAM TOTAL 31 123 0.0 2 26
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Jeff Badet 5 80 16.0 2 35 6
John Lovett 2 57 28.5 0 30 2
Geronimo Allison 3 40 13.3 0 21 6
Cinque Sweeting 3 34 11.3 0 14 5
Cam Sutton 2 28 14.0 0 25 3
Brandon Dillon 1 13 13.0 0 13 1
DeAndre Torrey 1 9 9.0 0 9 1
Travis Koontz 1 5 5.0 0 5 2
Sean Price 1 3 3.0 1 3 1
Rod Smith 1 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 20 269 0.0 3 35 28
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
John Lovett 1 1 0
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Marwin Evans 7 1 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Adam Sparks 3 4 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
C.J. Avery 4 3 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Maximilian Roberts 4 2 6.0 1.0 - 7.0 1.0 0 0 0
Pita Taumoepenu 4 1 5.0 3.0 - 18.0 4.0 0 1 0
D.J. Calhoun 3 1 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Deontay Anderson 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Martrell Spaight 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Nijuel Hill 4 0 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Keylon Kennedy 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Vic Beasley 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jah'Sheem Martin 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
LaRon Stokes 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bryant Jones 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Stephen Roberts 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Kelvin Pinkney 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 39 21 60.0 4.0 - 25.0 7.0 0 1 0
Interceptions
INT YDS TD
0 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Mathew Sexton 2 27 13.5 14 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
DeAndre Torrey 3 81 27.0 42 0
Cinque Sweeting 2 58 29.0 41 0
TEAM TOTAL 5 139 0.0 42 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Bailey Giffen 1 2 50.0% 39
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Michael Carrizosa 2 77 38.5 0 1 39
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS ORL VGS
TOTAL PLAYS 62 59
TOTAL YARDS 364 392
YARDS PER PLAY 5.9 6.6
FIRST DOWNS 24 22
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 16 13
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 8 6
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 0 3
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 50.0% 55.6%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 33.3% 0.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 278 269
PASS COMPLETIONS 27 20
PASS ATTEMPTS 34 28
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 0 0
YARDS PER PASS 8.2 9.6
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 2 3
SACKS ALLOWED 4 0
SACK YARDS LOST 25 0
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 86 123
RUSH ATTEMPTS 24 31
YARDS PER RUSH 3.6 4.0
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 3 2
PENALTIES 10 7
TURNOVERS 0 1
FUMBLES 0 1
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 30:20 29:40
