SACRAMENTO

BEATS VIRGINIA

27-20 IN OVERTIME

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Special to Sacramento Sports News

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Oct. 15, 2011) – Just eight days after losing 28-6 to the same opponent on the road in Virginia, Sacramento scraped a miraculous 27-20 overtime victory, giving the Mountain Lions their first win of the season and handing the Destroyers their first loss.
    With no timeouts remaining late in the fourth quarter, first-time starting quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson hit Otis Amey down the middle on fourth-and-15 with the game on the line down by seven. On the next play, Sacramento tied the game at 20 with another Bethel-Thompson to Amey connection with less than 30 seconds to play.
    In overtime, the Mountain Lions scored through a Kenny Moore touchdown on their opening possession, and walked off the field with a victory after recovering a fumble on the ensuring kickoff.
    Virginia scored the game's first points when Dominic Rhodes beat Sacramento's defense to the pylon on a 1-yard sweep to the right with three and a half minutes to play in the first quarter, giving the Destroyers the early 7-0 lead.

    The touchdown was set up by a 18-yard run from Rhodes earlier in the drive and a 28-yard pass from Chris Griesen to tight end Jamarko Simmons that got the ball all down to Sacramento's 5-yard line. The completion to Simmons was the only passing play of the 6-play, 58-yard drive.
    Rhodes came into the game needing 80 yards to become the first UFL player in history to reach 1,000 rushing yards. He finished the first half with 32 yards rushing on eight carries and the game with 48 yards. Cory Ross, the UFL career-leader in rushing with 942 yards, ran for nine yards on two carries and ended the contest with 14 only yards, so both fell short of the 1,000-yard mark. Ross' playing time has been limited since suffering a hamstring injury in practice before the team's second game.   

    Early in the second quarter, a lengthy Mountain Lions drive stalled on Virginia's 5-yard line and the team elected to kick a short field goal. Jose Martinez's kick was good, but there was a running into the kicker penalty on the play. Coach Dennis Green elected to keep the points on the board by declining the penalty, which would have given Sacramento a first-and-goal situation. The 20-yard field goal made it 7-3, Destroyers.
    Sacramento took the lead late in the second after Will Poole intercepted Griesen and brought the ball back to Virginia's 38-yard line. Bethel-Thompson followed up the big play with a key third-down completion to Otis Amey, and then found Amey wide open in left side of the field for 8-yard touchdown. Bethel-Thompson's first touchdown pass as a starter gave his team a 10-7 lead with three minutes to play in the half.
    Griesen was taken out of the game midway through the first half after suffering back spasms.
    Destroyers kicker Delbert Alvarado hit a 45-yard field goal with three seconds to play in the half to tie the game at 10, then gave his team a three-point lead with a 25-yarder with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter.
    After a long Aaron Woods return on the ensuing kickoff aided by a facemask penalty set up the offense in Destroyer territory, Sacramento's Jose Martinez nailed a 36-yard field goal to tie the game at 13 at the end of the third.
    Virginia took a 20-13 lead after backup quarterback Mike McMahon hit Simmons for a 2-yard touchdown strike in the back of the end zone with just over 10 minutes to play. A pair of long completions to John Standefold, for 23 and 21-yards set up the score.
    On a third-and-12 play on the Mountain Lions ensuing drive, Bethel-Thompson was intercepted in the middle of the field by Aaron Rouse with six minutes to play, momentarily thwarting his team's attempt at a comeback.
    But after a long second-down incompletion by the Destroyers stopped the clock with just under three minutes left, Rhodes lost a fumble on a draw giving Sacramento new life at mid-field, down by just seven points.
    On fourth-and-15 from Virginia's 33-yard line, Bethel-Thompson found Amey deep down the middle for a 31-yard gain to the two-yard line. The next play, Bethel-Thompson found Amey on a fade route to the left, tying the game at 20 with 26 seconds to play.
    On the opening drive of overtime, after Bethel-Thompson hit Amey again for a long pass down the right sideline, Kenny More scored the decisive touchdown on a five-yard end-around run to the right side.
    On the ensuing kickoff, the Destroyers lost a fumble, ending the game and their quest for a perfect season.

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