Sabres topple sluggish Pioneers

New-look Mike’s Place dominates defending champs 22-10 to open campaign on the right track

The statement was made loud and clear for all to hear....these are NOT your older brother’s Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres! No sirreee!

On Saturday night, in tackle football’s first foray into Holon, the revamped Sabres inaugurated their new home field in style, utterly dismantling the defending- champion Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers at the
Hapoel Tel Aviv training grounds across from Wolfson Hospital.

The 22-10 final didn’t reflect the nature of the thrashing the Pioneers (1-1) took, as they were beaten by the Sabres (1-0) in almost every facet of the game – ­ from passing and receiving, to discipline and coaching as well, not to mention a smothering defense that didn’t give an inch all night long.

It was 22-0 with under three minutes left before an iffy safety and a penalty-aided drive in the final minute spared Modi’in from suffering an embarrassing shutout following their Week 1 victory at home.

The overhauled Sabres, directed by coach David Miller and a trio of superb assistants, certainly looked new and improved in their schedule-opening triumph. Led by their take-no-prisoners defense and a pair of inspired offensive performances from Tamir Elterman and Alex Trafton, Mike’s Place played a grab-the-bull-by-the-horns confident style of football which really paid off against their overwhelmed opponents.

After two subpar seasons, the Sabres seem to have shed the bottom-feeder attitude for good and should be a force going forward, a fact clearly evident even after just one outing. A new winning mindset based on full-team responsibility has pervaded the squad and the “next-in-line” approach towards playing time on a packed-to-the-gills roster ensures that there is always a ready and willing group of hungry players ready to step in and perform.

On Saturday, that unified outlook was on full-display on both sides of the ball. On offense, Tel Aviv had four different players complete passes out of a variety of formations and had eight separate players account for double digit yards in net production. The defense, as well, led by Said Abulafia and Daniel Nissman, were in full gang-tackle mode right from the opening whistle, not letting Modi’in see any open field all night.

Not a single Modi’in rusher had a run of more than eight yards – none topping 24 yards total on the night – while five inpiduals on the Sabres broke through on jaunts of at least 10 yards. There were three interceptions forced by the Sabres – all from different defenders – on errant throws by the usually sure-handed and accurate Tal Brown, who was made to look out of sorts all night. As well, Tel Aviv racked up a franchise-high 17 first downs, while holding the Pioneers to just eight.

All in all, aside from two eventually trivial lost fumbles, a inconsequential interception, and a couple of unnecessary penalties, it’s hard to think of what else Tel Aviv could have done right in opening its season with a victory for the first time in the club’s three-year history.

Dancing Camel, on the other hand, which for 10 months had seemed almost impervious to pressure, suddenly seems quite vulnerable after a preseason setback and a too-close 20-14 triumph over the expansion Beersheva Black Swarm before Saturday night’s hammering. The talent and motivation is still there, and even last season, it took an opening-night loss to propel the Pioneers on their eventual title run.

But football is a game driven as much as anything by momentum and right now, it just seems that all the little breaks that were going Modi’in’s way when the club was flying high have just began to fall against them. Yes, the season is extremely young, but the chinks in the armor have been appearing for about a month now for the defending champs, and coach Dan Brunwasser must right the ship immediately before things spiral downwards any further.

The contest in Holon got off to a telling start, with Trafton kicking things off with an opening touchback before the Pioneers went three-and-out, their first of five possessions for the game that would last less than four downs without putting up points.

Trafton was given both the starting kicking and signal-calling duties and performed admirably in both roles, en route co-Mike’s Player of the Year honors with teammates Elterman and Abulafia. The incoming IFL rookie booted three touchbacks in his four kickoffs, as well as a beautiful 53-yard punt which pinned Dancing Camel deep in their own zone before the game was completely decided. He also ran for 30 yards and a TD and was 4-13 through the air as a passer. More than just his numbers, his presence on the field seemed to inspire confidence in his colleagues and get them to squeeze every last effort out of each play.

Tel Aviv marched down the field on its first possession, concluding with a Trafton short keeper for a touchdown (and two-point conversion) to open the scoring. Modi’in would come back with an 11-play drive that ultimately stalled at the Mike’s Place 5-yard line before the teams would settle in for some field-position football until midway through the second frame. An inadvertent whistle when one of the refs was faked out by a play action call ended up taking away a potential Modi’in game-tying touchdown, but other than that, Modi’in’s offense seemed listless for much of the night.

Elterman and Trafton were clearly the focal points of the offense, however other running backs were employed liberally in tandem with the dynamic pair to keep the defense guessing. Josseph Glickman was the primary beneficiary of this strategy, and he chipped in with a pair of short TD runs – one in the second quarter and once in the fourth – to round out the Sabres point-total.

The 10 Modi’in points were all put on the board after the game was essentially out of reach. First, on a Mike’s Place punt attempt from its own endzone, an offensive holding infraction resulted in an automatic safety. On the ensuing possession following a booming Trafton free kick, there were three ticky-tack penalties called – all on the Sabres – allowing the Pioneers to extend the drive and negate two different interceptions. In the end, with under 30 seconds remaining, Brown would find Shay Gotlieb in the back of the endzone for a 7-yard scoring strike and leave the impression of a more evenly-matched affair than actually took place on the field.

Elterman, as usual, was a veritable sparkplug, juking and spinning for 89 yards on the ground on just 11 carries for a other-worldly 8.1 yards per. The former QB also tossed a perfect 15-yard strike to Trafton out of a fake reverse configuration and was seemingly in on every offensive play. Rookie receiver Evan Reshef was also a revelation in his debut, catching four passes for 47 yards and taking part in five tackles on the other side. Abulafia and Nissman led the defense with eight tackles a piece in the impressive campaign-opening victory for last season’s cellar-dwellers.

Both clubs now have a week off to prepare for their next games. With Modi’in currently the only one of the seven IFL clubs to have already played two games, it will wait for the rest of the league to play some catch-up before hosting the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (1-0) in a rematch of last year’s Israel Bowl on Saturday, November 28 at 8:30 p.m. The Sabres travel to Beersheva the day before, on Friday, November 27 at 10:30 a.m., for the first regular season game in the South against the Black Swarm (0-1).

Until then, IFL focus turns to the capital for a Thursday night doubleheader this week. First, beginning at 7 p.m., the Papagaio Jerusalem Kings (0-1) host Beersheva at Kraft Stadium, immediately following which the Judean Rebels (0-1) will tangle with the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs (1-0) under the stars.