ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The crowd was smaller, but no less appreciative of the show.
The Orlando Rage beat the San Francisco Demons 26-14 on Saturday night before an announced crowd of 25,049, down nearly 11,500 from the first XFL game at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Once again the fans seemed more entertained by fireworks, blaring music and dancing cheerleaders than football, which by design qualified the night as another rousing success for the fledgling league owned by NBC-TV and the World Wrestling Federation.
Jeff Brohm completed 10 of 21 passes for 161 yards and one touchdown to pace Orlando (2-0). Mike Pawlawski was 36-of-52 for 294 yards and two TDs for San Francisco (1-1), which hurt itself with 13 penalties, a fumble that was returned for a touchdown and an end-zone interception.
It was an impressive scene outside the stadium with tailgate parties, fans tossing footballs around in parking lots and scalpers hawking tickets that sell for $17, $25 and $35 at face value.
But unlike the previous week when the Rage announced a sellout of 36,503 and said thousands were turned away because the upper deck of the Citrus Bowl is not opened for XFL games, there were lots of empty seats in the lower tier of the stadium.
The play was ragged, with 20 penalties assessed against the teams, and there were long stretches of the game that the teams seemed to lose the crowd until loud music and the Rage’s scantily clad cheerleaders brought fans to their feet during timeouts.
San Francisco drove 90 yards on its first possession to score on Pawlawski’s 3-yard pass to Brian Roche, then gained only 54 yards the rest of the opening half while falling behind 19-7.
Brohm threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mario Bailey, Omar Brown scored on a 20-yard fumble return before Orlando broke the game open with TD runs by Brian Shay and Derrick Clark.
The Demons scored their second touchdown on Pawlawski’s 11-yard pass to Jimmy Cunningham late in the third quarter.
Summary
XFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
SAN FRANCISCO 7 0 7 0 14
ORLANDO 13 6 7 0 26 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SAN - TD, RICHARD ODONNELL 5 YD PASS FROM MIKE PAWLAWSKI
(MIKE PAWLAWSKI PASS TO JIMMY CUNNINGHAM FOR
CONVERISON), 11:39. Drive: 14 plays, 90 yards
in 8:19. Key plays: Pawlawski 15-yard pass to
Young to Orlando 40; Pawlawski 12-yard pass to
Cunningham to Orlando 5; Pawlawski 9-of-10 for
62 yards. SAN FRANCISCO 7-0
ORL - TD, MARIO BAILEY 49 YD PASS FROM JEFF BROHM
(DERRICK CLARK RUN FOR CONVERISON), 13:28.
Drive: 4 plays, 71 yards in 1:43. Key plays:
Clark 8-yard run to Orlando 46. SAN FRANCISCO
7, ORLANDO 7
ORL - TD, OMAR BROWN 20 YD FUMBLE RETURN (PAT FAILED),
13:40. ORLANDO 13-7
2ND QUARTER: ORL - TD, BRIAN SHAW 28 YD RUN (PAT FAILED), 4:09. Drive:
64 plays, 7 yards in 3:37. Key plays: Black 3
carries for 23 yards. ORLANDO 19-7
3RD QUARTER: ORL - TD, DERRICK CLARK 6 YD RUN (MIKE BLACK RUN FOR
CONVERISON), 8:12. Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards in
3:32. Key plays: Brohm 31-pass to Burks to San
Francisco 6. ORLANDO 26-7
SAN - TD, JIMMY CUNNINGHAM 11 YD PASS FROM MIKE PAWLAWSKI
(MIKE PAWLAWSKI PASS TO BRIAN ROCHE FOR
CONVERISON), 14:28. Drive: 13 plays, 93 yards
in 6:16. Key plays: Pawlawski 36-yard pass to
Cunningham to Orlando 43; Young 11-yard pass to
Hundon to Orlando 11. ORLANDO 26-14
4TH QUARTER: NONE
TEAM STATISTICS
SAN ORL
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 24 17
Rushing 6 8
Passing 17 5
Penalty 1 4
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 7-14 2-9
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 2-4 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 359 297
Total plays 70 47
Average gain 5.1 6.3
NET YARDS RUSHING 61 136
Rushes 16 26
Average per rush 3.8 5.2
NET YARDS PASSING 298 161
Completed-attempted 37-53 10-21
Yards per pass 5.5 7.7
Sacked-yards lost 1-7 0-0
Had intercepted 1 1
PUNTS-AVERAGE 3-52.0 4-46.5
RETURN YARDAGE 150 89
Punts-returns 4-74 3-27
Kickoffs-returns 5-76 3-62
Interceptions-returns 1-0 1-0
PENALTIES-YARDS 13-106 7-61
FUMBLES-LOST 2-1 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 34:35 25:25
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
San Francisco rushing: Vaughn Dunbar 6-25, Juan Johnson 8-24, Mike
Pawlawski 2-12.
Orlando rushing: Black Michael 12-60, Clark Derrick 9-45, Shay Brian
2-34, Brohm Jeff 3-minus 3.
San Francisco passing: Mike Pawlawski 36-52 for 294 yards, 1 INT, 2
TD, Brandin Young 1-1 for 11 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Orlando passing: Brohm Jeff 10-21 for 161 yards, 1 INT, 0 TD.
San Francisco receiving: Jimmy Cunningham 10-95, Tydus Winans 6-43,
James Hundon 5-51, Brian Roche 5-27, C. Schexnayder 4-52, Juan
Johnson 3-5, Vaughn Dunbar 2-10, Brandin Young 1-15, Jamie Reader
1-6, Team 0-1.
Orlando receiving: Burks Dialleo 3-50, Swayne Kevin 2-29, Clark
Derrick 2-21, Hart Lawrence 2-12, Bailey Mario 1-49.
San Francisco tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Dave Thomas 8-0-0,
Greg Williams 4-2-0, Wendell Davis 4-0-0, Kevin Kaesviharn 2-1-0,
Pete Destefano 2-1-0, Jon Haskins 2-1-0, Jermaine Miles 2-0-0, Eric
England 1-1-0, Terrance Joseph 1-0-0, Terrell Sutton 1-0-0, Dwayne
Harper 1-0-0, Mike Panasuk 1-0-0, Jamie Reader 1-0-0, James Williams
1-0-0, Otis Floyd 1-0-0.
Orlando tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Brown Omar 10-0-0,
Burgess James 9-1-0, Gilliard Cory 7-0-0, Malveaux Kelly 5-0-0,
Reginald Doster 4-0-0, Alexander P. 3-1-0, Banks Shawn 3-0-0, Fisher
Stephen 3-0-0, Louis Riddick 2-0-0, Clark Sedric 1-1-0, Shay Brian
1-0-0, Anderson Ken 1-0-0, Clements Jimmy 1-0-0, Purvis Andre 1-0-1,
Huff Ben 1-0-0, Campbell Mark 0-1-0.
Interceptions: San Francisco (Team 1 for 0 yards); Orlando (Brown
Omar 1 for 0 yards).
Fumbles lost: San Francisco (Brandin Young).
Opponent's fumbles recovered: Orlando (Brown Omar).
Officials: Referee-Dennis Lipski, Umpire-Frank Kosman, Head
linesman-Jerry Bergman, Line judge-John Mcgrath, Back judge-Andrew
Panucci, Side judge-Gene Steratore, Field judge-Al Delvento.
A: 25,049; T: 0:00.
