A Nailbiter!
A thrilling game of twists, turns and turbulence on a muddy field in the Baptist Village ended in jubilation for the Dancing Camel Hasharon Pioneers, who pulled off the heist of the IFL season against a bewildered Tel Aviv squad that is kicking themselves this morning over what might have been.
Quarterback Yoni Mayzel threw three touchdown passes, Shmuel O’Neil rushed for 75 yards and the Pioneers (2-5), desperate for a victory after coming into the game on a four game skid, rallied behind two touchdowns from receiver Ben Gross to come back and outlast the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres 24-21 on Friday afternoon to take over third place in the IFL standings.
Tel Aviv (1-5) still can’t believe the outcome after going into the fourth quarter with a seemingly comfortable 21-8 lead, and having the game literally slip out of their fingers with a last minute Hasharon game-winning touchdown drive in which the Sabres could have iced the game but for a dropped interception by the usually sure-handed Amit Benvenisti.
The victory was especially sweet for the Hasharon passing attack, led by Mayzel, who finally made a team pay for daring him to win using his arm after his recent struggles. He was 9-19 for 129 yards for the day and, more importantly, was able to find his receivers on pin-point completions for first downs or scores when his team needed them most.
The Pioneers’ defense was also misleadingly impressive, holding the Tel Aviv offense to just one touchdown on a short seventeen yard drive (two of the Sabres’ three touchdowns came on a punt and interception return) and allowing only 70 total yards for the game, despite playing without their best player, Mike Levy, once again. Corners Yaniv Yaron and Ariel Greisas filled in admirably as Hasharon was able to use its press coverage to take the Tel Aviv receivers out of the game.
Whether a function of quarterback Roi Yair still getting acclimated to the Sabres’ offense or simply the dominance of the relentless Dancing Camel defensive unit, Tel Aviv was only able to generate four first downs and four completions for the entire game and star receiver Liran Hovav was held in check for the second straight outing with only 19 receiving yards, although he did manage an interception return for 38 additional yards.
Tel Aviv linebacker Josh Klein was especially unstoppable in a losing cause and he ended up with an astounding 14 solo tackles for the game. Klein flew all over the field making solid stops to bottle up Hasharons’ usually stellar run, and his instincts and awareness in middle coverage were almost clairvoyant as he seemed to anticipate where the ball was going to end up on every play.
Tel Aviv running back Daniel Gev opened the scoring with a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown and after Gross evened the things at 8-8 with a beautiful over the shoulder catch in the back left corner of the endzone, another Gev touchdown, this one a 15-yard pass from Yair, and an interception return for a score by Benvenisti staked Tel Aviv to a 13 point cushion after three.
After a huge goal line stand to begin the fourth, it looked as if the Sabres were going to cruise to their second win of the season. However a Hasharon safety caused by Yaron and a quick 11-yard TD strike to Raphael Bloom on the ensuing possession, followed by another defensive hold and forced punt, gave the Pioneers the ball back with 2:30 left on the clock, plenty of time to score the deciding points. eventual game-winning drive.
On the first play of what was the eventual game-winning drive, Tel Aviv had a chance to assure a victory when Hasharon got their offensive signals mixed up and Mayzel hung a pass to the outside that appeared ripe for the picking. However the ball slithered through the open arms of the waiting Benvenisti, who mistakenly had his eye on a big return instead of securing the ball, and the rest is history.
One play later, Mayzel feathered a 35-yard pass deep down the sideline that Gross was able to haul in for a touchdown, giving Hasharon their first lead of the day and completing their improbable fourth-quarter comeback, a pass that every member of a deflated Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres team won’t soon forget.
In this week’s IFL action, the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (5-1) take on the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs (5-2) in a long-awaited rematch of the league’s two best teams for a mouth-watering battle for first place. The season series between the teams is knotted at one and Big Blue is looking to avenge their only loss of the season which came in their last game against Haifa. Kickoff will take place at 7:00 PM this Thursday at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. Tickets are going fast.
Prepared by Uriel Sturm, IFL League Statistician, who has (objectively) viewed and recorded each and every IFL down and game ever played from the best seat in the house – the field! Please feel free to contact at uesturm@gmail.com.
