CIFL champs

Mission accomplished.

The Cincinnati Commandos wrapped up their inaugural season in the Continental Indoor Football League by winning the city’s first professional football championship.

The Commandos (11-1) used four touchdowns from quarterback Ben Mauk, two more from running back Greg Moore and five forced turnovers from its defense to secure a 54-40 victory against the Wisconsin Wolfpack and the CIFL championship Saturday, June 26, at the Cincinnati Gardens.

“It feels absolutely fabulous. Big-time players make big-time plays and that’s all we did all game long,” said Cincinnati head coach Billy Back. “It was a tough-fought game and they put up a fight until the end.”

Wisconsin opened the game’s second half with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schabert to Brandon Wogoman to give the Wolfpack a 21-20 lead, but there lead would be short lived.

“We never got worried,” Mauk said. “We knew they were a good team, but with the playmakers we have at receiver and running back, our offensive line and our defense, we never got worried.”

Mauk, voted league MVP in online fan voting, threw a 27-yard touchdown to wide receiver Robert Redd on Cincinnati next possession, then the Commandos never looked back.

“I could throw [Mauk] marbles and he could make a play out of it,” Back said.

Mauk finished the game completing 18 of 29 passes for 195 yards, four scores, no interceptions and a game MVP award, but was more proud of the team’s title.

“Any time you play in a league, you always want to win the championship, ever since you start playing football when you’re little,” Mauk said. “When we got together, we knew we wanted to win a championship and to do it in Cincinnati is something special.”

Redd finished with a team-high eight receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown against Wisconsin and was named to the CIFL first team as an all-purpose player.

“We’ve got guys like Rob Redd all year doing his part. This guy right here is all-arena. You want to cover him one on one? Come on,” Back said. “I can’t speak enough about this guy.”

Schabert’s fifth touchdown of the night helped the Wolfpack cut Cincinnati’s lead to just seven with less than 90 seconds remaining, but Caleb Bostic recovered the ensuing onside kick for the Commandos and Moore sealed the deal with his touchdown from one yard out with just 22 seconds to play.

The team’s championship capped a season that saw the Commandos come one game away from a perfect regular season in their first season together and a coaching change before the season even got underway.

“[The season] didn’t start off the way we wanted. As a head coach, you want to be able to come in during the offseason and have all kinds of coaches meetings. I took the head-coaching job one week before the first game,” Back said. “It wasn’t the ideal situation, but the way it ended up was exactly how we envisioned it to be when we started back in November.”