Sacramento's Daunte Culpepper (Click HERE for more game photos)

SACRAMENTO MOUNTAIN LIONS BEAT

FLORIDA TUSKERS 24-20 IN THRILLER

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Special to Sacramento Sports News

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Sept. 25, 2010) - Sacramento waited 16 years for professional football to return and on Saturday it did so in dramatic fashion.
    Sacramento quarterback Daunte Culpepper hit wide receiver Rod Windsor for a 33-yard touchdown pass – Windsor's second touchdown reception of the night – with 31 seconds remaining to give the host Mountain Lions a memorable home opener win in front of an estimated 20,000 fans at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University.

    The score capped a wild fourth quarter in which Sacramento scored 17 points.

    “You couldn't ask for a better ending,” Sacramento coach Dennis Green said.
    Culpepper out-dueled fellow former NFL signal caller Brooks Bollinger, completing 26 of 42 pass attempts for 374 yards and three touchdowns. Bollinger completed 23 of 41 passes for 328 yards and one touchdown.
    “Daunte was a warrior right to the end and the guys really stayed together,” Green said. “Despite our discouragement from last week there was never any doubt that the guys would stay together and put forth that kind of game.”

    The win gives Sacramento (1-1) its first win over the Tuskers in three tries and is Florida's first-ever regular season loss. Sacramento is now in a three-way tie with Florida (1-1) and Hartford (1-1) atop the UFL.
    Former Tusker Taye Biddle – who figured prominently in a Florida win over the-then San Francisco Redwoods last season – was Culpepper's big-play go-to receiver, hauling in catches of 18, 54 and 37 yards, respectively, the latter of which set up a Fabrizio Scaccia 54-yard field goal that got the Mountain Lions to within seven points of the lead at 17-10 midway through the third quarter. The kick tied Tusker kicker Nick Novak for the longest field goal in the two-year history of the UFL as Novak hit a 54-yarder in a win over Las Vegas last week.
    Another favorite target of Culpepper's was wide receiver Otis Amey, who played his collegiate ball in the same stadium the Mountain Lions call home. Amey, Sacramento State's career leader in receptions, touchdown receptions and receiving yards, caught seven passes for 94 yards. Running back Cory Ross was caught a game-high eight passes for 57 yards.
    “I just knew that we could play this type of football,” Ross said. “We've been planning and practicing and doing specific things every day and that's what we came out to do today.”
    Florida took a 10-7 lead into the half as Bollinger directed a fine drive near the end of the half, completing four straight passes, including a 14-yard touchdown strike to Cortez Hankton, to take the lead with 1:12 remaining in the half.
    Midway through the third quarter the Tuskers rolled the dice on fourth and eight from the Sacramento 35 yard line and Bollinger hit Cortez Hankton soaring down the right sideline for a 34 yard gain to the one-yard line. The play was initially ruled a touchdown, but Sacramento coach Dennis Green challenged the play. Dominic Rhodes punched it in on the next play to put Florida up 17-7.
    Following two Sacramento scoring drives Florida kicker Nick Novak hit a 30-yard field goal with 2:52 remaining to give the Tuskers a 20-17 lead. Novak's field goal was set up by a pair of fine passes from quarterback Brooks Bollinger – the first to wide receiver Calvin Russell which took Florida from its own 39-yard line to Sacramento's 27, and the second to tight end Jason Pociask which set up the Tuskers at the Sacramento two. An offensive pass interference call on third-and-goal in the end zone backed the Tuskers up to the 12-yard line.
    Sacramento rolled out the red carpet for its first professional football game in 16 years as Kings point guard and 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans competed with former World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champion Urijah Faber, a native of nearby Lincoln, in a football skills contest and Sacramento blues/rock musician Jackie
Greene performed for fans before the game. Jeff Keith, lead singer of Sacramento-based hard rock band Tesla, performed the national anthem.
    “This is really a terrific market and you could tell by the enthusiasm of the crowd,” UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said.

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