Enforcers win in XFL

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Enforcers were in a fight for their XFL playoff lives in the final regular season game Sunday night against the Orlando Rage. They won the fight.\nChicago's ball-control offense and swarming defense led the Enforcers (5-5) to a 23-6 victory, clinching a second-place finish in the Eastern Division and setting up a first-round playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Xtreme.\nThe Enforcers defense forced three Orlando turnovers and held the Rage (8-2), the league's best team, to 177 yards. Linebacker Jamie Baisley, an IU alumnus, led the Enforcers with 11 tackles and a forced fumble. Defensive tackle Don Sasa contributed a sack and an interception.\n"Our defense just played magnificent football for us," Enforcers coach Ron Meyers said. "It was just fantastic."\nChicago's offense was pretty good, too.\nQuarterback Kevin McDougal led Chicago's offense to two early field goals, but it was his execution of two big-yardage plays late in the first half that gave the Enforcers a 13-0 halftime lead.\nAfter a 32-yard run by McDougal left only 1:23 on the clock, a trick play gave the Enforcers an offensive jolt.\nOn the ensuing play, a fleaflicker, McDougal threw a 43-yard pass to wide receiver Junior Lord, bringing the ball to the three-yard line.\nAnother quarterback draw by McDougal gave Chicago its first touchdown of the night. Running back LeShon Johnson ran for the point after to make the score 13-0.\n"Coach (Meyers) made some great calls tonight," McDougal said. "We took a shot with those two players and we scored. That's what broke the game open."\nThe Enforcers put the game away early in the third quarter, when Chicago took the second half kickoff 72 yards, culminating in a 29-yard scoring strike from McDougal to wide receiver Aaron Bailey. McDougal's lob pass to tight end Willy Tate in the corner of the end zone accounted for the point after and gave the Enforcers a 20-0 lead.\nMcDougal completed 13 of 20 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown. He rushed three times for 34 yards and a touchdown.\n"He's mobile and poised in the pocket," Chicago running back John Avery said. "That's what it takes, guys stepping up. And (McDougal) stepped up today."\nAvery, the XFL's leading rusher, carried the ball 10 times for 41 yards. In nine games, Avery is averaging 89 rushing yards per contest. He missed one game because of an injury.\nThe only blemish on the Enforcers' victory was a 51-yard touchdown pass from Rage quarterback Brian Kuklick to wide receiver Dialleo Burks on the last play of the third quarter.\nDespite the touchdown, Chicago completed the greatest story, thus far, of the first XFL season.\nBeginning the season 0-4, the Enforcers were written off as the inaugural league's worst team. But by winning five of its last six games, Chicago earned a playoff berth.\nChicago and Los Angeles will play April 14 for the right to advance to "The Million Dollar Game," the XFL's version of the Super Bowl. San Francisco and Orlando will play in the opposite bracket.\nThe game was dubbed appropriately because the winning team in the April 21 championship game will receive a million dollars, to be divided among players and coaches.