Pioneers capture Israel Bowl II over Big Blue in 2OT thriller; Underdogs edge Kings for 3rd place

Any true football fan could not have dreamed of a more perfect finish to a season than the awesome doubleheader extravaganza that the Kraft Family IFL staged last Friday.

Before a record crowd in Jerusalem, the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers were crowned champions of the 2008/09 honeymoon season for Israeli tackle football after a thrilling 32-26 double overtime victory over the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions in an Israel Bowl II that somehow managed to top the non-stop excitement of the morning’s 3rd place contest.

In a delicious appetizer bout between the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs and the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings, it was back-and-forth haymakers throughout until an Ori Shterenback 26-yard field goal with six seconds left, the very first in IFL history, gave the Underdogs the win in an outrageous 43-40 affair.

In the afternoon’s main event, the outcome, and second-season title, was totally up in the air until the very last play of the game, a walk-off 60-yard interception return for a touchdown by the unlikeliest of heroes, the Pioneers’ Ohad Nave, who as recently as a month ago was fighting a severe vision problem that was threatening to end his career.

Big Blue, who had fought back from a large fourth-quarter deficit for the second week in a row to force overtime, and had a foiled chance to win in the extra frame on a two-point conversion that slipped out of the hands of star receiver Akiva Rindenow, ended up conceding their belt to a Modi’in club which was more than deserving.

The Pioneers, who ran the table with nine consecutive wins en route to the championship after a loss to open the season, were their usual consistent selves in Friday’s final. With responsible quarterback play and a balanced running attack, Dancing Camel executed a perfect game plan against Big Blue and, after going up 20-8 before the half, hung around in the face of a torrid Jerusalem comeback to walk away with the victory on one of the few mistakes of the day by the Lions’ offense.

Big Blue QB Aryeh Bauman finished 16-29 for 185 yards and four touchdowns through the air, as well as leading the team in rushing with 41 yards and a bruising two-point conversion keeper. However, he also threw four interceptions, and although two of them were meaningless coming on extra-point attempts, one of the picks was as fatal as could be and he, along with his teammates, had to agonizingly watch Nave run the length of the field to seal Jerusalem’s fate.

O’Neil got Modi’in started in the first quarter with a 12-yard TD run to open the scoring. Big Blue responded early in the second with a 51-yard catch-and-run bomb from Bauman to Gai Van Straten, and the Lions took a brief lead at 8-6 on Bauman’s body-sacrificing conversion. After an Ehud Drori 3-yard dart into the end zone swung the pendulum back to the other side, Dancing Camel extended its advantage to two-score just before the half when Brown found a wide open Ben Gross for a 22-yard score and a 20-8 lead at the break.

The Brown-Schiff tandem combined to finish 8-14 for 88 yards through the air, plus tossing a touchdown and an interception. They ran the offense, in seamless transition, with the same efficiency that was exhibited throughout the season and kept the Pioneers afloat even when Big Blue seemed poised to wrest the game away.

Dancing Camel threatened to run away with it early after the break, driving to first-and-goal on the Lions’ 3-yard line. A huge defensive stand punctuated by a Rindenow interception at the goal line seemed to turn the tide in the home-team’s direction, although the gap remained 12 through a scoreless third quarter.

The Bauman-Rindenow connection would strike early in the fourth after a roughing the passer infraction on Modi’in gave second-life to a flailing Big Blue drive. A 17-yard laser in the back of the end zone to make it a six-point game was just a sneak-preview for the 37-yard rainbow that followed three minutes later that the acrobatic and soft-handed receiver made an unbelievable play on to tie the contest at 20 at the 3:40 mark. Two tense, but unproductive, Pioneer possessions sandwiched another unsuccessful Jerusalem attempt to end regulation and, for the second straight year, the Israel Bowl had to be decided in overtime.

The teams were to trade possessions from each other’s 25-yard line in the extra frame and Big Blue won the coin toss and decided to defend first. An Asaf Katz touchdown gave Modi’in first blood in overtime, but Big Blue stormed back to equalize. Bauman went back to his favourite target, and Rindenow would not disappoint, catching his third TD of the day to keep the drama going.

However, Jerusalem started with the ball in the second go-round and, four plays later, Bauman’s pass at the goal line was picked off by Nave and the rest is history as Modi’in was awarded the Ofri Becker trophy by IFL Commissioner Ben Friedman in a spirited on-field celebration.

While the Big Blue defense, led by Gani Medad and Kasey Stewart, was phenomenal in holding the Pioneers off the board in the second half, it was the Dancing Camel unit that gets the nod, collectively, as Mike’s Place Players of the Game. Nave will obviously garner most of the attention in the aftermath, but Katz (16 tackles and ½ a sack), Jason Gosnel (9 tackles and a sack) and Ron Moscona (four tackles, three pass break-ups and two interception) were all critical, just as they were all season, to the championship-winning performance.

Between O’Neil, the QBs and the defense, it was definitely a case of ‘win with what got them there’ for a Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers squad that will bask in the glory of their remarkable accomplishment throughout the offseason before, undoubtedly, coming back with a renewed passion next year to defend their crown.

In the morning battle between the Underdogs and Kings, Haifa jumped out to 22-0 lead, and held a 28-6 advantage at the break. In the absence of starting QB Itai Ashkenazi, veteran player/coach Ori Shterenbach took the helm and was more than up to the task, taking home Mike’s Place Player of the Game honors.

In addition to kicking the winning field goal, Shterenbach marshalled his team on six scoring drives, finishing 11-26 for 109 yards and four touchdown passes. Three of those scoring strikes were to Shachar Yeshurun, who caught four balls for 56 strikes in the win, which was the first for the Underdogs after three straight losses and allowed them to end the season on a high note.

The Kings stormed back in the second half behind a ridiculous one-man-show performance from quarterback (and pretty much everything else as well) Joseph Marticius. The fiery leader of Blue Sun Music wouldn’t let his undermanned team give up and brought them all the way back to tie the game at 40 with just 1:36 on the clock. He finished with two TD passes through the air, another three on the ground, plus a kick return for 43 yards for another six, as well as five tackles and an interception. In all, the man they call Yossi accounted for 360 of his teams 401 total nets yards in another hallmark performance for his ever-growing highlight reel.

The only mistake Marticius made was leaving too much time on the clock for Haifa, who took advantage by driving 40 yards on nine plays in the final 90 seconds to set up the winning kick.

Max Rivkin (5 kickoffs for 5 touchbacks, plus stellar secondary defense and an INT) was especially noteworthy on the day for Blue Sun Music, which has to be happy with its impressive showing even in losing cause. While the first-year franchise won just one game in their rookie season, emerging stars such as Eli Boymelgreen (2 receptions for 43 yards plus seven tackles and a 26-yard kick return) and Shaya Rubinstein (an interception, 6 tackles and 2 pass break ups) should help keep the organization moving upwards next season. The Kings were really gelling late in the year, even if the results didn’t reflect that, and making the playoffs was an accomplishment in itself for the expansion club.

While the Underdogs’ season did not exactly turn out as planned, especially considering the team’s 6-0 start, the players have nothing to be ashamed of. In Friday’s finale, Arbel Rom and Meir Halachmi (each with a touchdown and forced turnover) were just two of the major contributors on a roster that is stacked with ripe talent on both sides of the ball.

With veteran presence and leadership from players such as Niv Medlinger (1-1 for 29 yards and a TD as a passer, plus 35 more yards in combined offense) and Igal Schneider (team-high 69 yards rushing in the place of absent Lior Subtonik), to go along with fresh up-and-comers such as Konstantin Stolyarsky and Haim Nanikashvili, the future is still bright for Real Housing, whose window of opportunity has not yet closed and showed that it can still exert its muscle when push comes to shove.

It was the Pioneers, however, who peaked at just the right time this year and rode a hot streak all the way to a title. It’s hard to argue that they weren’t the best team in the Kraft Family Israeli Football League in 2008/09, and now the players have an Israel Bowl victory to validate all their hard work.

The IFL now turns its attention to a packed off-season schedule, with the three-day Pesach Rookie Camp first up next week at the Baptist Village near Petah Tikva. Within the next two weeks, the league will be announcing its much-anticipated first and second All-IFL team, with many new faces sure to join the esteemed ranks.

Lions, Pioneers to clash in Israel Bowl II this Friday

After a wild weekend of semifinal football in the Kraft Family IFL, two teams emerged from the scrum with a golden ticket to the championship game. One will be looking to complete a remarkable single-season turnaround while the other will be trying to defend the title that is still rightfully theirs.

The top-seed Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers were tested at home on Saturday night by the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings, but managed to assert control and claim their eighth straight victory in a chippy 38-22 affair.

At exactly the same time, in the capital, the most outrageous finish in IFL history ended in ecstasy for the hosts and agony for the visitors as the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions rallied from being down by 12 with under five minutes remaining to pull out an improbable 24-22 victory over the second-seed Real Housing Haifa Underdogs and book their spot in Friday’s final.

Big Blue continued its dominance of the Underdogs at Kraft Stadium, winning for the fifth time in five meeting between the two clubs there to keep its winning streak, now at four and counting, intact. Aryeh Bauman threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns to Akiva Rindenow, the second providing the margin of victory with two seconds left, and the Lions’ defense contributed with a safety and a TD of its own to overcome a courageous effort from Haifa’s Itai Ashekenazi in a losing cause.

The defending champions from Jerusalem now have a chance at a repeat when they meet a red-hot Dancing Camel squad this Friday afternoon at Kraft in Israel Bowl II. The Pioneers, who continue to distance themselves from the club that finished 3-7 last season, rode solid, if not spectacular, performances from pretty much everyone on the field to jump out to a 22-0 first-half lead in their semifinal on Saturday night, an advantage which they would never seriously jeopardize.

While the Kings pulled to within eight and kept on fighting until the end, Modi’in was simply too strong and added to a string of victories that began four month ago after a loss to the Underdogs in their very first game of the year. Tal Brown and Shmuel O’Neil combined for three scores on the ground and the Pioneers rushed for a season-high 196 yards to power their way into the championship match as a the decided favourites.

Befitting the overall quirkiness that the 2008/09 season has brought, both of Saturday night’s contests opened with safeties for the first points. The Lions’ Gani Medad staked his team to a short-lived 2-0 lead against Haifa while Asaf Katz got things going early for the Pioneers, tackling Kings’ quarterback Joseph Marticius on just the second play from scrimmage after an errant snap into the end zone. The Pioneers would tack on another eight before the first quarter was out when Uri Schiff and the sparsely-used Shai Gotlieb hooked up for an 11-yard TD that Kobi Nimrod converted.

In Jerusalem, the Underdogs would benefit from a Ben Kroll interception and return to the Big Blue one-yard line to get on the board with an Ashkenazi quarterback-sneak for a touchdown and a conversion for two points by Niv Medlinger. Ashkenazi would throw the ball only 12 times for the day, completing six of them for 76 yards and one TD with not picks. However, it was more what the not-such-a-rookie field-commander did with his feet that almost was enough to send his team to its second straight Israel Bowl. The Real Housing QB ran the ball for 82 yards on 10 carries and picked up three crucial first downs, two of them on rushes of over 20 yards. His aggressive, but almost error-free, style of play in which he makes great decisions under pressure in both his passing and running games will serve his team well for many years to come.

While Big Blue would briefly take the lead, at 10-8, on a defensive touchdown by Ido Ben Dayan that came after a botched snap on a punt attempt, Haifa would quickly go back on top before the half when Ashkenazi tossed a 39-yard touchdown bomb to Sa’ar Barda that he would convert himself for a 16-10 advantage. Barda was another bright spot for the Underdogs on the night, finishing with four catches for 51 yards and booting three touchbacks in four kickoffs and taking care of the punting duties as well. While he didn’t play in many games this season, his impact was wildly evident whenever he suited up and he is another of the lynch pins in Real Housing’s future plans. Barda also had a chance to send his team to victory on the last play of the game with a desperation 44-yard field goal attempt that would have pushed them to a one-point win, but his kick came up short and right to seal the Underdogs’ fate.

Meanwhile, back in Modi’in, the Kings would have possession of the ball for a measly 90 seconds in the second quarter, but it was still enough for them to put 14 points on the board in a frantic final two minutes of the half that saw them pierce the goal line twice. After the Pioneers scored midway through the quarter and then immediately recovered a first-down Blue Sun Music fumble to set up another scoring drive on the first of Brown’s two touchdowns and a three-score gap, it looked as if a Dancing Camel whitewash was in the works and it had the potential to get ugly quickly.

However, the wily Marticius reached into the closet and pulled out some of the pixie dust that he used so often early in the season to establish himself as the IFL’s resident gun-slinger, tossing completions left and right and running amok between multiple tacklers with his quick jukes and sharp head fakes. He finally got back together with favourite receiver Chaim Gross, who had not scored a touchdown in four games but broke out for three on Saturday night to account for all of the Kings scoring. The first was a 13 yard strike that was perfectly placed and got Jerusalem on the board, and after an O’Neil fumble gave Blue Sun Music another opportunity, the two Kings game-breakers played toss-it-up-and-go-fetch for a 36-yard rainbow into the house to bring the score to a respectable 22-14 heading into the break.

After the interval, the scoring wave settled down and the Kings and Pioneers traded unproductive possessions which took up most of the third quarter. While the penalty flags began flying due to the heightened passion and intensity being displayed on the field, the eight-point gap kept the drama at full-tilt and the pace of play consistent. With two minutes to go in the frame, Brown broke free of the lock jam by finding a hole and bee-lining 27 yards into the end zone for his second TD of the game to provide a comfortable cushion once again for Modi’in, at 30-14, approaching the fourth quarter.

O’Neil’s 11-yard scoring run with 3:33 to go put the finishing touches on Dancing Camel’s offensive output and meant that the last couple of minutes were simply a formality. Mariticius and Gross would connect for another touchdown pass, this one for 11 yards, to round out the 38-22 final score, and the last couple of drives devolved into an on-field fracas and an assortment of personal fouls by the frustrated Kings, who played one of their best games of the season only to have their pie-in-the-sky title hopes finally dashed.

While the third and fourth quarters of Modi’in’s semifinal victory were somewhat anti-climactic, the second half of the Lions-Underdogs duel was a riveting 24 minutes of football, chock-full of drama, tension, and end-to-end thrills – basically everything you could ever hope for in a match of such magnitude.

Both Haifa and Big Blue settled in to a conservative frame of mind after halftime, with neither defense wanting to make a crucial mistake that would shift the game’s momentum. Each side was unsuccessful on a pair of third quarter possessions, and the Lions entered the final 12 minutes down six points.

Early in the final frame, with Jerusalem driving deep in Haifa territory, a ten-yard sack by Losha Ivlev would force another Big Blue punt and an Underdogs’ scoring drive on the ensuing set of downs. Running back Lior Subotnik, who was held relatively in check for the final three games of the season, all Real Housing losses, finally found some open room to run and break free for a 21-yard gallop into the end zone for what at the time appeared to be the nail-in-the-coffin blow for Big Blue, who were looking up at a 22-10 scoreboard, a 12-point deficit, with the clock reading just 4:18

This was the playoffs, however, the place where legends are made and heroes are born, and the defending champions weren’t about to let the Underdogs whittle away the clock and beat them for the first time ever in Jerusalem. Bauman, who quarterbacked his club to a late TD drive in its previous game, was as pumped as ever with a chance to do it all over again, this time with a trip to the title game on the line. Responding well to the late pressure, Big Blue’s QB made up for his two interceptions for the night by orchestrating a quick, four-play drive that culminated in a pass to Rindenow for an 18-yard TD, which Bauman himself topped off with a conversion to narrow the gap to four, at 22-18, with under two minutes to go.

Starting from their own 19-yard line, the Underdogs knew that a couple of first downs and then they could run out the clock for the victory. When Ashkenazi took off downfield for a 30-yard gain and a first and goal from the Jerusalem 10, it looked to be all over Big Blue. Forced to burn their remaining timeouts, they managed to stand up the Real Housing offense on four consecutive plays to regain possession of the ball deep in their own zone with just 50 seconds left in regulation and down four points.

A storybook ending seemed to be setting itself up and the Lions would not disappoint. The first two plays took over 40 seconds and resulted in a defensive pass interference call on the Underdogs and a pass incomplete in the end zone to stop the clock. On second down from the 15-yard line, Rindenow faked one way and broke the other to find himself open for a picture-perfect pass from Bauman for a touchdown with just two ticks on the clock that gave Big Blue a 24-22 lead and send its players streaming onto the field in glee.

The Lions’ celebration was a bit premature, however, and the excessive display of joy almost led to their demise when a penalty forced them to kick from further back. A Rindenow squib kick was immediately downed by the Underdogs to set up a rarely-used and arcane rule application whereby if time runs out in either half on a kickoff and the receiving team downs the ball without forwarding it, they will have one additional play which they can only use to attempt a field goal from wherever the ball is on the field.

The alert thinking by the Haifa coaching staff gave them the opportunity for a game-winning field goal try, the first such attempt in the IFL this season. The ball was set at around midfield, meaning the three-point try would be from almost 50 yards away. Although Barda put all of his heart and his foot into the kick, it was just a little bit too short and wide and Big Blue completed their furious rally to hold on for the two-point win that sends them into the championship game on an unparalleled high.

The weekend’s Mike’s Place players of the game awards go to Akiva Rindenow of the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions and Shmuel O’Neil of the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers. Rindenow’s pair of late TDs were obviously the highlight of his night, but he also had a great all-around game, grabbing a team-high four catches for 75 yards and continuing his excellent work in the kickoff and punting departments. O’Neil was the leading rusher on his team’s record-day on the ground, finishing with 80 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. He also returned three kickoffs and two punts for 91 yards to compile 171 total yards and added a tackle on defense. He continues to be a key veteran presence and leader-by-example on a Modi’in club which has no shortage of glue guys, the type of character and team players that are necessary on any title roster.

With an 8-1 overall record, an eight game winning streak and the combination of the IFL’s most potent offense and stingiest defense, Dancing Camel will be coming into Friday’s Israel Bowl as the safe bet to win it all. Big Blue will be no pushover, however, especially playing in their home stadium, where they have lost only once in 14 tries over the past two years. While the Pioneers won both of the teams’ previous meetings this season, each of the games went down to the wire and could have gone either way.

Modi’in thinks it has the Lions’ number. Big Blue knows how hard it is for a team to beat a closely-matched opponent three times in one year (recall Patriots-Giants two Super Bowls ago). It all shapes up for a mouth-watering treat of a game to top off an Israel Football League season which couldn’t have been scripted any better.

Friday’s IFL season-ending doubleheader finale gets under way at Kraft Family Stadium with a consolation game between the Underdogs and Kings at 10:30 a.m. That match, for third place, will be followed by the main event 1:30 p.m. when the Lions and Pioneers face off in Israel Bowl II for the Israeli Football Championship.

Lions deal Sabres a knock-out blow

I guess it should come as no surprise that the Kraft Family IFL regular season finale was packed full of drama until the very last play. After all, that’s the way the whole year went and why would it stop now, just when the action is reaching its peak?

On Friday in the capital, the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions continued their late-season return to form by spanking the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres, 38-20, in front of a lively crowd at Kraft Stadium. The Lions scored six touchdowns, from five different players, and put up points in every quarter to defeat a Tel Aviv squad that fought valiantly to the very end, but ultimately had their postseason hopes crushed in the most heartbreaking fashion possible.

While the victory was important for the Lions in the sense that it improved the team’s record to 5-3 and ushered them into the playoffs riding a three-game winning streak, in the big picture, the 18-point margin of defeat was the most crucial aspect of the game and the part that will keep the Sabres’ players up for many nights in the offseason.

The Lions came into Friday’s meeting already locked in to its third-place seeding and approaching the game as a tune-up for their first-round match against the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, was fighting for its playoff life, with just one victory on the season and needing another win, or at least a loss by less than 12 points, to beat out the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings for the final postseason berth.

The Sabres all knew coming in that a loss to the Lions by more than a dozen points would spell the end of their season and send the Kings, who would finish with an identical 1-7 mark, through to face the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers in the semifinals, based on the intricate IFL tie-breaker system.

Heading into the final quarter, with Jerusalem up 18-14 and a tight, end-to-end battle being fought on the field, the Blue Sun Music squad, who were in the stands anxiously rooting for a Big Blue blowout, began to see their chances slipping away. However, the Lions scored three times in the final frame and forced a key fumble by the Sabres in the final minute to set up their last drive of the game, which ended in an 18-yard TD pass from Aryeh Bauman to Amichai Bergman with the clock at zero to provide the necessary points to send Tel Aviv packing for the season and the Kings’ players jubilantly streaming onto the field.

It was a cruel fate for a Sabres squad that had really shown drastic improvement in the past month and was definitely not the fifth-worst team in the league at season’s-end. But them’s the breaks – as they say, all’s fair in love and football – and Mike’s Place will now have to wait to next year to resume its rebuilding process and continue its climb up the echelons of the IFL elite.

For Big Blue, Friday’s contest was exactly what it needed to prepare for next week’s big showdown, which has been switched to a home game for the lucky Lions to accommodate Haifa’s scheduling needs. Both on offense and defense, the Lions were able to work out kinks in their game-plan, especially in the passing attack, and use the high-intensity of their opponent, for whom Friday’s game was a essentially a playoff match, to test themselves and try various personnel combinations.

Bauman continued his string of impressive performances at quarterback and came out gunning early. On Jerusalem’s first possession of the day, He completed six passes to three different receivers and finished off the drive with a TD run of his own to open the scoring and stake his team to a 6-0 lead. The Big Blue signal caller would have his best game of the year, bettering his last outing and finishing 15-29 for 173 yards and two touchdowns in the air, with no picks. Bauman also added a pair of scores on the ground and ran the ball for a team-high 60 yards on his way to picking up Mike’s Place player of the game honors for the second straight week.

Even after being scored on first, Tel Aviv refused to lose its poise and marched down the field on a 15-play drive that spanned almost eight minutes to take an 8-6 lead on a touchdown and two-point conversion from Eitan Ben David. Hammude Kassas was once again the main focus for the Sabres’ offense, coming out of the backfield to get the majority of touches. However while continuing his bruising style and finishing his runs with both speed and power, Kassas was unable to find many holes in the Big Blue line. Even though he finished with 51 yards and two touchdowns, his 2.5 yards/carry average was mediocre, at best, and he was stuffed for losses by the tenacious Lions defenders numerous times throughout the afternoon.

Most of the second quarter was a classic battle between the teams for field position. Both the Lions and Sabres were stifled by each other’s dogged defense and they traded three-and-outs back and forth like old baseball cards. An inadvertent whistle (on a play that would have resulted in a muffed punt by Big Blue and a Sabres’ possession) allowed Jerusalem to regain control of the ball and Bauman would not waste the gift of an opportunity, orchestrating another scoring drive to retake the lead for good on Yonah Mishaan’s two-yard burst into the end zone just before the half.

Down 12-8 at the interval, the Sabres weren’t where they wanted to be, but they also weren’t in a terrible spot either, and it appeared that they had enough in the tank to at least keep the contest close enough to get them into the dance. However, Tel Aviv couldn’t seem to get any sustained momentum going on offense, and QB Tamir Elterman tossed his only interception of the day, to safety David Sidman, setting up a Bauman 32-yard bomb to Gai Van Straten on the very next play for a touchdown and 18-8 lead. Van Straten would be a safety blanket for his quarterback all day, making a number of acrobatic catches on balls that were difficultly placed. Between him, Bergman, Mishaan and Akiva Rindenow, Big Blue finally has a number of viable options at the receiver position, something that was a glaring weakness for much of the year.

That score seemed to infuse a little more desperation into Mike’s Place and the club stormed out and punched in another six points before the third quarter came to a close. Kassas punctuated another drive of double-digit plays with a lunging dive into the end zone to keep the contest within four points, at 18-14, heading into the fourth.

However, Big Blue would execute three-scoring drives in the final frame, each starting from deep in their own territory, to squash any hopes Tel Aviv had of coming back, or even staying close. Matan Lavi provided crucial chunks of yards, with almost all of his 46 rushing yards coming in the last quarter, and his touchdown with 11 minutes left seemed to open the floodgates for an outburst of offense. Kassas would score his second of the day midway through the fourth, but Bauman would respond with an 18-yard keeper to boost the lead back up to 12 at the two-minute warning.

Had the game finished with exactly a 12-point margin of victory, the final playoff spot would have had to be decided through a coin toss. Evidently, the football gods did not like that potentiality and wanted to ensure that a true winner, with postseason seed included, would be decided on the field. At first, it seemed as if the Sabres would be the ones to score the final points to push them forward for another week. They had the ball and were driving deep in Big Blue territory with five straight chances to score from relatively close.

However, Liran Hovav fumbled the ball on a fourth-down reverse attempt, allowing Jerusalem to regain one final possession with 36 seconds remaining. Wanting to see their cross-town rivals, the Kings, in the playoffs, and also wanting to play to the very end in a game which they themselves had nothing to lose, Big Blue steeled itself for one more drive and after a completion, a defensive pass interference, and a 20-yard Bauman scramble, the Lions’ QB finished off his gem of a day with one more pin-point pass to Bergman in the back of the endzone for the game’s final – and most dramatic – points, the knock-out punch, so to speak, to the Sabres’ season.

The IFL’s playoffs get under way next weekend with a pair of Saturday night semifinal matches. The Pioneers host the Kings in Modi’in in one contest while the second-seed Underdogs travel to Jerusalem to face Big Blue in another. The winners of those games will meet in Israel Bowl II at Kraft Family Stadium on Friday, April 3 for the championship.

Pioneers topple Underdogs to clinch top seed

Tackle football took center stage in Israel over the weekend with a pair of rock-’em, sock-’em end-of-season matches, and the Kraft Family IFL emerged as the consensus overall winner… although the finally first-place Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers and the now 4-3 Big Blue Jerusalem Lions could certainly stake a claim to victory as well.

On Thursday evening in the capital, the Lions outlasted their city rival Blue Sun Jerusalem Music Kings, 26-22, in a delicious derby that wasn’t decided until the second-to-last play of the game, and still kept the Kings’ dim playoff hopes alive.

The next day in Yokne’am, Modi’in came out on top of a back-and-forth 36-32 brawl with the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs to avenge its only loss of the season and leapfrog Haifa into first place at the most opportune time, clinching top seed for the postseason.

The Pioneers, who finished the regular season at 7-1, continued their stunning string of victories following an opening-day loss to the Underdogs on their home field. On Friday, they repaid the favor to Real Housing by doing what they do best, mixing it up with a balanced approach and throwing a variety of packages at a Haifa defense that just couldn’t handle it all.

Dancing Camel rode superb performances from Tal Brown and Shmuel O’Neil and was able to convert for two points on three of its five scores to edge a suddenly-human Underdogs squad that also had five touchdowns but managed just one two-point conversion, providing the four-point difference in the outcome.

The loss was the second in a row for Real Housing after blowing through the first six contests of the season with relative ease. Heading into the playoffs on a two-game losing streak is never a good thing and the Underdogs have two weeks to regroup before hosting a first-round match against their arch-nemesis, Big Blue.

O’Neil opened the scoring with an 18-yard TD run created by his sharp cuts and deft field-vision. He added a 24-yard scamper into the end zone and finished the day with 83 yards rushing and another 26 on two receptions, plus plowing in a two-point conversion. His backup, Kobi Nimrod, gained just 17 yards on 10 carries but provided excellent back-field blocking and kept the Haifa defenders on their heels acting as a decoy.

Brown, as he has done all season, demonstrated his ability to contribute at virtually every facet of the game. As a quarterback on Friday, he was 1-2 with a 14-yard scoring strike to Ben Gross, who also caught a diving 30-yard bomb from Uri Schiff to set up a Schiff keeper-TD. The awesome Aussie also ran the ball four times for 22 yards, including a two-point conversion and a couple of crucial first downs. On defense, he had an interception in Modi’in’s own end zone that could have led to another Haifa score, and added three tackles.

It isn’t that Haifa is playing so poorly, even gaining a league-wide season-high 13 first downs against Modi’in, however the little things, such as those all-important extra points, just aren’t clicking for the team that had been at the top of the standings until the end of its very last game. For consecutive weeks now, the Underdogs’ running attack has been contained, with Lior Subotnik gaining only 42 yards on 16 carries and the team totaling just 67 yards on the ground. Quarterback Itai Ashkenazi was effective, finishing 18-28 for 165 yards and a TD, but he also threw his first two interceptions of the year, one of which was returned for a back-breaking touchdown by Asaf Katz to make it 36-26 with just 2:37 remaining in the game.

Even a picture-perfect two-minute drill run of a drive by Ashkenazi, in which he was 4-4 to three different receivers for 47 yards culminating in a touchdown strike to Omer Kedmi, would not be enough to give the Underdogs another chance. A desperation onside-kick wobbler was adeptly recovered by Katz and Dancing Camel bled out the clock to seal its sweetest victory to date, with even bigger things yet to come.

The game was, arguably, the best of the season for the IFL in a juicy matchup between the top two clubs for first place in the year’s penultimate weekend. The on-field action certainly lived up to the pre-game hype and the contest was defined by several more-than-10-play, clock eating drives run by both clubs throughout the game, leading to the wild momentum swings, none of which were bigger than the one entering into halftime.

Up 22-8 at the time, Modi’in was driving deep in Underdogs’ territory with the second-quarter clock winding down. Instead of seizing the opportunity to put away the game with a lead of at least 20 points heading into the break, Schiff threw an untimely interception to Kedmi, who was off to the races for a 55-yard pick-six on the last play of the half keep it a one-score game at 22-14 and seemingly deflate the Pioneers’ bubble. Twice in the second half, at 22-20 and at 28-26, the Underdogs could have tied the game with successful conversions, but both times they were thwarted by the Pioneers’ goal-line defense, which most definitely won the game for the club.

Jason Gosnell and Guy Mordoch were both smothering, and Ron Moscona and Ohad Nave each had several ferocious tackles in the victory. However, the heart-and-soul of the defense and the most passionate and intensely vicious friendly animal of them all, Katz, was at his bone-crunching best. Along with his interception for a TD and onside kick recovery, he took part in an incredible 19 tackles and racked up a sack and a half on his way to earning his second Mike’s Place of the Game award this year.

The Pioneers, now riding a seven-game streak and flying high with confidence after toppling Haifa and grabbing first place and the top seed, now have two weeks off before hosting a first-round playoff match. They are still awaiting the identity of their opponent in that game as the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres and the Kings are still in contention for the final postseason spot. Thursday night’s 26-22, four-point victory by Big Blue over Blue Sun Music keeps the drama going until next Friday’s final game of the regular season between the Lions and the Sabres. The tie-breaking system is quite intricate, so please stay with me.

The Kings have finished their regular season with a 1-7 record, and Tel Aviv currently sits at 1-6. If Mike’s Place wins in Jerusalem this week, they will move to 2-6 and grab the final spot and a playoff date with the Pioneers in Modi’in. If Big Blue wins on Friday, then both the Sabres and Kings will finish with just one win; the two teams tied 1-1 in their season series and also tied in points scored in the season series (taking into account the IFL’s point differential maximum of 14 for tie-breaker purposes). In the Kings’ six loses to teams other than the Sabres, they have lost by more than 14 points four times and the total of the other two loses was six points, for an IFL-equivalent sum of -62. In the Sabres’ five losses to teams other than the Kings, they have lost by more than 14 three times and the total of the other two losses was eight points, for an IFL-equivalent sum of -50.

It all boils down to this – there are 12 points separating the Sabres and the Kings in terms of point differential in their games against the rest of the league, with Tel Aviv holding the current advantage, -50 to -62. If Big Blue beats the Sabres by more than those 12 points, then the Kings will take over that tie-breaker advantage and qualify for the playoffs. If the Sabres lose by less than 12 points, they are in. If the margin of victory for the Lions is exactly 12 points, the final postseason spot will be decided by everyone’s favorite, a coin toss!

On Thursday night at Kraft Stadium, the Kings came out flying and scored the game’s first points on an emphatic opening drive down the field. Big Mike Labish crashed into the end zone on a four-yard rumble for the touchdown, his first of two on the day. The gargantuan Labish also converted a pair of two-point conversions to account for 16 of his team’s 22 points single-handedly, in what was undoubtedly his best outing of the year.

Even after a quick Matan Lavi 22-yard touchdown run, the Kings refused to fold and stormed back on their ensuing drive for another Big Mike touchdown and a 14-6 advantage, a lead they took into the second quarter.

However, Big Blue was not about to let things get out of hand and the defending champs buckled down on both offense and defense, scoring three straight TDs and a safety before you could blink to turn a tight defensive battle into a 26-14 lead. Akiva Rindenow was once again spectacular at times, catching two balls for 43 yards and getting a key interception and returning it to the Kings goal-line to set up his own TD reception on the next play.

The Kings got to within four points with nine minutes remaining on a 21-yard interception return for a TD by Shaya Rubinstein, but that was as close as the expansion club would get. They had one final opportunity, getting a first-and-goal from Big Blue’s 10 with under a minute left, but the Lions defense was up to the task and held on for the win.

The Lions racked up a season-high 326 total yards and got a stellar effort once again from QB Aryeh Bauman, who threw for one touchdown and ran for two more. His 28-yard scoring dash in the second quarter had him bouncing off of Kings’ defenders like a pin-ball all the way down the field, and his nine-yard TD in the third signified a total return to form for the Big Blue quarterback after a mid-season slump. His 85 passing yards still left some room for improvement, but his overall performance was enough to land Bauman Mike’s Place Player of the Game honors.

Running back Lavi was also a steadying force for the Lions, gaining 77 yards and the touchdown on the ground, and captain Yonah Mishaan was a whirling dervish on both sides of the ball, taking part in eight tackles and totaling two sacks on the game, plus racking up almost 50 yards of offense. Gani Medad was also especially busy on the defensive side of the ball and he was in on 11 tackles in the victory, the second in a row for Big Blue following a two-game losing streak.

The Kings didn’t have productive second half after starting strong and the numbers of their quarterback reflected the mediocre effort. Joseph Marticius finished just 3-12 for 33 yards while tossing two interceptions. More importantly, he was unable to connect even once with star receiver Chaim Gross, primarily due to the breakdown of his offensive line, which gave him little to no time throughout the game. Ariel Back wasn’t much help out of the backfield either, gaining only 29 yards on 16 carries as Blue Sun Music fell to its sixth consecutive defeat in what was very possibly its last game.

Big Blue now faces the Sabres at Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem on Friday in the regular-season finale, with the Kings’ postseason hopes lying in the balance. In a year that has had more twists and turns than a ’80s dance party, it should be exciting until the very end in the Kraft Family IFL, circa 2009…

… and then come the playoffs!

Pioneers, Underdogs finally joust for first place

If you have even the slightest bit of energy following the mid-week Purim festivities, you won’t want to miss the after-party double-shot being served up by the Kraft Family IFL to top it all off.

The action begins on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. with a tantalizing Jerusalem derby at Kraft Stadium between the Big Blue Lions and Blue Sun Music Kings. In the last meeting between the clubs, Big Blue dispatched the expansion club 44-12 in the only game this season in which the defending champions topped the 20-point mark, even while maintaining a respectable 3-3 record. The Kings (1-6) desperately need a clutch performance all-around as their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread entering into this, their final regular season game.

While Thursday’s clash in the capital certainly has plenty of hype and excitement coming in, the weekend’s headline act undoubtedly goes down the next morning in Yokne’am. On Friday comes the mouth-watering match-up that everyone has been waiting months for – an all-out brawl for first place between a pair of 6-1 titans, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs and Dancing Camel Modi’n Pioneers. Kickoff for the highly-anticipated bout is set for 11 a.m. in the new Yokne’am soccer complex and the breakfast tailgating is expected to begin early.

Last week’s loss by the Underdogs to Big Blue, a 16-8 standoff to hand Haifa its first defeat of the season, means that there will only be one 7-1 team in the IFL this year and Friday’s winner, by however many points, will grab the top seed heading into the playoffs. (As mentioned last week, while both the Underdogs and Pioneers will have first-round home games, the loser on Friday can look forward to hosting the third-seeded Lions, while the winner will earn a date with either the Kings or Sabres.)

Either way, Friday’s Underdogs-Pioneers special is more about bragging rights than anything, plus a possible scouting mission in what may be an Israel Bowl preview. I wouldn’t count on it, however; when was the last time, in any sport, that the two most deserving teams, based on regular season records, ended up facing each other for the championship? It is more likely than only one of these two powerhouses will end up in the title game, which should, if nothing else, add just a little more fuel to a rivalry fire that is already burning strongly.

Modi’in’s only loss came in its opening game, 24-14 to the Underdogs, before embarking on its current six-game winning streak. The defeat, which came on its home field, is a distant memory to a Pioneers squad that couldn’t be any more of a cohesive bunch. If anything, it will serve as further motivation for Dancing Camel to try and even the series with Haifa, something it has been chomping at the bit to do now for quite a while. Dancing Camel, whose booming success has been the pleasant surprise of the year to this point, leads the IFL with just 72 points allowed and will once again lean heavily on their defense on Friday to thwart an Underdogs’ offense that has put up league-high 232 points.

The Pioneers, however, also know how to put up big numbers themselves, averaging just four points less per game than Haifa and leading the points differential battle, 138 to 122. Don’t necessarily expect Friday’s game to be a defensive chess match – the Underdogs’ are eager to put last week’s eight-point effort behind them and will try to come out blasting for a couple of early touchdowns to re-find their scoring touch. Modi’in, as well, wants to prove that its team-first approach will also work against the IFL’s elite and dispel the notion that it can only beat up on the bottom-feeders.

The key matchup of the day will be how well the Haifa offensive line can protect quarterback Itai Ashkenazi against the fearsome pass-rushing tandem of Jason Gosnell and Brian Small. On the other side, the Underdogs’ defense will have its hands full with the constant shuttling between Uri Schiff and Tal Brown under center, each of whom run a slightly different offense. The by-committee running game employed by the Pioneers varies from the Underdogs ground attack, which is run primarily through Lior Subotnik, who was held to a season-low 29 yards last game.

Despite Subotnik’s ability to go off for 150+ yards any game, the advantage in that component of the game goes to Modi’in who, between Shmuel O’Neil, Tomer Edri, Kobi Nimrod, Asaf Katz, Ehud Drori, and more, has the ability to compensate if one, or even a couple of them, are having off games. I also favor the Dancing Camel secondary, which has the ability to play superb blanket defense, as evidenced by the team’s two shutout victories. While Real Housing also has two shutouts to its name, the defense has shown some vulnerability recently and is also nursing a couple of injuries.

At the end of the day, while Haifa has played dominating football for much of the season, Modi’in has been on an unparalleled three-month-long tear and doesn’t seem to be letting up at all. I just can’t see anyone, even the Underdogs, stopping the Pioneers, who right now have to be considered favorites. But, hey, I’ve been wrong before and will be wrong again. That’s why they play the games, and this is one game that, regardless of the outcome, should be a real pleasure for all Israeli football fans to see.

Thursday’s derby match also holds plenty of intrigue. After falling to the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres last time out, the Kings now find themselves on the outside looking in with respect to the postseason picture, eight points behind the Sabres, also 1-6, based on a complicated tie-breaker formula. While, win or lose, Blue Sun Music cannot clinch a spot this weekend, a loss to the Lions by at least seven points will effectively end their season even before next week’s Kings-Sabres duel, as 14 points is the maximum differential the IFL’s system allows for tie-breaker purposes.

A Kings’ victory on Thursday, or even a loss by six points or less, keeps the drama going for one more week, until the Sabres and Kings kick off at Kraft in the regular-season finale next Friday. Blue Sun Music has bolstered its roster in anticipation of what it considers a must-win, and star receiver Chaim Gross will finally make his return to the lineup that has sorely missed the quick-strike ability that has him atop the league with 10 touchdowns.

The Lions, for their part, have clinched third place and their playoff seeding and opponent will be unaffected by Thursday’s game. However, after struggling to find any rhythm for most of the season, it will surely want to build on its rewarding victory against the Underdogs last week, when a number of pieces finally fit into place.

Big Blue captain Yonah Mishaan will continue to see time on offense and he seems to be a calming effect as a decisive on-field presence for QB Aryeh Bauman, who had his best outing of the season against Haifa. Akiva Rindenow has found his role on the team and should flourish down the stretch. While injuries were a large part of the club’s mid-season lapse, just as big was the loss of confidence, momentum and team identity. If the players can use the upset win as a building block for regaining that poise that defined the franchise in its championship run last year, the Lions will be a scary opponent for anyone going forward in its bid to repeat.

Blue Sun Music has a lot of useful parts, but the team has rarely been able to get them to work in unison on the field. QB Joseph Marticius is still one of the IFL’s bright young stars and has the ability to drag his team into the playoffs, if he can just get a little help from his line and his playmakers. One thing that the last couple of months have shown is that he cannot do it all by himself and the Kings have changed up their game plan to ease some of the pressure on their signal caller.

Along with Gross, David Jesselson and Josh Flaks, two of the team’s inspirational leaders, will have to step up and have huge games on Thursday if the Kings are to keep their postseason hopes alive. Most importantly, Blue Sun Music will need to establish at least a semblance of a running game against the Lions if they are to open up the passing lanes for Marticius. They will have to march the field with a mix of quick slants and short runs and should not rely on the long-bomb to keep them in the game.

The Kings are not ready for their inaugural season to come to a close and still remember how good it felt to celebrate a hard-fought victory on the battlefield. It is that sweet memory that they will bring with them on Thursday night as they try to extend their playing schedule against a Big Blue squad that may finally be hitting its stride.

Even though neither Haifa nor Modi’in is at risk of being sent home yet, Friday’s first-place clash has been a long time in the making and is sure to bring the best that both teams have to offer.

It’s an exciting time to be a football fan in Israel and each of the next few weeks will bring new electrifying thrills as the teams get whittled away in the march towards Israel Bowl II. It all continues this weekend with two more alluring matchups to satisfy your hunger for pigskin. Lions-Kings, Pioneers-Underdogs. Can you feel it yet? I know I can!

Take that, Underdogs!; Big Blue returns year-old favor, hands Haifa its first loss of the season

Some would call it poetic justice; others would describe it as sweet revenge. Either way, Thursday night’s 16-8 triumph by the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions over the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs was just the latest surprising twist in a Kraft Family IFL season that is playing out more like a Hollywood script than the second year of an upstart football league in the Middle East.

The previously undefeated Underdogs brought their 6-0 record, a busload of fans and a healthy supply of confidence with them to the capital to face a Big Blue team that was severely depleted and reeling from a pair of losses that saw it dip under .500 for the first time in franchise history. The defending champion Lions, however, were buoyed by the return of all-star Asher Meckler and rode an iron-willed performance from the entire defensive unit to pull out the upset and spoil their arch-rival’s attempt at running-the-table.

Jerusalem quarterback Aryeh Bauman returned to form after a string of awful outings, Yonah Mishaan and Akiva Rindenow each scored converted touchdowns, and Big Blue overcame a courageous effort by Haifa’s Omer Kedmi to even its record at 3-3 and clinch third place in the standings, with two regular-season games remaining.

The result was eerily reminiscent of last year, when Big Blue brought a 4-0 mark into Haifa before getting dropped for their only loss in an otherwise blemish-free season. Thursday night’s victory to hand the Underdogs THEIR first defeat 12 months later was equally satisfying for a Lions squad which was also able to avenge a 38-0 debacle at the hands of Real Housing in January. The loss extended Real Housing’s drought against Big Blue at Kraft, where they have lost all four meetings between the clubs, and ensured that next Friday’s season-ending clash in Yoqne’am with the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers will be straight-up battle for first place. (The loser of that affair can look forward to hosting a first-round playoff match against the Lions, while the winner will grab the top seed and earn a home date against either the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings or the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres, depending on how things shake out.)

The Underdogs came into Thursday’s contest fresh after a full month off and as favorites on the road. However, they scored 30 points lower than their season average coming in and looked out of sorts trying to move the ball all night. While QB Itai Ashkenazi finished with 130 yards through the air, he was only 11-29 passing, for a personal-low 38 percent completion rate. Just as telling, Real Housing, which had been averaging 114 yards rushing per game, was unable to establish any sort of ground attack in the face of the stifling Jerusalem defense and ended the day with a measly 46 yards.

While Jerusalem did turn the ball over three times, twice through lost fumbles and once through a Bauman interception, Haifa was unable to take advantage of the miscues and saw seven of its eight possessions end on either a punt or turnover-on-downs. The Lions, on the other hand, capitalized on the Underdogs’ only turnover, when Eraz Baharav muffed a second-quarter punt and gave the hosts a fresh set of downs, which they turned into the first points of the game just three plays later on Mishaan’s eight-yard rumble into the endzone.

After a scoreless first frame that set the tone for a hard-hitting, low-scoring contest, Big Blue’s lead, which was stretched to 8-0 after Matan Lavi found a gaping hole for two points, was crucial to bolstering its own belief that it could win the game against a first-place club that had more man-power. Playing from in front, the poise and self-assurance slowly began seeping back into the Lions players after a couple months of internal team apathy, and from there on in, each Jerusalem tackle seemed to have just a little more enthusiasm and energy.

The swarming Big Blue pass-rush flushed Ashkenazi out of the pocket all night long and caused him to hurry most of his throws. It didn’t help that his receivers developed an ill-timed case of butter fingers and his running backs couldn’t find a hole in bag of old socks. Jerusalem was just finding its groove and on its way to taking a two-score advantage before Kedmi managed to pick off an errant throw just before the half. Real Housing was somewhat lucky be heading into the intermission down just eight points.

The third quarter brought an added sense of urgency from the Underdogs and they found the endzone on their first drive of the half. Abandoning the run, Ashkenazi threw the ball on six straight downs and converted four of the passes to Kedmi, the last of which went for a 20-yard TD strike that the quarterback converted himself on a keeper to knot the game up.

Kedmi was clearly the best player on the field for Haifa. In addition to his interception and touchdown, he was the only receiver on his team to catch more than one ball, finishing with seven receptions for 97 yards. He also took part in four tackles and broke up a sure touchdown pass that would have given Big Blue at least an extra six points. It was too bad his season-best performance had to come in a losing cause.

After Haifa evened the score, Big Blue took its ensuing possession and marched down the field into the Underdogs’ red-zone. However, the drive stalled when Lavi lost a fumble to Erez Kaminski on what looked to be a momentum-changing play that would doom Jerusalem’s upset bid, especially after a 33-yard hook-up from Ashkenazi to Kedmi gave Real Housing good position.

But the Jerusalem defense stood strong, as it had all day, and got the ball back without any damage done, to allow Bauman to orchestrate a game-winning drive. Meckler was a dominating force in the absence of Asher Ingbar and both he and Amichai Bergman racked up 1½ sacks and five tackles. As well, Kasey Stewart, Natan Oran, and Gani Medad all upped their tenacity in a game that was fundamental to their team’s waning spirit, and they injected much-appreciated intensity on seemingly every play.

Less than a minute into the final quarter, Bauman found Rindenow for a 20-yard mini-rainbow that was taken to the house for the decisive score and, once Lavi converted again, a 16-8 lead that would hold up as final.

The Underdogs did get two more possessions to try and even it up once more, but it was much the same story as the first three frames. Lior Subotnik was ineffective on the ground and Shachar Yeshurun couldn’t catch a pass as both saw their consecutive-game scoring streaks snapped. A dropped ball by Yeshurun on fourth down with under a minute left paved the way for two kneels by the Lions to bleed out the clock and secure the upset victory.

Rindenow, in a very tough decision, gets the nod as the Mike’s Place player of the game. Not only did he score the game-winning touchdown, but he had a stellar night in the kicking department, as Big Blue’s punter and place-kicker. He also had the crucial fumble recovery (on his own punt to boot) that led to Jerusalem’s first points, so he essentially contributed to both of his team’s scores. His seven tackles, many of which were of the bone-crunching variety, were just enough to tip his case in favor of grabbing the coveted weekly honor over a number of deserving candidates.

For Jerusalem, Mishaan, in his first full game on offense, caught four passes and had four impactful carries, including his TD, while Gai Van Straten caught three balls for 63 yards. Bauman distributed the ball well, and his numbers could have been even better than his 8-16 for 108 yards, plus a pick and a TD to go along with six runs for 22 yards.

For Haifa, besides Kedmi, Itamar Levin and Dagan Sadrinas both punched in with workman-like days at the office and anchored a Haifa defense that certainly wasn’t the reason that the now 6-1 Underdogs suffered their first loss.

At the end of the day, Big Blue demonstrated that it still has a home-field hex on Haifa and got back to winning ways. While the two dates remaining on its schedule may not have any bearing on ITS place in the standings, its opponents, the Kings and Sabres, will be fighting for their postseason lives and the drama for both games will be at an all-time high. Besides, the Lions don’t want to lose any of this newfound momentum that they have spent all season searching for, and so they, too, will be going all-out until the very end.

The Underdogs, as well, have their season-long supremacy at risk and have a lot of work to do before hosting the Pioneers next week in what is sure to be crazy regular-season finale for both clubs that could very well be a preview for the Israel Bowl just three weeks later.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Tel Aviv right back in the hunt after a convincing victory over the Kings

The Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres knew what they had to get done on Saturday and nothing – not a 0-6 record coming in, not a well-prepared opponent with a controlling 1-0 series edge, not even a minor monsoon – could prevent them from accomplishing their goal in a memorable night of rain-soaked football in the Kraft Family IFL.

When it was all said and done, the Sabres notched their first win of the season in a 32-14 instant-classic over the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings at Kiryat Shalom, a result that blows things wide open in the league’s playoff race heading into the final month. Mike’s Place co-players of the game Hammude Kassas and Liran Hovav each had a pair of touchdowns, including a diving TD grab by Hovav on the final play to secure a desperately-needed six extra points, to spur the Sabres to triumph for the first time in 2009. And what a triumph it was!

As torrential rain pelted the field and lightning flashed across the sky, Tel Aviv rode an inspired performance from its entire defense, combined with an offensive unit that somehow strung together five separate scoring drives in horrible conditions, to come out on top of a game that it simply had to win, and had to win big to now become a postseason probable participant.

The 18-point margin of victory for the Sabres on Saturday night ensured that the now 1-1 series tie between them and Kings is also knotted in terms of the next level of the tie-breaker system, that being point differential among each other.* Looking at the next category in line (PD among the other teams in the league), it emerges that Tel Aviv, with their victory, leapfrogged the expansion Kings and, for now, holds a slim eight-point advantage in the race for the final postseason spot.

*the IFL caps this number at 14, a total margin that both the Sabres and Kings covered in their wins against each other, thus nullifying the use of this level of tie-breaker between these two teams.

With both the Kings and the Sabres now sitting at 1-6, and each with one game remaining against the 2-3 Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (who, by a quirk in the schedule, still have three games left), the possibilities are quite extensive in terms of which two of the three clubs will qualify for the playoffs. For the Lions, win one of three and they’re in. For the Sabres, if they beat the Lions by….you know what, on to Saturday night’s game, it was too exciting to wait any longer. (plus, it’s just too complicated to explain everything here as well…)

The maiden victory for Tel Aviv was the culmination of at least 2-3 games of solid forward progress for the suddenly-intriguing club. Without making too much of just one win, the Sabres have now jumped the biggest hurdle on any team’s early road to success and they could emerge as a surprising force to be reckoned with. They are playing as well right now as they have at any point in their two-year history and the players’ confidence certainly matches that of the members of the two top teams in the league, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs and the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers. Mark my words…if this game was any indication, the Sabres will not be an easy match-up going forward!

The coaching staff on both sides of the field had their teams ready for Saturday night’s meeting, which kicked off under a light but steady drizzle. Tel Aviv seemed to come out a little more driven than Jerusalem, understandable as the Sabres’ season was on the line and they weren’t going down without a fight. The game plan for both teams from the start was not to put the ball in the air and just two passes total were attempted in the first quarter, both incompletions by the Kings’ Joseph Marticius.

Ariel Back got the nod for Jerusalem as the primary option in the running department while Kassas was the focal point of the Sabres’ ground game. While Back couldn’t seem to get much going on the slippery playing surface, the powerful Tel Aviv ball carrier, Kassas, managed to power his way forward all night, breaking tackles and barreling into the hole for extra yards after initial contact with the Jerusalem defenders and finishing with 115 yards on the ground on 19 attempts. While he didn’t score the first touchdown of the game, he set it up, picking up a first-and-goal for the Sabres that Dror Snapir finished off with a six-yard plow into the endzone for a 6-0 Sabres lead.

Just over two minutes into the second quarter, Kassas would stake the Sabres to a two-score lead when he punctuated a Tamir Elterman 15-yard run with a similar length dash of his own for his second touchdown of the year. He would add to that total before the half was done by putting the finishing touches on a masterful, clock-eating, 14-play, five first-down drive orchestrated by Elterman and bull-dozing into the endzone for six more yards and a 20-0 Sabres advantage at the interval.

The second half brought with it a downpour of seismic proportions, but the players’ will and determination on both sides was undeterred by the rain. The Kings still believed they could pull out the game, while also knowing that a slim loss was vastly better than a blowout, and the Sabres didn’t want to let up one bit.

However, an Elterman interception in the red zone of the Kings on the first drive of the third quarter swung some momentum back in Jerusalem’s favor. It would pounce on the opportunity and march down the field on a 12- play, six-minute drive for its first points of the day on a Marticius five-yard keeper to make the score 20-6, where it would stay until the fourth.

With the winds howling and the water falling in sheets, making visibility quite difficult, the final frame began with the teams trading possessions back and forth, amid a Kassus lost fumble for the Sabres and six incomplete Marticius passes for the Kings. The Jerusalem QB would not have a great day in the air, going 3-14 for a paltry 15 yards, although even Dan Marino himself couldn’t have thrown the ball much better in Kiryat Shalom on Saturday night.

With just over two minutes left, the Sabres sparked what would be a final flurry of late-game action when a Hovav reverse on a second-and-goal put Tel Aviv back on top by 20. It looked like that would be the end, but the Kings wisely used their timeouts and the sideline to fly down the field and score on a Back two-yard plunge, followed by a Big Mike patented two-point fall-into-the-endzone conversion, and it appeared that the Kings would lose, although maintain the tie-breaker advantage, with under 30 seconds left

However, Elterman and Hovav would have the last laugh. After a decent kickoff return by the speedy Tel Aviv receiver/punt/kick specialist set up the Sabres at half time, a last second desperation heave into the endzone was hauled in by the veteran for his second TD of the game and seventh of the season, to give his team the requisite spread and swing the playoff pendulum back to the Sabres’ direction.

For Tel Aviv, in addition to the offensive stars of the game, Hovav and Kassas (as well as the typically stellar Elterman), the defensive trio of Daniel Nisman, Yaniv Yaron and Josh Klein were at their hell-breaking best to anchor the unit into making crucial stands throughout the contest. Each participated in double-digit tackles for the game. For the Kings, even in a losing effort, Eli Boymelgreen stood out for his outstanding play. Not only did the diminutive playmaker return two punts and a kickoff for 36 yards, but he also got the game’s only interception and took part in an eye-opening nine tackles. He undoubtedly would trade in his impressive numbers for the win, however.

It now comes down to one final game for each of the lower-tiered teams in the regular season, both against the Lions. First, though, the Lions host the first-place Underdogs in a rematch of last year’s Israel Bowl when the IFL next kicks off this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem.

One thing is for sure. There is plenty of football left to be played, and with all the teams still in the mix, the fun is just getting started!

Pioneers dump Sabres to set up grand finale

If I were the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs, I would be feeling just a teensy bit nervous this morning! I don’t think even they would bet against the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers these days. And with good reason, at that!

On Saturday night in Kiryat Shalom, the boisterous bunch from Modi’in traveled to face the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres and continued their two-month tear by putting a licking on the hosts. The 44-12 convincing final was the Pioneers’ sixth consecutive victory and guarantees that their season-finale against the undefeated Underdogs will have a first-place shot on the line.

Tel Aviv, meanwhile, dropped its sixth straight contest after an encouraging preseason that forecast better results than the club has thus far produced. While there were plenty of thing done right by the last-place Sabres in what was always going to be a very tough match against a superior opponent, falling behind two (converted) scores early on busted plays that turned into Pioneers TDs really put Mike’s Place behind the eight-ball and it was just too much to overcome, even after calming down for a much stronger second half.

The top and bottom of the Kraft Family IFL standings still hold plenty of intrigue heading into the final month of the regular season. The second-place Pioneers can clinch first with a victory by at least 11 points in their final game on March 13 in Yokn’eam, regardless of what the Underdogs do in their penultimate match in Jerusalem. If the Underdogs (6-0) get beaten by the defending champion Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (2-3) their next time out, all it will take is a straight out win by Modi’in in the last game to hand them the top ranking.

On the other end, even though it has yet to strike its first victory, Tel Aviv can still qualify for the postseason in a number of scenarios if it can at least manage to defeat the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings (1-5) in a must-win tilt in two weeks at home. Another victory in a game against the Lions to close out the regular season would vastly increase their chances, but the Kings encounter is truly vital to the Sabres’ survival hopes and nothing but a W in that one will keep them alive.

Keeping to a disciplined game-plan without much bells and whistles has done the 6-1 Pioneers quite nicely this season and Saturday night was no exception. In denying the Sabres their first win of the year, Dancing Camel relied on a super-efficient performance from QB1a Tal Brown, two short touchdown runs by multi-purpose back Asaf Katz and two longer scoring plays combined with their typical shutdown defense to coast to a victory that was never really in doubt after the first few exchanges.

After Tel Aviv went three-and-out on the game’s opening possession, it looked as if Dancing Camel was going to respond in kind after a combined-effort sack set up a long third-and-19 for Modi’in. However, Ron Moscona broke free of his coverage and was wide open to haul in a 36-yard catch-and-run for six points, which became an 8-0 advantage when Kobi Nimrod busted over the goal-line for the conversion. Nimrod would tally six points on the evening, through three two-point conversions, and was the team’s primary ball-carrier with 17 handoffs for 53 yards in the absence of Tomer Edrim who usually gets the bulk of the load.

Before the first quarter came to a close, the Pioneers extended their lead to 16 on just its second set of downs with a patented Shmuel O’Neil half-the-field scoring scamper, the ninth time he’s had a TD run of at least 30 yards in the past two years. O’Neil averaged over 10 yards a carry in this one, totaling 61 yards on just six attempts, and providing much-needed bursts of energy (and yards) to keep a number of drives going.

The Sabres’ got on the board early in the second frame after a muffed punt by O’Neil gave them their only good starting field-position of the day. Quarterback Tamir Elterman scrambled all the way to the Modi’in one-yard-line on first down and newcomer Hammude Kassas punched in the score on the subsequent play to make a game of it, if only for a short while. Kassas would carry the ball 10 times for 34 yards and was a welcome addition to the Tel Aviv squad, which can certainly use the bruising, downhill style of running he provides.

Having only let up six points in its previous 13 quarters, Modi’in was more angry than anything else to be scored on and responded with two more scoring drives, culminating in touchdown runs of one and three yards by Katz and both punctuated with Nimrod conversions, to take a 32-6 lead into the break. Katz also contributed on defense, taking part in 15 tackles and added an interception on the last play of the game.

Tel Aviv tightened up its defense in the third and fourth quarters, but the pigskin-intelligent Modi’in quarterback from Australia was more than up to the task. Brown, who splits time under center with the equally-adept Uri Schiff, completed a feather-touch pass over the shoulder of receiver Ben Gross to set up his own five-yard keeper to make it a 38-6 affair. Elterman got that one back with a nice nine-yard dart on the run to Liran Hovav for a TD to make it a slightly more respectable 38-12, but Brown nailed it shut with another run around the outside into the corner of the endzone to close out the scoring.

Brown finished a perfect 5-5 in the passing department, for 81 yards and the one TD strike to Moscona, to go along with no picks. He also ran three times for 17 yards and two more touchdowns, plus took on the added responsibility of kicking and punting. His all-around formidable effort earned him this week’s Mike’s Place player of the game.

Even while employing a conservative offensive approach, throwing the ball only 12 times and distributing the play-calling over a 75/25, run/pass ratio, the Pioneers racked-up a season-high 384 total net yards by getting balanced production in each facet of the game. From interception returns for over 40 yards, to kickoff and punt returns that ate up large chunks of field and set the team up with good field position on a number of drives, to the usual over-150 yards rushing and close to 100 yards passing, all the aspects of winning football were, once again, present in another not-so-difficult-to-understand Pioneers’ romp.

The Sabres’ frustration must be mounting, with no wins to show for all the tireless work they have put in, however there were points of encouragement to take away on Saturday night. In addition to Kassas, a number of new players made an impact for Tel Aviv in the loss (Daniel Kachlon, Eyal Eyalbogen and Yoni Din to name just a few), and the club received strong outings from usual defensive stalwarts Josh Klein and Daniel Nissman, who took part in an astounding 17 tackles.

If the team can continue to stay positive amidst the storm, or at least continue to believe in the coaching staff, something is bound to break its way. Remember, all it may take is one supremely-well timed performance to thrust this club out of its tailspin and propel it towards an improbable playoff run. I know it sounds unlikely but, hey, this is football…don’t kid yourself, anything can happen!

The Kraft Family Israel Football League returns on Saturday night, February 28 with a 9 p.m. kickoff to what is sure to be a leave-it-all-on-the-field bout between the Sabres and Kings in Kiryat Shalom. In the teams’ first meeting, Blue Sun Music outlasted Mike’s Place 56-38 in a Jerusalem backyard brawl and the Sabres will have the added incentive of revenge to what is an already a must-win affair to keep their postseason chances kicking.

Surging Pioneers travel to face lurking Sabres

Hold your horses, Haifa, the race for first place is far from over. That goes for you too, Kings, whose playoff appearance is no sure thing either.

This Saturday night at 8:30, the Kraft Family IFL is back in action with an intriguing matchup between two teams who desperately want a win, albeit for slightly different reasons.

When the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres host the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers at the Macabi Soccer Complex in Kiryat Shalom, it marks an opportunity for them to secure their first victory of the season after five straight defeats.

While the Sabres are languishing in the league’s cellar, they are coming into this one with a full head of steam after a marked improvement in their last outing, outscoring the first-place Real Housing Haifa Underdogs 14-0 in the second half of a contest in which they fell just short of pulling the shock upset, losing 30-28. It feels like the Sabres have finally found some consistency in their offensive approach and the confidence that comes with a little productivity may be enough to propel a breakthrough in the win column.

The Pioneers (5-1) are also riding a wave of momentum, although it is a slightly more of a tsunami than the Sabres’ rising ripple , with the team from Modi’in having won its last five encounters by an average of over 17 points a game after an opening-night loss to the Underdogs.

Sitting just one game beneath the Underdogs (6-0) in the standings, first-place is well within reach for Dancing Camel if it can win out and finish with a 7-1 record. Its final game of the season is against Real Housing and the top ranking for the postseason could very well be on the line in what would be a dream climax to the regular season.

After a quick consultation of the official IFL tie-breaking rules, the bottom line is this: Haifa beat Modi’in by 10 points (24-14) in the season-opener; if Modi’in can beat the Sabres this week and manage to topple Haifa in the season finale by more than those 10 points that they lost to the Underdogs by in Game 1, they will leapfrog Real Housing and take over first place at the only time that matters – at the end. So, suffice it to say, there is plenty of motivation for the Pioneers’ players as they travel to Tel Aviv this weekend.

For the Sabres as well, the playoffs are still a possibility, and not such a stretch at that. Having been beaten by the Blue Sun Jerusalem Kings (1-5) early on, 56-38, they sit one game out of the final postseason berth with this weekend’s game in hand. If they can beat the Pioneers at home this weekend, they will host the Kings in their next game, with both teams having the same record, in what would an all-important match-up for both clubs. (Even if Tel Aviv loses this week’s game, a 19-point victory over the Kings on the 28th would give them the edge if both teams finished with one win.)

Most recently, the Pioneers completed a season sweep of the defending-champion Big Blue Jerusalem Lions in a 16-6 nail-biter that featured all of the scoring the third quarter. This was definitely a change of pace for Modi’in, which had won its two previous games, both at home, in cake-walk shutouts, including a 42-0 romp over the Sabres. While logic may dictate that the Pioneers should have an easy time in this one, what with the crescendoed climb the team has taken over the past two months to mould itself into the cohesive unit it is today, the second-place club best beware of some fundamental football principles that always seem to be re-instilled in games like these.

Now, I’m an ‘any given Sunday’ type of guy, as the notion that any team can beat any other on any given day has been proven to me time and again throughout my more than two decades of pigskin viewership. The maxim seems to rear its head in the latter half of a season more often, when one team (i.e. the Sabres) rises to the challenge of a superior opponent (i.e the Pioneers) to gut out a heart-felt victory that means more for them emotionally than just the single win. Combine that with this being a classic ‘trap game’ and I see a potential upset brewing in Kiryat Shalom.

Trap games, or sandwich games, are traditionally matches when a good team finds itself in way more of a competitive game than should be expected against a seemingly lesser opponent. They come before, after, or, most commonly, between big games when a superior team, already focusing on the next game, has a tendency to think it can rest easy and ends up overlooking its lighter foe, or taking the win for granted.

For the Pioneers to keep their impressive run alive, this is a pitfall they must avoid against the Sabres, whose squeaker loss against Haifa surprisingly may have done more to galvanize the team than anything else. It will be very difficult, even knowing the danger in advance, for Modi’in to prepare for this game without thinking ahead to the upcoming Real Housing clash. Football is a sport that demands maximum attention and focus on each and every play and even a slight lapse can prove detrimental to success. If the Pioneers aren’t ready from the start, they could easily be overwhelmed by a Sabres’ squad that is sure to come out with guns blazing.

The Pioneers, for all that they have done this year, have not really had to demonstrate the ability to play from behind (except very briefly against the Kings after they surrendered a huge lead). Indeed, their grind-it-out, wait-for-opportunities style of play, as effective as it is with a lead or even in a tie-game, does not seem well-suited to play the type of no-huddle, frenetic football required when trying to come back from a big deficit. If the Sabres can capitalize on their initial adrenaline and momentum and jump out to a two-score lead in the first half, I find it difficult to envision the visitors catching up.

The key match-ups this weekend will be Dancing Camel’s pass-rushing tandem of Jason Gosnel and Brian Small against Tel Aviv’s option attack, which is run through triple-threat QB Tamir Elterman. On the other side of the ball, the Sabres’ middle defenders, such as Josh Klein, Yaniv Yaron and Eitan Ben David, will have their hands full with the Pioneers’ running-back-by-committee approach featuring, among others, Tomer Edri, Asaf Katz, Shmuel O’Neil and K. Nimrod.

The table is set for a fascinating game chock-full of interesting storylines for both teams. Short of it ending in a tie, this match is sure to provide the usual agony for one side and ecstasy for the other and will certainly impact the end-of-season standings in the Israel Football League circa 2009. All these reasons, plus more, make it a Saturday night of must-see football for all those in the Jerusalem-Modi’in-Tel Aviv region. Sabres-Pioneers. 8:30. Maccabi Field in Kiryat Shalom. It’ll be a night you will not soon forget and that’s an iron-clad IFL guarantee!

Underdogs continue torrid pace at home

This time, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs scored in the first half and they scored in the second half. By the time they were done, their opponent was like a punch-drunk boxer, dazedly pirouetting around and ruled down by TKO.

On Friday, in Yokne’am, the Underdogs beat up on the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings 62-14 to set the Kraft Family IFL team single-game scoring mark and keep their perfect record intact heading into a one-month hiatus to gear up for the end of season and playoffs.

Itai Ashkenazi threw for four scores, Lior Subotnik ran for four more, and Arbel Rom and Shachar Yeshurun each had a pair of touchdowns to lead the high-flying Haifa attack, one which the visiting Jerusalem squad would have, at one point this year, enjoyed participating in toe-for-toe.

The victory brings the top-of-table Underdogs to 6-0 while the loss sends the Kings to 1-5, keeping them in fourth-place in the five-team league. Unless Real Housing loses its remaining two regular-season games, to the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions on the road and at home to the 5-1 Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers, it will clinch first-place and the number one seed in the postseason. The driving force for the team continues to be the dream of a title-winning, undefeated season, which has never been accomplished in the Israel Football League, and that singular goal has bonded these players into a fearsome unit that is growing stronger each week.

The Kings (1-5) have now lost four straight games and their early-season point-scoring extravaganzas almost seem like a distant memory. The team has a lot of improvements to make if it is to right the ship in time for some playoff success, especially considering that its most likely first-round foe is the same Haifa squad that knocked the players from the capital around the field on Friday. The team’s spirit is still high, however, and players will be returning from injury soon; it says here that they are not going to go down without a making some noise in the end.

The Underdogs never really gave the Kings a chance in this one, though, dominating almost every aspect of the game from the get-go. A botched Jerusalem punt attempt gave Haifa great field position on its first drive and Ashkenazi would not disappoint, reading a Yeshurun defensive mismatch and calling an audible at the line of scrimmage to get his number one target the ball. The tall receiver pulled down an acrobatic 11-yard TD grab over his diminutive defender after his quarterback gave him the perfect opportunity to make a play. The quick-instincts and on-field vision displayed by Ashkenazi on the play typify why the first-year signal-caller and his cadre of receivers have developed such a close rapport.

A quick Blue Sun three-and-out gave Haifa the ball back at midfield and Subotnik would waste no time, dashing 31 yards into the house on the first play of the drive for a 13-0 lead. With two or three running backs sidelined with injuries, ‘the man they call Clark’ would more than shoulder the running load in this game for the Underdogs. Relishing the opportunity to break out with a steady dose of handoffs, the powerful back pummeled the Kings’ defense for 164 yards on 19 attempts (8.6 yards per carry) to go along with his four TDs.

Once Subotnik is able to turn the corner, there is not a quicker ball-carrier in the country, and now that he is finishing his runs with authority, he may be the most dangerous player in the IFL. He ran for scores of 31, 43, 6 and 40 yards on Friday, three of coming on the first plays of a Haifa possession, essentially acting as one-man wrecking ball. He now has touchdowns in all but one of Haifa’s wins, with a league-leading nine on the year, and for this week, his superman-like effort earned him Mike’s Place player of the game honors.

Down 19-0 after the first quarter and 25-0 midway through the second, Jerusalem’s offense finally got the team on the board after a nice 34-yard kickoff return by Eli Boymelgreen, to which 15 yards was added for a Haifa facemask infraction. Quarterback Joseph Marticius powered his way into the endzone with two consecutive seven-yard keepers to make the score, 25-6, which turned into 32-6 just before the half on a nifty 21-yard Ashkenazi strike to Omer Kedmi that the receiver snagged for a TD.

Marticius would score both Kings’ touchdowns on the day, the second in the third quarter on a lofting 27-yard perfect spiral parachute thrown by usual tight end Josh Flaks that the red-headed QB run under and hauled in for six. Marticius has thrown for 19 TDs and scored four more himself on the season, but on Friday, even with 98 yards rushing, his 29 yards total passing and three interceptions were not helpful in the losing cause. It may have not mattered even had he put on a herculean performance, as Haifa was really on its game on both sides of the ball, but the Kings will need Marticius to be at his best for their remaining games if they want to come out on the right end.

After almost squandering a big second-half lead in their last game, just barely holding on for a 30-28 victory over the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres, the Underdogs were not about to take their foot of the pedal in the third and fourth quarters of this one. After being outscored 8-6 in the third by the Kings, Haifa stormed back in the fourth for 24 unanswered points, although the game was already in the bag by then.

The Underdogs did not turn over the ball once in this one, forcing three Jerusalem interceptions plus an Assaf Graif touchdown on a bad snap over Marticius’ head. They have now scored the most points in the league, with 224, and have allowed the fewest, with two shutouts and just 94 points scored against them. While the Pioneers are just one game back in the loss column, Haifa beat Modi’in in the first game of the season and will, as mentioned above, need to lose to Dancing Camel in their last game to relinquish the top spot heading to the playoffs. The best way to put it is that this Real Housing squad has set the barometer quite high and the four other teams, including Modi’in, have their work cut out for them if they are to deny Haifa the championship.

The IFL returns next Saturday night in Kiryat Shalom when the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres host the Pioneers in their second home game at the Maccabi Soccer Complex. It should be an exciting matchup as the Sabres look to build on their dominant second-half of their last game and record their first victory, while Modi’in attempts to extend its winning streak to six and stay on pace with first-place Haifa. Kickoff will take place at 8:30 p.m. to give both players and fans ample time to get to the field after Shabbat.