The Sacramento Mountain Lions played at Hornet Stadium for the first time Saturday night and battled back in the final seconds to defeat the Florida Tuskers 24-20.

Mountain Lions’ quarterback, Daunte Culpepper led the team from a 20-17 deficit in the final few minutes of the game. With 30 seconds left, Culpepper connected with Rod Windsor on a 33 yard pass to score the game winning touchdown.

“All I care about is getting a win. We made some plays down the stretch and we won,” Culpepper said.

The Tuskers led 17-7 entering the fourth quarter, but the Mountain Lions rallied and came up with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one coming in the final 30 seconds.

Sacramento showed up in large numbers to support its new home team. Close to 20,000 fans packed the stands at Hornet Stadium, with a lot of them screaming cheers of welcome to Sacramento State alumnus, and current Mountain Lion, wide receiver Otis Amey.

“It was great to do the offensive introductions, everybody was going crazy saying “Welcome back! Welcome home!” Amey said.

The Mountain Lions were happy to see their home fans come out and so they put on an impressive show in Sacramento’s inaugural United Football League game.

“(The fans have) been here for us. Coming through and giving us good support. So yes, I like the town,” said Mountain Lions’ wide receiver Rod Windsor.

The players appreciated the strong Sacramento turnout. Such a great crowd really helped motivate the Mountain Lions.

“Having a packed house like this, first game, it’s phenomenal,” Culpepper said. “It makes us want to go out and just get the job done even more. It’s great. The atmosphere was very exciting and I hope we can just keep it going all year because its wonderful.”

Sacramento evens its record at 1-1. The Tuskers fall to 1-1 on the season. It was Florida’s first-ever regular season loss in its UFL history.

Sacramento travels to Omaha, Neb., to face the Nighthawks on Saturday. The Mountain Lions’ next home game is Oct. 15 against the Las Vegas Locomotives.

AJ Taylor can be reached at [email protected]