ORLANDO, Fla. -- The crowd was smaller, but no less appreciative of the show.

The Orlando Rage beat the San Francisco Demons 26-14 on Saturday night before an announced crowd of 25,049, down nearly 11,500 from the first XFL game at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Once again the fans seemed more entertained by fireworks, blaring music and dancing cheerleaders than football, which by design qualified the night as another rousing success for the fledgling league owned by NBC-TV and the World Wrestling Federation.

Jeff Brohm completed 10 of 21 passes for 161 yards and one touchdown to pace Orlando (2-0). Mike Pawlawski was 36-of-52 for 294 yards and two TDs for San Francisco (1-1), which hurt itself with 13 penalties, a fumble that was returned for a touchdown and an end-zone interception.

It was an impressive scene outside the stadium with tailgate parties, fans tossing footballs around in parking lots and scalpers hawking tickets that sell for $17, $25 and $35 at face value.

But unlike the previous week when the Rage announced a sellout of 36,503 and said thousands were turned away because the upper deck of the Citrus Bowl is not opened for XFL games, there were lots of empty seats in the lower tier of the stadium.

The play was ragged, with 20 penalties assessed against the teams, and there were long stretches of the game that the teams seemed to lose the crowd until loud music and the Rage's scantily clad cheerleaders brought fans to their feet during timeouts.

San Francisco drove 90 yards on its first possession to score on Pawlawski's 3-yard pass to Brian Roche, then gained only 54 yards the rest of the opening half while falling behind 19-7.

Brohm threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mario Bailey, Omar Brown scored on a 20-yard fumble return before Orlando broke the game open with TD runs by Brian Shay and Derrick Clark.

The Demons scored their second touchdown on Pawlawski's 11-yard pass to Jimmy Cunningham late in the third quarter.