The Maine Mammoths probably wish the first half of their inaugural season in the National Arena League went as well as their second half. Maine made it four straight wins by taking down the third place Columbus Lions 42-35 Saturday night at the Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia.
Jonathan Bane tossed six touchdown passes without an interception in what was a back and forth battle between the two teams. Bane threw scores to Edgar Poe Jr and Devin Wilson giving Maine a 14-7 lead after one quarter, after Columbus (8-6) had scored on the first possession of the game. After Columbus tied it at 14, Bane connected with Rob Brown to regain the Mammoths lead at 21-14. Keiron Jones interception set Maine up for another score making it 28-14. The Lions second quarterback of the night Jeremy Johnson snuck in for a short TD run late in the half to cut it to 28-21. Mammoths kicker Henry Nell had a chance to give the visitors a 10 point halftime advantage, but missed a 19 yard field goal attempt with one second to go.
Both teams scored a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 35-28, before Wilson caught a big touchdown in the fourth that ended up the game winner making it 42-28. The Lions got a late score but couldn’t come up with the equalizer as Maine improves their record to 6-8. The Mammoths have now beaten the Lions in back to back matchups, after the Lions pummeled Maine 55-34 back on June 9th in Columbus.
Maine will try to finish their first season with a five game overall winning streak, and a five game home winning streak when they host the Jacksonville Sharks next Saturday at 7 pm. The Sharks are tied for first place in the NAL standings after beating the Massachusetts Pirates 45-36 Saturday night, but own the tiebreaker by winning two of three games versus the Pirates. Jacksonville has won all three meetings with Maine this season, 48-31 at Portland, then 46-25 and 51-21 in Florida.
MNE 14 14 7 7- 42
COL 7 14 7 7- 35
