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SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Mike Panasuk kicked a controversial 33-yard field goal as time expired to lift the San Francisco Demons to a 15-13 victory over the Los Angeles Xtreme in the XFL opener for both teams. "They called me three days ago and here I am," said Panasuk, who was a high school speech and drama teacher in Lebanon, Indiana. "I got the call during my seventh period drama class." After the Demons were stymied at the line of scrimmage on the 11th play of the drive, the game clock appeared to stop with 20 seconds remaining. Having used all of their timeouts, the Demons still were able to set up for the winning score. Demons quarterback Mike Pawlawski engineered a 12-play, 57-yard drive over the last 3:55 to set up the winning score. Brian Roberson made three catches for 43 yards during the final series. "It was a mayday (situation)," Demons coach Jim Skipper said. "We had no timeouts left. So we had to walk right up there and kick the field goal. We had practiced all that." Roberson made amends after his fourth-quarter fumble allowed Jose Cortez to kick his second field goal, a 25-yarder that put the Xtreme ahead, 13-12, with less than four minutes on the clock. "I had the opportunity to help put the game out of reach, but I ended up hurting my team," said Roberson, who finished the contest with 12 catches for 127 yards. "The coach said to play your game and don't let it get you down. That helped." Pawlawski completed 31-of-47 passes, including nine straight in the second quarter, for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Despite almost doubling the Xtreme's time of possession and enjoying a 334-205 advantage in net yards, San Francisco still had to wait for the game's final play to secure the victory. "When it came down to performing on the last drive, we did what we had to do," Skipper said. Tommy Maddox, a former first-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos, threw for 164 yards on 15-of-27 passing with an interception and a TD. But the Xtreme gained just 42 yards on the ground. "Anytime you lose, it hurts," Maddox said. "Especially today, because we moved the ball well, but didn't have nearly as much success as we would have liked in the red zone." With Los Angeles holding a 7-6 edge heading into the final 15 minutes, Cortez capped a six-play, 38-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal to increase the advantage to four points. Pawlawski responded with his second touchdown pass of the day, hitting Calvin Schexnayder with a 32-yard strike for a 12-10 lead with just over 10 minutes left. With the level of XFL play under close scrutiny, San Francisco and Los Angeles combined to commit 23 penalties for 173 yards. "Part of that was the guys being jittery and nervous," Skipper said. "There were times when they were a little antsy and overanxious, but they did settle down." Skipper left his job as assistant coach for the NFC champion New York Giants to take charge of the Demons. "That was calculated in my decision to come here," Skipper said. "Naturally, I wanted to get into the Super Bowl, but here was an opportunity to become a head coach and I jumped at it."
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