Let the Rebellion begin!

Judea captures franchise's first victory in 58-52 shootout over Haifa

With 96 points scored in the opener of Thursday’s IFL doubleheader in the capital, it’s difficult to believe that the second game of the night was the ‘high-scoring one.&rsquo

But that indeed was the case as the Judean Rebels notched their maiden victory as an organization in a thrilling 58-52 barnburner against the visiting Real Housing Haifa Underdogs before a rabble-rising crowd at Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem.

The expansion Rebels got a pair of perfectly-timed long kickoff returns for touchdowns from Mo English and QB Joe Martisius threw for four more scores – three to new favorite target Chris McKinny – to overcome an Underdogs squad which just wouldn’t give up, even after going into the mid-way interval down 40-14.

In fact, when it was all said and done, Real Housing actually scored more touchdowns that the Judean bunch, edging them 8-7 in that department. However, it was Haifa’s inability to convert after getting to the house that ultimately resulted in their first loss of the season, dropping them into fifth place on points differential, with four teams tied at 1-1.

The Rebels secured two-point conversions on 6 of their 7 TDs, while the Underdogs were good on only 2 of 8. When you take into account two ill-advised (including one highly dubious) safeties against the visitors, it becomes clear that the game was certainly there for the taking for either side and it was just the Rebels who managed to execute just a tad better than their opponents from the North.

While Haifa will undoubtedly look at the loss as a missed opportunity to become the first team in the IFL with two victories, the game was more an illustration of the across-the-board-parity that has become the theme of the first three weeks of the season. The beauty of doubleheaders in an intimate seven-team league is their potential to shake up the entire balance of the standings in one single action-packed night. While it is still a bit early in the schedule for the full brunt of that impact to be felt, Thursday’s late-night madness was just the most recent example of how close the talent level is throughout the league. When a first-year club like the Rebels can operate at such an experienced level against a veteran-laden roster such as Real Housing’s, it teases at the the promise of meaningful and titillating football from now until the end of March.

That exciting prospect was no consolation for the Underdogs on Thursday night, however. Coming into Jerusalem with a head full of steam following their water-logged 30-22 conquest of the Papagaio Jerusalem Kings just six days earlier, Haifa was given a rude welcome was from the start, when English took the opening kickoff 47 yards for a quick 8-0 Judean lead upon successful conversion.

The Underdogs would respond with six points of their own on a 16-yards end-around keeper from QB Roey Ziv at the 8:21 mark of the first quarter, but the contest took on a lopsided feel for the remainder of the half, as the Rebels sandwiched four touchdowns and a safety around a Shahar Yeshurun 36-yard scoring scamper for Haifa to take a 26-point advantage into the break.

McKinney would catch TD passes of 22, 43, and 45 yards from Martisius and finish with 12 receptions for 180 yards, good enough for co-Mike’s Place Player of the Game honors. His QB teammate would complete 17-26 pass attempts for 231 yards for the game to go along with his quartet of TDs, however Big Red also tossed two interceptions which allowed Haifa to retain hope in a wild second half.

Yeshurun was his usual multi-faceted threat in a losing cause, although he was victimized by the ever-changing and murky IFL touchback/safety ‘impetus’Gate that gifted the Rebels two (thankfully inconsequential) points. Otherwise, the 24-year-old two-time all-IFLer was one of two Real Housing players to rush for triple digits, racking up 110 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries. While he did not catch a pass from his own QB – Haifa finished the game with a totally uneven 47:4 pass:run ration – he managed to haul in an acrobatic interception on an errant Martisius pass, as well as return three kicks for an average of 17 yards and take part in five tackles on defense. There is not one player, perhaps in the entire IFL, who has been more synonymous with his franchise over the past two-and-a-half years than Yeshurun, who always seems to be in the thick of whatever is going on for the Underdogs.

The other co-Mike’s Place Player of the game on Thursday went to English, who put on a special-teams show never before seen in the history of the IFL. Along with game-opening score, English put a dagger in the hearts of Real Housing when he again burst through the coverage along the sideline for a 49-yard kickoff TD return after Haifa began the third quarter on a tear with three consecutive scores to pull within six. In all, the shifty speedster had seven returns for 175 yards, as well as performing admirably as a punter with a 33-yard average. Most impressive, with the game still in doubt late in the fourth and Judea clinging to a slim four-point lead, he stuck one on the Haifa one-yard line with under a minute left which ultimately led to the game-icing safety two plays later on a Barya Shachter tackle of Ziv in the endzone.

Shachter was a beast on defense all night, compiling 13 tackles along with his caused safety and a fumble recovery. Team sponsor and linebacker Peretz Rickett, as well, was omnipresent throughout, taking part in 11 tackles and breaking up a crucial Real Housing two-point conversion with the momentum beginning to swing the other way.

For Haifa, Harrison Bailey was a shining light at full-back, rumbling for 151 yards and a pair of TDs on just nine attempts, including an IFL-record 60-yard expedition from his own goalline. Alex Fries was also a revelation in his IFL debut, catching the only two balls for the ’Dogs as well as rushing for 23 yards and picking off a pass . The Underdogs, even in defeat, set new bellwether marks with 385 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground. However, when it came down to it, the Rebels were just too strong-willed and too resilient to let what looked like a sure-victory slip through their fingers.

To put it bluntly, Judea’s post-match sideline celebration said it all, as all the hard work put in by the first-year franchise was finally rewarded with a smashmouth victory that almost went up in smoke with a near second-half collapse.

The Rebels now have a week off before trying to make it back-to-back W’s when they kick off December on the road in Tel Aviv. The Underdogs also have some time to lick their wounds and regroup before making the long trip to Beersheva in two weeks' time for their next contest, against the expansion Black Swarm.

The IFL gets back to the field this weekend with a Friday-Saturday slate. First, the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres (1-0) travel to the south to face the depleted Swarm (0-2), who lost starting quarterback Sagar Patel and lineman David Russel to season-ending injuries in their 70-26 setback vs Papagaio. The next night, football fans in Modi’in will be treated to an Israel Bowl rematch between the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (1-0) and the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers (1-1).