XFL Los Angeles Xtreme Press Release 25
 
 
 
 
 
Press Release 25
XTREME IN DRIVER’S SEAT TO WIN FIRST WESTERN DIVISION TITLE
March 20, 2001

Now this was more like it. Temperatures in the 70’s, an enthusiastic crowd of 20,382, and the Los Angeles Xtreme (5-2) living up to its expectations as the best team in the XFL.

Sunday afternoon at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Xtreme upended the previously undefeated Orlando Rage (6-1) 31-6, halting Orlando’s league-best six game winning streak. The win puts the Xtreme a game ahead of the Las Vegas Outlaws (4-3) for first place in the Western Division with three games to play in the XFL regular season.

The Xtreme play two of their next three games at home including next Saturday’s showdown with the second place Outlaws at the Coliseum. The Xtreme beat the Outlaws 12-9 in the teams’ first meeting on February 17 in Las Vegas. On Saturday, the Outlaws beat the Birmingham Bolts 34-12 to remain one game behind the division leading Xtreme.

In its win Sunday, the Xtreme were once again led by quarterback Tommy Maddox. Maddox completed 19 of 25 passes (including seven straight completions in the third quarter) for 199 yards while throwing two touchdowns and rushing for another. Maddox leads the XFL in touchdown passes with 13 and passing yards with 1,588. Maddox, who leads the XFL in interceptions, has not been picked off in his past three games.

The Xtreme offense appears to have hit its stride. Xtreme Wide receiver Darnell McDonald leads the league in touchdowns and touchdown receptions with seven. DMAC caught two TD’s against the Rage on Sunday and has caught at least one touchdown in six of the seven games he has played this season.

Also stepping up, the Xtreme defense. Sunday, the Xtreme defense shut-out the XFL’ s top-ranked offense for the first three quarters of the game. The Xtreme had three interceptions and three sacks, while Xtreme linebacker Juan Long knocked Rage starting quarterback out of the game with a separated shoulder in the second quarter. Brohm did not return. Last week in Birmingham, Xtreme linebacker Shawn Stuckey knocked out Birmingham Bolts quarterback Casey Weldon for the season with a shoulder injury as well.

The Xtreme host Las Vegas Outlaws this Saturday March 25 at 5 p.m.

Xtreme-Rage Game Notes and Quotes

Final: Xtreme 31 Rage 6

--The Xtreme improve to 5-2 and remain in first place in the Western Division. The loss is the first for the Rage (6-1) this season. The win gives the Xtreme a legitimate chance to host the XFL’s championship, also known as “The Big Game at The End.” The team with the best overall record after the first round of the play-offs will host “The Big Game.”

--Xtreme wide receiver Darnell McDonald pulled in two touchdown passes vs. the Rage to extend his league leading total in touchdowns and touchdown receptions to seven. McDonald has now caught at least one touchdown pass in five of the six games he has played this season. McDonald did not play in Week Three against the Outlaws with a hip injury.

--Xtreme quarterback Tommy Maddox completed 19 passes for 199 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for one being for being pulled early in the fourth quarter. Maddox extended his league leading total in passing touchdowns to 13. Maddox also leads the league in passing yards with 1,588. However, Maddox who also leads the league in interceptions with six, has not thrown an interception in his last three games including his last 98 attempts.

--The Xtreme enjoyed its shortest scoring drive of the season, scoring in just three seconds when Tommy Maddox hit Darnell McDonald from 8 yards out with 1:04 to go in the second quarter to give the Xtreme a 25-0 lead.

--The Xtreme registered three sacks this afternoon against the Rage to give Team X 24 for the season. The Xtreme rank second on the XFL in sacks seven behind the league leading Las Vegas Outlaws. The Xtreme face the Outlaws next Saturday at the Coliseum.

--The Rage-the league’s top-ranked offense entering the game- were shutout in the first half and for the first three quarters of a game for the first time this season. The Rage lead the league averaging 25.8 points per game entering today’s game. The Rage did not score until 10:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.

--Since returning to the active roster last week against the Bolts, defensive end Dave Richie has two sacks. Richie had one sack this afternoon against the Rage and one sack in his first game back since coming off the injured reserve list 3/04/01.

--Xtreme running back Saladin McCullough rushed 17 times for 57 yards and one touchdown. McCullough has three rushing touchdowns in his last two games. McCullough became the first Xtreme running back to rush for over 100 yards last week against the Bolts gaining 124 yards on 25 carries.

--For the second straight week the Xtreme defense knocked out of the game the opposing team’s starting quarterback. Today against the Rage, Juan Long sacked Rage starter Jeff Brohm, knocking him out of the game with a separated shoulder. Last week The Xtreme’s Shawn Stuckey sacked Bolts’ starter Casey Weldon in the second quarter, forcing Weldon to miss the rest of the game as well as the season also with a shoulder injury.

--Damon Gibson single handedly put the Xtreme in excellent field postion all day long. Gibson returned five punts for 109 yards including a 51 yard return that set up the Xtreme’s first touchdown in the first quarter. Gibson, who also made 5 catches for 52 yards now owns the longest punt return, kickoff return and touchdown pass in Xtreme history. Tonite against the Rage Gibson set an Xtreme record with a 51-yard return to the Rage 20-yard line in the first quarter to set up an eventual 29-yard field goal by Jose Cortez. Last week vs. the Bolts Gibson hooked up with Tommy Maddox for a 58-yard touchdown reception, the longest in Xtreme history. Gibson, also hold the Xtreme mark with his 37-yard kickoff return vs. the Enforcers.

--Damon Dunn is now 0-2 in the scramble for the ball. Perhaps that is a good thing. With the win over the Rage, The Xtreme improved its record to 4-1 when it loses the scramble for the ball.

--Scott Milanovich, the first pick in the fist XFL Draft, saw his first action at quarterback for the Xtreme with 9:02 to go in the fourth quarter. Milanovich completed two of four passes for 45 yards and no touchdowns.

Coach Al Luginbill
RE: Attitude expectations coming into game
“Never look ahead. I didn’t think we would dominate them like this. Coming into this game I didn’t think we played our best yet. We are now starting to get all threee aspects of our game together. Our kicking game, the defense dominated today and our offense had short field goals. We haven’t had a turnover in three games and there are a lot of positives ahead of us. I felt our team would come together sooner in the year. We are now into crunchtime. Our last three games are all in the Western Division. Atleast we have two of our three games at home.”

RE: Defense today and at practice
“Our defense was an angry group of men and I mean in their profession. Last week I was embarrassed by our defense with the Bolts. WE are ranked No. 7 in the league and I never coached a team that has been ranked that low. We have a strong defense. They did a tremendous job today, and they did a great job with what we call yards after the a catch.”

RE: Damon Gibson
“He made a move three weeks ago. He brought a spark to the kicking game. He will be with us the rest of the season.”

Tommy Maddox
RE: The Game
“Its fun when you can win like that. We will enjoy it and then put it behind us. It was a tough trip for Orlando to make. We are finally coming together as a team. We will continue to improve.”

Juan Long
RE: Defense
“We finally took our second half defenseand played with it for the whole game. We focused on making the big play.”

RE: His sack
“There was a hole opened up for me and I just took the quarterback out.”

Darnel McDonald
RE: On his touchdown
“The play is called a fade and I am just suppose to go up and get it. Orlando was not as good as I thought they would be.”

Damon Gibson
RE: Explosive performance
“I’ve been in a situation like this before where I have been out for a couple games and then I come back. I have to have a strong attitude and play my best.”

RE: Punt return
“Really it was that long?”
“Down there you can’t tell how long a return is. I am vcery happy, I just played as hard as I could.”
 
 
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