Post by MGB01 on May 31, 2005 0:39:51 GMT -5
LOS ANGELES-It wasn't pretty, but Bob Toledo got his first season-opening win as head coach of the Los Angeles Xtreme on the strength of a 24-yard field goal by Billy Bennett to beat the Outlaws 18-16 at the L.A. Coliseum Sunday. A strong effort against the run which limited the Outlaws to just 25 yards--including a career-worst 3 yards for Hodges Mitchell and a sack of Jason Gesser in the endzone by Lonnie Ford with 11:34 left in the fourth quarter also making the difference.
Mitchell didn't have the yards, but gave the Outlaws the lead at 7-3 with 4:53 left in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. Gesser connected with Na Brown on a play that ended up going for 80 yards to put the Outlaws at the 2. But the Xtreme defense tightened up and nearly held the Outlaws out of the endzone, forcing them into a fourthand-goal at the 1, where Mitchell went over.
They advanced the lead to 10-3 at the half as Kris Stockton hit from 28 with 1:31 to play after Rien Long recovered a Mark Pierce fumble at the Xtreme 30 with 3:19 left.
Dwone Hicks' 1-yard burst tied it at 10 and Bennett gave the Xtreme the lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter after hitting from 41 yards out. Then in the fourth, Regan Upshaw collared Mitchell for a four yard loss, and Ford blew through the line on the next play and dragged Gesser down in the endzone.
Gesser hooked up with Brown again for 53 yards two series later for the Outlaws, and completed his next two passes down to the Xtreme 2, where Ken Simonton, who was originally drafted by the Xtreme in 2002, went in for the go-ahead touchdown. Matt Murphy couldn't haul in Gesser's pass for the two-point conversion, and the score stayed at 16-15 with 4:23 left in the game.
The Outlaws appeared to be headed towards a season-opening win over the Xtreme for the second straight year and their first-ever win in Los Angeles but Woodrow Dantzler hit Kareem Kelly for 28 on fourth-and-18 from the Xtreme 35 with 1:43 left. Dantzler hit on three straight passes after that to get the Xtreme down to the Outlaws 8, but that was nearly fatally snapped as he missed Kelly in the endzone and was nearly picked off by Joey Thomas.
After the Xtreme took the lead the Outlaws took the ball one last time, but couldn't get anything going and Gesser's last play hail mary was picked off by DeShaun Hill.
After a scoreless first quarter, Bennett broke the stalemate with 46-yard field goal with 8:12 left in the second quarter.
Both quarterbacks struggled on the day combining to go 31 of 64 for 499 yards and two interceptions, Dantzler faring slightly better than Gesser, going 18 of 34 for 246 yards and an interception, while Gesser went just 13 of 30 for 256 yards and an interception. Ford had three sacks for the Xtreme. 2003 XFL sack champ Kelvin Kinney had two for the Outlaws.
"It's gonna hurt cause we had chances to win this game, and we didn't" said Outlaw linebacker John Norman, who was the top tackler on the field with 15, "It was tough for us to win in (San) Francisco last year, now it's gonna be even tougher. But we can't afford to come back to Vegas 0-2, just can't". The Demons beat the Bolts 14-10 in Birmingham Sunday.
Sultan McCullough had 93 yards on 24 carries for the Xtreme.
Mitchell didn't have the yards, but gave the Outlaws the lead at 7-3 with 4:53 left in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. Gesser connected with Na Brown on a play that ended up going for 80 yards to put the Outlaws at the 2. But the Xtreme defense tightened up and nearly held the Outlaws out of the endzone, forcing them into a fourthand-goal at the 1, where Mitchell went over.
They advanced the lead to 10-3 at the half as Kris Stockton hit from 28 with 1:31 to play after Rien Long recovered a Mark Pierce fumble at the Xtreme 30 with 3:19 left.
Dwone Hicks' 1-yard burst tied it at 10 and Bennett gave the Xtreme the lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter after hitting from 41 yards out. Then in the fourth, Regan Upshaw collared Mitchell for a four yard loss, and Ford blew through the line on the next play and dragged Gesser down in the endzone.
Gesser hooked up with Brown again for 53 yards two series later for the Outlaws, and completed his next two passes down to the Xtreme 2, where Ken Simonton, who was originally drafted by the Xtreme in 2002, went in for the go-ahead touchdown. Matt Murphy couldn't haul in Gesser's pass for the two-point conversion, and the score stayed at 16-15 with 4:23 left in the game.
The Outlaws appeared to be headed towards a season-opening win over the Xtreme for the second straight year and their first-ever win in Los Angeles but Woodrow Dantzler hit Kareem Kelly for 28 on fourth-and-18 from the Xtreme 35 with 1:43 left. Dantzler hit on three straight passes after that to get the Xtreme down to the Outlaws 8, but that was nearly fatally snapped as he missed Kelly in the endzone and was nearly picked off by Joey Thomas.
After the Xtreme took the lead the Outlaws took the ball one last time, but couldn't get anything going and Gesser's last play hail mary was picked off by DeShaun Hill.
After a scoreless first quarter, Bennett broke the stalemate with 46-yard field goal with 8:12 left in the second quarter.
Both quarterbacks struggled on the day combining to go 31 of 64 for 499 yards and two interceptions, Dantzler faring slightly better than Gesser, going 18 of 34 for 246 yards and an interception, while Gesser went just 13 of 30 for 256 yards and an interception. Ford had three sacks for the Xtreme. 2003 XFL sack champ Kelvin Kinney had two for the Outlaws.
"It's gonna hurt cause we had chances to win this game, and we didn't" said Outlaw linebacker John Norman, who was the top tackler on the field with 15, "It was tough for us to win in (San) Francisco last year, now it's gonna be even tougher. But we can't afford to come back to Vegas 0-2, just can't". The Demons beat the Bolts 14-10 in Birmingham Sunday.
Sultan McCullough had 93 yards on 24 carries for the Xtreme.