CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

Word is that a group of pro athletes is going to put an Arena Football franchise in Cincinnati in the AF2 league. The group is headed by the Bengals' Sam Adams and the Reds' Ken Griffey jr who became close friends when they both played in Seattle. Dr. Tim Kremchek, aka Doc Hollywood, and Rudi Johnson are also in the initial investment group and several more Bengal players are expected to join. This team would start play in the spring of '07.

In the big high school football games on Friday night, Fenwick clobbered West Carrollton 55-12, Winton Woods wasted Loveland 42-0, Hamilton was edged Milford by a 15-14 score and Wilmington was a 34-8 winner over Walnut Hills.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the Queen City, the Mariemont Warriors fell to the Fenwick Falcons 1-0 in state tournament soccer play at Mariemont. Fenwick scored the game's only goal with 12:35 left in the second half on a breakaway by Phil Trotta their speedy center forward.

A blustery Fall Sunday afternoon brought the Carolina Panthers to PBS to test the shaky Bengals. Shakey wasn't the word for it in the first quarter. The announcer said 'three and out' so often I thought it was a baseball game. The Panthers broke through first on a drive near the end of the first quarter that made one think the Bengals just decided not to play defense for a while. That drive inspired the Bengals as they drove for a score to knot up the game. Little used Reggie Kelly caught the pass in the end zone. Carolina took the ensuing kick off and moved quickly for another score - finishing the half ahead 14-7. In the 3rd quarter, the Bengals got a drive going but stalled at the goal line and settled for a field goal. The Bengals had been the only team in the league that had turned every first and goal situation into a touchdown until this one. On the big drive of the game, Carson Palmer threw a gutsy fourth and one deep pass down the right sideline to Chad Johnson for a 32 yard gain to the 3 yard line. Carson followed with a dart to TJ in the end zone to go ahead 17-14. The Panthers drove down the field in the final minutes to tie or win the game but Kevin Kaesviharn intercepted Jake Delhomme's 3rd down pass in the end zone to send the crowd home happy.

On Sunday night, there was just one football game played in the country. The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were featured on ESPN against the South Florida Bulls - no NFL game was scheduled. The Bearcats came out and physically dominated the Big East upstarts from Sarasota. The 23-6 final score was not indicative of how one sided this match was. The Bulls score their 6 points on a touchdown with 50 seconds left in the game. My opinion is that the Bearcats are very close to being very good. They may not knock off any of the big studs on their killer schedule this year but they are definitely building something for the future.