After San Antonio defensive tackle Joey Mbu scooped up a fumble and ran 8 yards for an uncontested score, the Commanders had a 12-point lead in the third quarter. The crowd of more than 29,000 in the Alamodome reached a crescendo.

But Orlando quarterback Garrett Gilbert was not deterred. The former Texas Longhorn carved up San Antonio’s secondary, throwing for 393 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Gilbert’s standout play, along with an interception return for a touchdown from Keith Reaser, lifted the Apollos to 20 unanswered points to close a 37-29 win against the Commanders on Sunday.

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“Collectively on the back end, especially me, we just played bad,” San Antonio cornerback Zack Sanchez said. “We gave up too many plays. Too many easy plays. Not even exotic stuff or anything like that. We weren’t on our p’s and q’s today on the back end. As a group, we take this on us.”

After watching Gilbert throw for 227 yards in Orlando’s 40-6 rout of the Atlanta Legends during Week 1, San Antonio’s defense was prepared to face a bevy of crossing routes over the middle, linebacker Danny Ezechukwu said.

The Commanders (1-1) negated those plays early, limiting Gilbert to 1-of-5 passing with 4 yards during two first-quarter drives as San Antonio took a 12-0 lead.

“We took away a lot of the staples of their offense that they ran last week,” Ezechukwu said. “They didn’t really come back to it again. It was just fades and staying on top of the deep comebacks that we overlooked.”

Apollos coach Steve Spurrier adjusted his offense, and said Gilbert “wasn’t perfect today, but he was close.”

After the opening quarter, Gilbert completed 18 of 23 attempts for 389 yards. Sanchez said the Commanders’ cornerbacks played aggressive throughout the game, making them susceptible to double moves from the Apollos’ receivers.

Charles Johnson hauled in seven catches for 192 yards. Jalin Marshall and Chris Thompson also had catches of more than 50 yards for the Apollos.

“I think they really kept us off-balance and they were really good when they threw the deep ball,” Commanders coach Mike Riley said. “They hit some deep routes off comebacks that were just impressive physically.”

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Gilbert connected with Marshall for a 23-yard score to tie the game with about eight minutes remaining. Two plays later, the Apollos took a 37-29 lead when Reaser jumped in front of Commanders’ quarterback Logan Woodside’s pass to Mekale McKay and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.

“I saw off coverage, and we ran a 10-yard out route,” Woodside said. “It is something we do every day in practice, and we have confidence to throw it to McKay. He ran a good route. I threw it on time, but he just made a good play, and that’s football. I am not going to stop throwing it because I threw an interception.”

Woodside finished 20-of-39 passing for 223 yards, a touchdown to Evan Rodriguez and the lone interception. He drove the Commanders into the red zone with a chance to tie but threw incomplete to McKay on third-and-goal and fourth-and-goal from Orlando’s 4-yard line.

“It’s adversity. Sometimes you start hot and end slow,” Commanders receiver De’Marcus Ayers said. “Sometimes you start slow and finish like we did last week. We left a lot of plays out there.”

San Antonio had three timeouts remaining as Orlando took possession at the 4-yard line with 2:59 to play. The Apollos had run for 12 yards on 10 carries to that point in the game but ripped off runs of 11, 7, 12, 8 and 19 yards to seal the comeback win.

“Obviously they made good enough adjustments to win the game,” Mbu said. “We made some mistakes, and we’ll get better at it.”

Kenneth Farrow led San Antonio with 74 rushing yards on 13 carries, including a first-quarter touchdown. The Commanders outgained the Apollos 118-4 during that period, holding the ball for 13 minutes.

Mbu’s touchdown came after Jayrone Elliott came around the right edge and knocked the ball from Gilbert’s hand.

“I’m excited for us,” Elliott said. “We’re going to learn so much more from this compared to a win last week. We have a bunch of humble guys, and this is only going to make us better.”

The Commanders now have a stretch of four consecutive road games, beginning at the San Diego Fleet at 7 p.m. Sunday. San Antonio’s next game in the Alamodome is March 23 against Salt Lake.

After the AAF’s only Week 2 matchup between two unbeaten teams, Sanchez said he remains confident in San Antonio’s chances to eventually advance to the league’s inaugural championship game in Las Vegas.

“We’ll definitely see them again,” Sanchez said. “We’ll see them in Vegas, and it’ll be a different game. We needed this to wake us up and bring us back down to earth. ... Defensively, we won’t play another game this bad again.

“I still truly believe we’re the best team in the league, and I think we’re going to show that as the season goes forward.”