Cincinnati Commandos Top Marion Mayhem

Published on March 29, 2010 under Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Cincinnati Commandos News Release


The Cincinnati Commandos took care of business vs. the Marion Mayhem on Friday, winning 48-19 in front of 3,273 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

Quarterback Ben Mauk (UC) carried the Commandos offense, accounting for six of their seven touchdowns after tossing five scores and rushing for another. He finished the game 14-21 for 192 passing yards.

Still, despite the success, Mauk wasn't satisfied with his performance.

"You can throw a lot of touchdown passes in arena ball," said Mauk. "Five touchdowns seem like a lot, but we can definitely go for more and we'll try to do that each game."

Two incomplete passes and a minus 3-yard rush was followed by a missed 48-yard field goal to end the Commandos' first offensive possession. However, they were able to avoid the slow start that stalled their efforts in the season opener.

"You saw us rebound from a slow start faster this game than we did last game," Mauk said. "Hopefully we get to the point where, right from the start, we're ready to go."

After that initial drive, the Commandos quickly jumped out to a 22-0 lead on the strength of a superb passing game.

Dominick Goodman led the Commandos receivers with two touchdowns, in addition to several spectacular diving catches in traffic. Brandon Boehm (Mount Union) and Robert Redd (Bowling Green) also had touchdown grabs.

Marion, the defending Eastern Division champions, showed some fight as it ran off 16-straight points on the strength of quarterback Josh Davis' rushing ability.

Up until the final drive of the first half, the Commandos defense held Marion to only a field goal. But two illegal defense penalties set up Davis' 1-yard touchdown run with no time left in the second period and shrunk Cincinnati's lead to 22-9 at the break.

After Davis scored again on an 11-yard scramble to open the second half, Cincinnati quickly responded, scoring in three plays on Mauk's third touchdown pass of the night - a three-yard strike to receiver Dominick Goodman (UC/Colerain) and pushing the lead to 29-16 with 8:21 left in the third.

The Commandos defense allowed only a field goal the rest of the way and pitched a shutout in the first and fourth quarters. The unit finished with three interceptions - one each by Chris Respress (Defiance), Jeff Frankin (Central State) and Robbie Wilson (Miami University) - and five sacks, three by James Spikes (Woodward H.S.) and two by Terrill Byrd (UC/Colerain).

The Commandos poured it on from there on out and the outcome was never in doubt.

A 42-yard bomb to Jesse Wendt (Wisconsin-Stout) for a score with 42 seconds remaining in the game capped off Mauk's offensive onslaught.

Overall, Mauk was satisfied with the team's performance but thinks its best football is ahead of them.

"We're still gelling. We're still finding our team chemistry," said Mauk. "Every time we go out and compete together, we just get better as a team. There's still room for improvement and we've got to get better every day."

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Continental Indoor Football League Stories from March 29, 2010


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