Big Blue Takes Care of Mike’s Place
The setting may have different, but the result was an old story in Fieldturf IFL action last week.
Tackle football arrived in Modi’in on Thursday night as Israel’s first league kicked off under the city’s new stadium lights with a game between the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres and the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions. The energized local crowd of about 150 witnessed an entertaining match which Big Blue won in convincing fashion by a tally of 40-8 in a game that played much closer than the final score indicates. The game was also attended by special guests Modi’in Deputy Mayor Alex Weinreb and Modi’in Matnas Director Chanan Danziger.
“What a great welcome Modi’in gave the IFL and our players from both teams. The crowd was really excited!” said IFL Commissioner Eric Amkraut, who worked closely with Modi’in officials and community members to bring the game to this new venue. “The enthusiasm of the local fans speaks volumes for the future of the sport in the region.”
Tel Aviv (1-7) fought the first place Lions head-to-head for most of the first half, even jumping out to an 8-0 lead with a pair of early scores. An errant Jerusalem snap late in the first quarter went for a safety for the first points of the game, and that was quickly followed by another six for the Sabres on a touchdown pass to receiver Liran Hovav. After being held off the scoresheet for the last couple of games, Hovav had a strong outing, catching six balls for 85 yards to go along with his TD.
Jerusalem (7-1) was able to bounce back and go into the locker room with a 14-8 lead on a pair of Moshe Horowitz touchdown runs. Horowitz took over the IFL lead in that category with three scoring runs on the day of five, 13 and 15 yards respectively.
The Lions took the momentum and ran with it in the second half, pouring on 26 unanswered points and managing to play prevent defence to stop Tel Aviv in almost every crucial situation. They forced five punts and a missed field goal and turned what had been an early battle for field position into a one-sided affair. The main problem for the Sabres seemed to be their fatigue level, which increased drastically as the game went on with a number of players seeing action on both sides of the ball due to injuries.
Jerusalem quarterback Aryeh Bauman had a rare off game personally, throwing for only 30 yards and two interceptions. However his team more than compensated and allowed Big Blue to cruise to a relatively easy victory even on a day when the air attack was subpar. The Lions also benefited from their usual touchdown by receiver Yoni Lehrer, who has seen the end zone in every game he has played.
Big Blue effectively ran the football at the Sabres’ recently lauded defence by incorporating more single-back sets into the game plan. By using a mixture of double tight end sets and three-receiver formations, they were able to limit the three and four-man looks that Tel Aviv could use to defend the running game. Enjoying sizable contributions from Adam Lemberg and Uri Schiff, in addition to Horowitz, they managed to pile up 173 yards on the ground for the game.
The Big Blue defence not only played an outstanding coverage game, holding the Mike’s Place to single digits for the second straight week and holding them off the board completely in the second half, but also contributed two scores of their own with Michael Amzalag and Ido Ben Dayan each returning picks for TDs. Amzalag had another interception as well on the final play of the game and played a strong game overall, racking up two tackles and three pass break-ups.
The two teams will meet once again this year in the final regular season game on March 6 in Jerusalem in a game that will be attended by new England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and a couple of surprise NFL players. The IFL returns next week with a Saturday game at Kibbutz Ein Hashofet near Haifa. The 12:00 noon kickoff will feature a first round playoff preview between the second-place Real Housing Haifa Underdogs (5-3) and third-place Dancing Camel Hasharon Pioneers (3-5).
prepared by Uriel Sturm, IFL League Statistician, who has (objectively) viewed and/or 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.
