FORT WAYNE — The Marion Mayhem’s quest for a playoff berth took a major hit Saturday night as they lost 55-40 to the Fort Wayne Freedom.

The Mayhem dropped to 4-3 on the season and are now three games back in the loss column to first-place Rochester in the Continental Indoor Football League’s Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference. They are also two games back of second-place Saginaw.

The top two teams in the Eastern Division qualify for the playoffs.

Inconsistent play in the first and fourth quarters doomed the Mayhem.

Fort Wayne jumped out to the early lead, scoring on its first two possessions of the first quarter.

Rocky Harvey ran for one touchdown and Adrian Reese caught a pass for another score from Antonine Taylor.

After having a Stanley Jackson pass intercepted and missed field goal by Andy Wernicke on their first two possessions, the Mayhem scored late in the stanza on a 22-yard pass from Jackson to Ian Schmidt to cut the lead to 14-6.

James Scott had an interception deep in Mayhem territory on the next interception.
Marion capitalized on the turnover with the Jackson-to-Schmidt combination hitting for 22-yard touchdown.

A 15-yard pass from Jackson to Keith Recker early in the drive led to the score.
Fort Wayne came right back with a touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Taylor to Harvey to take a 21-13 lead, but Marion rebounded with another touchdown.

Jackson scrambled for a 9-yard score and Wernicke’s PAT kick made it 21-20.
Fort Wayne added a field goal late in the second quarter to take a 24-20 lead into the locker room.

After another Freedom field goal in the third quarter upped the count to 27-20, the Mayhem tied game midway through the stanza on a 1-yard run by T. R. Dues and Wernicke’s PAT kick.

But Fort Wayne scored on its next two possessions, once in the third quarter and the second one early in the fourth quarter to take a 41-27 lead.

Both Freedom touchdowns came on runs, a 3-yard tally by Harvey and a 1-yard smash by Taylor.

Marion got on the board again on a 7-yard pass from Jackson to Dues, but the Mayhem defense could not stop the Freedom as Taylor connected with Reece for a 7-yard touchdown.

The Mayhem made one more run late in the quarter.

Dues caught another touchdown pass with a minute left in the game and Wernicke’s kick cut the margin to 48-40.

But Fort Wayne recovered the onside kick and Taylor sealed the win for the Freedom with an 11-yard touchdown run.

It was the Freedom’s second straight victory while the Mayhem had their winning streak end at two games.

TROY - A four-touchdown explosion in the third quarter led the Marion Mayhem to a 61-33 victory over the Miami Valley Silverbacks Saturday night at Hobart Arena.

Leading 19-18 at the half, the Mayhem scored twice on Stanley Jackson touchdown passes, and fumble recoveries for touchdowns by center Steve McCray and defensive back Kelvin Brown to take a 47-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Mayhem (4-2) put the game away in the fourth quarter as Jackson connected with T.R. Dues for a 41-yard touchdown and River Valley graduate Bryceson Lawrence returned a fumble for another score.

The game was marred by more than two dozen penalties and the ejection of Mayhem coach Pepe Pearson.

The Mayhem struggled to get things going offensively in the first half.

They did score a touchdown in the first quarter on a 49-yard pass from Jackson to Schmidt. But the Mayhem trailed 18-7 midway through the second quarter following a 35-yard pass from Jim Oliver to Maurice Lee.

Turnovers and penalties hurt Marion. Joey Owens had an interception and fumble recovery for the Silverbacks and the Mayhem committed six penalties.

But the Mayhem defense did have two interceptions in the first half, one by Arden Banks and another by Kelvin Brown, that kept the Silverbacks from adding to its lead.

Marion closed to within 18-14 with one minute left in the second quarter as Jackson connected with Schmidt for a 10-yard touchdown.

The Mayhem got the ball right back two plays later as a center snap got past Oliver and he was tackled in the end zone for a safety, making 18-16 with 16 seconds left.

A 16-yard strike from Jackson to Schmidt moved the Mayhem to the Silverback 16.

On the last play of the half Andy Wernicke booted a 29-yard field and the Mayhem took a 19-18 lead into the halftime intermission.