Olé!!! Papagaio-backed Kings knock off Pioneers

Big Blue, Real Housing both capture blowout victories in Jerusalem to round out IFL preseason slate

The Papagaio Jerusalem Kings waited over a year for a game like the one they played on Saturday night in Modi’in.

With a hard-fought, total-team effort 32-24 triumphant performance over the defending-champion Pioneers to open (and close) their Kraft Family 2009/10 preseason, the Kings finally notched that all-important, character-defining victory that they hope will propel them into the season on a high note and be a prophetic sign of positive things to come.

In other action over the weekend, the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions got their new campaign started off on the right foot with a 25-0 preseason spanking of the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres in the opener of a Thursday night doubleheader. In the late match, fans at Kraft Stadium were treated to another lopsided victory, this time by the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs in a 40-8 domination of the expansion Beersheva Black Swarm.

Big Blue demonstrated that their new-look offense, led by all-star quarterback Itai Ashkenazi, will most definitely be as dangerous as advertised. With a running game anchored by Matan Lavi and Dani Brill, combined with the always available dump-out option of veteran all-around talent Yonah Mishaan, the new Lions’ signal caller only had to show glimpses of his arsenal in his winning debut outing.

Still, a balanced onslaught of one TD in each quarter was more than enough to comfortably put away a visiting Tel Aviv squad who never really came close to putting points on the board.

The Sabres, whose marked offseason improvement was not evident on Thursday night, were unable to find any sort of offensive rhythm against a fresh-legged Big Blue defense. While the Mike’s Place defense was able to hold Big Blue from hitting on any game-breaking big plays, as the contest wore on it was almost helpless from preventing the Lions from slowly marching down the field and capitalizing on their red-zone opportunities.

In the late-night neutral-location bout between the Black Swarm and Underdogs, Haifa jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead and never looked back, extending the advantage to 26-0 by halftime, and 40-0 going into the final frame, before a late Beersheva score broke the double-shutout bid.

After a 45-29 victory over the also-expansion Judean Rebels the previous week, the Black Swarm – who were the only of league’s seven teams to play twice in the preseason – came into Jerusalem a little too confident for a first-year franchise playing against a veteran-laden roster like Real Housing’s. With first-string QB Sagar Patel overseas, backup Tal Assor was given his first start and was unable to find open receivers throughout night, although he did account for the club’s only points with a scrambling TD and conversion once the game was in the bag.

Ironically, it was the Underdogs’ defense rather than the more-aptly named Beersheva’s which seemed to be swarming to the ball all night. There were very few missed tackles for the yellow-and-black from the North, which held the Black Swarm on nine straight possession before finally relenting on the tenth to give up the one meaningless touchdown.

After reaching the inaugural Israel Bowl in 2007 before suffering a bit of a setback last year, Haifa is anxious to show that they will once more be at the top of the IFL pack this season, even after losing Ashkenazi and fellow veteran Idan Maor to Beersheva. Their first showing of the season was definitely a resounding statement that they mean business.

It was definitely a case of saving the best for last, however, when talking about the weekend’s trio of IFL games.

The Kings have definitely developed somewhat of a chip on their shoulder over perceivingly being thought of as “the other team” from the capital, especially with the rival Rebels now in the mix. Working hard with new coach Rabbi David Goldstein and a bevy of new bruising backs to redesign their running game, the Papagaio offense definitely has harnessed a new hard-nosed look, one that began paying dividends in the team’s very first game.

Jerusalem opened the scoring on the first drive of the night, just four plays into the game, before the host Pioneers, still basking in the glow of their Israel Bowl title from a year ago, responded with an equalizing TD on their first possession.

On the ensuing Modi’in kickoff, the ball nipped the hands of the Kings’ return man before continuing on through the back of the endzone for a peculiar and disheartening safety and 8-6 Pioneers lead. The suddenly vulnerable Kings gave up another score before the end of the opening frame to go into the second quarter already staring at a 10-point deficit.

However, one measure of a good team is its resiliency, and the Kings stormed off their sideline determined to make a game of it on the road. Employing a picture-perfect game plan, which called for an emphasis on disguised runs on offense while making sure to wrap up the ball-carrier at the point of contact on defense, the Kings just held stout and waited for Modi’in to make a mistake.

Jerusalem managed to intercept an errant Tal Brown throw and turn it into a touchdown to start the second, but Modi’in bounced right back and re-extended the lead to double digits, at 24-12.

Those would be the Pioneers’ last points of the night, however, and before the half came to a close, the Kings would tack on yet another score on three straight runs of over 10 yards, the last a 16-yard rumble into the Dancing Camel endzone.

With the momentum clearly shifting to the Kings, Modi’in tried to keep a grasp on the contest with the opening possession of the second half, but the gang-tackling Papagaio defense forced a turnover on downs and gave the offense another chance with the ball, which would not be wasted. Jerusalem would score again and take the lead for good midway through the third quarter. A fifth Kings touchdown to open the fourth quarter would make it a 32-24 game, a score which would hold up as final.

The victory would not be sealed, however, without some last-minute drama. Instead of kneeling on the ball and running out the clock for the sure win, the Kings inexplicably opted to run a couple of final plays. When the ball was pried loose by the Modi’in defense for a fumble, the Papagaio supporters were forced to hold their breath as the Pioneers were gifted one final chance to send the game to overtime. A Marshall Mullimax sack would bring an end to the scary moment, though, and the Kings jubilantly streamed onto the field with a well-deserved upset.

While the Kings did win two games last year in their first season as a franchise (one of which came in the preseason), those victories seemed more the result of single-man shows and not the more desirable team-earned, combined full-roster efforts such as this one. The club looks like much more of a cohesive unit heading into the 2009/10 campaign and if it can hold its mistakes to a minimum on game days, Papagaio may emerge as a surprise contender atop the standings

In any case, with the brief dress-rehearsal schedule now complete, the IFL looks forward to the opening weekend of the regular season on November 5-7. Kick off for Game 1 is at Kraft Stadium on Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m., when Big Blue plays host to the Rebels. Two days later, on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m., Beersheva visits Modi’in for the respective season-openers for the Black Swarm and Pioneers.

Plenty of prime seats remain available for both games…although they are going fast and sellouts are anticipated!