CINCINNATI -- Quarterback Tyler Sheehan threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Cincinnati Commandos won their second consecutive championship in the Continental Indoor Football League Saturday night, beating the Marion Blue Racers 44-29 at Cincinnati Gardens.
The Commandos jumped out to a 21-0 lead and didn't allow Marion to get closer than eight points the rest of the way as they completed a 12-0 season. The win runs the Commandos' two-year record in the CIFL to 23-1.
Sheehan, a La Salle graduate, completed eight of 19 passes for 93 yards and three touchdowns. The Commandos' defense limited Marion to 15 yards passing and forced Blue Racers quarterback Josh Harris into three turnovers, including a game-ending interception by defensive back Corry Stewart.
Linebacker Wendell Brown led the Commandos with eight tackles. Defensive lineman Pernell Phillips added six, plus one of the two sacks for Cincinnati.
Eight Commandos returned from last year's team that won the CIFL title in its initial season of play.
Defensive lineman James Frazier, one of those eight, returned a Harris fumble at the Cincinnati goal line 49 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to push the Commandos' lead to 21-0.
"When I got ball, I thought I was down because I felt three or four people on my back, but then I felt people pulling on my shoulder pads and when I looked up it was my teammates," Frazier said. "The second time around is better than the first. You know you came back to repeat and you have that target on your back and you still repeat."
It was the Commandos' third win over the Blue Racers this season. Those losses were the only three for Marion.
The Commandos got on the scoreboard first. Two plays after Marcus Spencer picked off a Harris pass and returned it to the Marion 2-yard line, Sheehan kept the ball and walked into the end zone untouched for a 1-yard touchdown.
Sheehan's legs also contributed to the Commandos' second touchdown. He bought enough time scrambling out of the pocket to find Nez Mincy in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard scoring pass. Mincy outfought a Marion defender for the ball, catching it after tipping it.
Marion cut the lead to 21-13 at halftime, but the Commandos scored on their first possession of the second half, on a 6-yard pass from Sheehan to former University of Cincinnati receiver George Murray.
Murray has been playing indoor football for six years, and this is the first championship he's won in any team sport.
"Little League, high school, college - anything. This is my first championship," Murray said. "It feels good."
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