Pioneers Power Past Haifa
Running back Shmuel O’Neil recorded the Fieldturf Israel Football League’s first-ever 100-yard rushing game and scored three touchdowns in the second half to lead the Dancing Camel Hasharon Pioneers to a 28-13 victory over the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs at the Yarkon Sports Complex in Petah Tikva’s Baptist Village today (Friday).
O’Neil finished with 115 yards, played on a 60-yard long field, and scored two of his TDs in the fourth quarter as Dancing Camel broke open a close game.
After a scoreless first quarter in the first Fieldturf IFL game at Baptist Village, Real Housing took a 7-0 lead with 7:37 remaining in the second, when quarterback Ori Shterenbach ran seven yards for a touchdown and then converted the extra point.
In the final minute of the first half, Dancing Camel got on the scoreboard as quarterback Yoni Mayzel launched a pass 35 yards downfield that was tipped by a Haifa defender, but landed in the hands of Ben Gross. The Pioneers’ receiver then ran the remaining 15 yards for a touchdown. Dancing Camel went for two, but Real Housing’s Idan Maor stopped Mayzel on the conversion attempt.
After O’Neil scored the first of his three TDs on a 14-yard run to make it 12-7, he also was given the ball as Dancing Camel converted on its two-point attempt, this time to take a 14-7 lead in the third quarter.
Trailing by seven, Haifa’s Shterenbach connected with receiver Shachar Yeshurun for a 25-yard gain. Even though it appeared Yeshurun coughed up the ball after being hit and the Pioneers recovered, the play was called dead before the apparent fumble. The Underdogs’ drive continued, but not for long. Pioneers linebacker Uri Heiman intercepted the ball at the 10-yard line and Dancing Camel took over.
The defenses controlled the game until Dancing Camel’s Mike Levy returned a punt 40 yards, from his own 10-yard line to Real Housing’s 10-yard line.
On the very next play, the Pioneers handed the ball off to their workhorse, O’Neil, who ran the ball in for a touchdown and made Fieldturf IFL history by going over the 100-yard mark. With a successful extra-point kick, Dancing Camel took a 21-7 lead with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Hasharon intercepted the ball on their own 10-yard line to stop a Haifa drive, and then at the end of a time-consuming drive, O’Neil ran five yards for his third touchdown of the day.
Now facing a 28-7 deficit with two minutes left, Haifa drove down the field and Shterenbach threw his second touchdown pass of the day, a 12-yarder to Yeshurun with one second on the clock. The two-point conversion failed.
The Dancing Camel Hasharon Pioneers and the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs are both 1-1.
The Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres (0-1) host Big Blue Jerusalem (1-0) on Saturday, December 1, at the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club’s training facility in Kiryat Shalom. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 P.M.
