Surging Sabres slaughter Swarm

Tel Aviv continues to click on all cylinders in impressive 56-2 blowout of Beersheva

It was a tale of two cities on Friday in the South as the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres travelled to Beersheva and lay a beating on the host Black Swarm to a degree never before seen in the Kraft Family IFL.

Tamir Elterman led the attack with three first-half touchdowns, and Yoni Rubin closed things out by throwing for two fourth-quarter scores as the Sabres were totally dominant throughout en-route to a record-breaking 54-point conquest, once again demonstrating their full-scale improvement from a year ago as they remained unbeaten at 2-0 on the young season.

Beersheva, on the other hand, has now lost three in a row by a combined 104 points to open its inaugural campaign. Friday’s 56-2 defeat was doubly hard for the Black Swarm players and coaches to swallow, as they felt that they were victimized both by some questionable officiating in addition to their own mistakes. While the stats, at first glance, seem to back up their gripe – 17 infractions were called against the hosts for 115 yards, compared to five for 30 yards against Mike’s Place – it is important to remember that expansion franchises often display lack of discipline, which could directly lead to a bloated penalty total.

Moreover, it was Beersheva’s complete inability to move the ball consistently – the club recorded only two first downs all day – coupled with the Sabres’ all-around supremacy that contributed most to the lopsided loss, rather than any issues with the referees. In fact, it was even the officials who helped the Black Swarm put their only two points on the board, when a dubious blocking in the back was called on the Sabres’ offense when operating out of its own endzone for a shutout-preventing automatic safety.

After witnessing only three such calls – that is, an automatic safety due to an offensive penalty in the endzone – in almost two decades of football fandom, it is somewhat peculiar to see it come up in consecutive Tel Aviv games – both times against the Sabres; let’s just say that the club has to watch out when protecting the QB or ballcarrier deep in its own territory or it risks continuing to draw the ire of the refs in future contests.

By pretty much all accounts, the first regular season game in Beersheva was one the hosts will want to wipe clear from the memory bank. Right from the very beginning, the teams arrived at the Neot Lon Soccer Field it to find it full of ankle-killing craters courtesy of the recent downpour, rendering the surface virtually unplayable. It took a last-ditch effort (no pun intended!) by the makeshift IFL groundscrew, using a wheelbarrow, a shovel and some sand to patch things up to an acceptable standard so that kickoff was only delayed by half an hour.

Tel Aviv wasted no time getting the scoring parade started, forcing a Black Swarm fumble on the third play from scrimmage that was recovered by the Sabres’ Roni Srisurin at midfield. Elterman took care of the rest, darting for 30 yards in two plays to get into the endzone, before converting for two points himself. The shifty 25-year-old back was able to find holes all day, racking up 95 yards on 14 carries as well as his trio of TDs. Amid a gaggle of players who all had terrific afternoons, Elterman’s performance distinguished itself as being a notch above, earning him a second-straight Mike’s Place Player of the Game award.

Beersheva, for its part, couldn’t really find any sort of rhythm on offense, netting only 87 yards on the day. After lighting up the scoresheet in the Swarm’s loss to the Jerusalem Kings a week earlier, Yair Cohen was bottled up by the smothering Tel Aviv defense, gaining only 10 yards on eight carries and turning the ball over twice through a fumble and an interception. There were truly few bright spots for the hosts, with QB Tal Assor rendered ineffective in the passing game and the running attack compiling a pathetic 1.7 yards/carry ratio on 23 attempts.

Kick returning was one area of relief for the Black Swarm, with Roy Bendor taking back three and Yasha Polyakov and Roi Artzi each with a single return for a total of 139 yards, by far the team’s most productive facet of the game. Amit Benvenisti was also had a notable day in defeat, picking off a ball and recording eight tackles after arriving after kickoff straight from taking a university exam.

But really, there was little for Beersheva to do in the face of a Tel Aviv attack which is really clicking on all-cylinders. While it is still very early, the Sabres have emerged as the cream of the crop thusfar in the IFL, with no clear weakness being exhibited over the course of two convincing victories. In both, the team ostensibly could have walked away with shutouts but for a couple of plays; it’s quite telling when that’s the only complaint that can be mustered in the aftermath of the season-opening conquests that have Mike’s Place sitting comfortably atop the standings.

The Sabres are winning by getting solid, if not great, performances from basically everyone on the roster. It begins with the coaching, as Jon Sharon and David Miller have managed to develop the trifecta of a physical, intelligent and disciplined ballclub in a relatively short amount of time. There is plenty of talent on the team, but it is, more than anything, the willingness for each and every player to share the limelight and just do their job that is fueling this new wave of success.

On Friday, besides Elterman, four other Sabres scored touchdowns and 14 different players caught balls or got at least one carry from scrimmage. Rubin and fellow platoon QB Alex Trafton have both shown glimpses of brilliance – each in distinct ways – and Tel Aviv seems to be in more than capable hands with the pair of Americans running the offense in tandem with Elterman highlighting the running game.

After the Sabres took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter, the Black Swarm would get on the board with the safety before Eli Patael would take pack an Assor interception 25 yards for a quick touchdown in response. Before the half was over, Elterman would stake his club to a 28-2 lead and Hammude Kassas would make it an even 30 on a successful two-point conversion. Kassas would add another TD towards the end of the third frame and would finish with 59 yards on the ground for the day.

Ehud Epstein had a wonderful day for the victors as well, tackling Cohen in the Beersheva endzone for a safety in addition to his seven tackles on defense, while also carrying the ball on offense once for a gaudy 26 yards. Adi Hakami and Tal Greenblat would tack on scores in the fourth quarter after Rubin came in to spell Trafton – who caused a safety of his own – and went an impressive 6-7 for 42 yards with the pair of TD passes.

All told, it was your typical one-sided contest, the result of which was never really in question. However, the Black Swarm were courageous in the loss, absorbing a couple more injuries and playing with their hearts on their sleeves right down until the closing whistle. Just like that old Timex slogan – “it takes a licking and keeps on ticking – Beersheva will surely be back better than ever, having grown stronger from their recent character-building setbacks. It has a chance to quickly put the defeat in the rearview mirror with another home game this week, this time against the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs (1-1), who will make the cross-country trek.

The Sabres, meanwhile, are also back in action almost immediately when they host the Judean Rebels (1-1) in Holon this Saturday night. Expect fireworks from the pair of explosive teams in what should be a real gridiron battle between two clubs with no love lost for each other. Kickoff on Friday for Underdogs-Swarm is schedule for 1 p.m, while Saturday night’s festivities will get under way at 8:45 p.m.