Tel Aviv Falls to Haifa, 35-30
By the time the final whistle had blown in Saturday’s IFL thriller between Haifa and Tel Aviv, it was clear that every one of the fifty-two fans in attendance had certainly gotten their money’s worth, having been treated to a fast-paced, energetic football game in which two evenly-matched teams battled each other toe-to-toe for a full 48 minutes. In the end, emerging triumphant from the mêlée was the Haifa Underdogs, who got touchdowns from five different players en route to a 35-30 victory over the Tel Aviv Sabres in Kibbutz Ein Hashofet. The win was huge for Haifa, who rebounded from back-to-back losses to even their record at 2-2, while Tel Aviv, once again, played a valiant game in which they could have come out on top, but are, today, left wondering what went wrong as they fell to 0-3 on the season.
From the opening kick-off, both teams’ offences came out ready to play, and touchdowns were scored on the first three combined possessions of the game as Tel Aviv jumped to a 12-7 lead after the first quarter. The game quickly turned into a seesaw affair, as the lead changed hands an unbelievable 7 times, with neither team being able to harness any kind of sustained momentum before a quick counter-attack by the other. After Haifa went up 13-12 on a bruising 9 yard touchdown run by Idan Maor, the Sabres responded with two straight scores to take a 24-13 lead into the half and appeared to be on pace for their first victory, being led by receiver Leron Hovav and his pair of first half touchdown catches.
However, Haifa came out with a vengeance in the second half scoring 14 points in a two minute span to take a 27-24 lead, capped by Dagan Sadrinas snatching an attempted Tel Aviv handoff out of mid-air and taking the fumble 20 yards to the end zone. Tel Aviv, though, refused to surrender and marched downfield on a long, six minute drive culminating in quarterback Adi Hakami’s second touchdown run of the day to go up 30-27 after three. Haifa was able to answer with another score early in the fourth quarter and was able to hold off a furious Tel-Aviv attempt to get the last tally of the day. Indeed, the outcome of the match was in doubt until the final play of the game, when Hakami was pressured out of the pocket and unable to get off a deep pass into the end zone, which would have given Tel Aviv the victory.
The game was defined by the ability of both Haifa and Tel Aviv to execute their game plans, almost to perfection. The Underdogs, who completed only three passes on ten attempts, were successfully able to pound the ball on the ground, piling up yards and led by Niv Medlinger and Roey Ziv, who combined for 136 of a team total 212 rushing yards on the day. Even when they were losing, Haifa did not abandon its run-first strategy and relied on its prevent defense, which held Tel Aviv to only 6 second half points as well as scoring a touchdown of their own, to give them enough time and possessions to come away with the win. Tel Aviv, as well, for the most part, was able to give Hakami time to look downfield and he was stellar all game in passing for 245 yards with three touchdowns and no picks to go along with his two rushing scores. Star receiver Leron Hovav almost single-handedly kept the Sabres in the game with his 12 receptions for 165 yards and two scores of his own.
Ultimately, however, the Haifa attack was too balanced and their defense just unrelenting enough to hold off two final Tel Aviv drives in the final three minutes and they managed to escape with the narrow 35-30 victory in a game that, but for a couple of bounces, really could have gone either way. After two tightly-fought games between the two squads, both of which ended in close victories for Haifa at home, look for Tel Aviv to play with special purpose in their third and final exciting match-up of the season when they host the Underdogs on January 19 at Maccabi Fields.
Game notes: The game was played on a field that was muddy from a night of rain and both teams’ uniforms look forward to an extra trip to the laundry this week; Tel Aviv’s Asaf Katz had a big day on both sides of the ball, catching a 45 yard TD pass and recording 9 tackles and 7 assists on defense; Haifa running back Niv Medlinger has recorded at least 60 yards rushing in all three games he has played; With his 12 receptions for 165 yards, Tel Aviv WR Leron Hovav takes over the IFL lead in both categories
Prepared by Uriel Sturm, Fieldturf IFL Statistician, who has viewed and recorded each and every down and game from the best seat in the house – the field! Please feel free to contact Uriel at uesturm@gmail.com.
wow…what an exciting game! I look forward to seeing Niv/Ziv when they play in tel aviv.
You are so much like me, or i’m like you, well anyway, if we knew each other we’d make a good team, hehe, keep up the good work