Resurgent Pioneers topple Big Blue in Modi'in

There are new occupants from Haifa atop the Kraft Family IFL standings this week and another team from Modi’in that is clamoring to immediately unseat the current tenants as well.

This is what mid-season football is all about and Jerusalem feels all left out!
On Saturday night, under the lights (and rain) in Modi'in, the host Dancing Camel Modi'in Pioneers continued their resurgence after last year's fourth-place finish by executing their game-plan to perfection en route to taking down the defending-champion-Big Blue Jerusalem Lions, 22-18.

Quarterback Uri Schiff was marvelous in the second half, scoring a touchdown and two key two-point conversions, and Modi’in was buoyed by three interceptions and a recovered fumble while not turning the ball over once themselves in the confidence-building win.

The victory for the Pioneers brings their season record to 2-1 and puts them in second place, right on the heels of the league-leading Real Housing Haifa Underdogs, who won 14-0 on Friday to move to 2-0. After winning only three games total in 2007/08, the revamped Dancing Camel squad is playing with a renewed sense of purpose and has a number of new players with big-play capability. This could spell danger for the rest of the IFL and, at the very least, makes the team exciting to watch each time out.

For Big Blue, meanwhile, the loss sends the former league-powerhouse to a mediocre 1-1 on the season and the reeling Lions now find themselves in unfamiliar territory in third place. With nine players sidelined, Big Blue just couldn't come up with the personnel to make plays at crucial moments and they were doomed by two ill-timed interceptions that swung the game in Modi'in's favor.

The game was extremely well-balanced, especially considering that the teams were battling the elements as well as each other. Weather, as they say, is the great equalizer and that was certainly the case in this one as the contest remained super-tight right until the very end, even though the hosts had ample opportunity to blow it wide open but for a number of botched red-zone possessions.

Right from the start, the Pioneers came ready to play, and after an Akiva Rindenow 28-yard opening-kick return staked Big Blue to good field position, the Modi’in defense got to work. Swarming coverage led to three straight incompletions from Lions quarterback Aryeh Bauman, the last of which was intercepted by Modi’in cornerback Ron Moscona, and that set the tone for the rest of hard-hitting contest.

Big Blue got the scoring started with a nice drive culminating in a two-yard dart from Bauman to Gai Van Straten on a goal-line slant for a touchdown and a 6-0 gap. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Pioneers responded on the ensuing possession, when Tal Brown found receiver Raphael Bloom on a perfectly-thrown fade that knotted the score in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

The game developed a little like a welter-weight boxing match, with each side throwing hard, measured punches and attacking with a flurry of quick well-timed jabs before sitting back and playing aggressive defense. Neither team could hold any sort of sustained momentum and the half ended with the score even at six. 

In the second half, the Pioneers continued to play their conservative-style no-mistake football, protecting the ball and slowly marching down the field with a steady array of handoffs to three or four different backs. In fact, a whopping eight different Modi’in players got touches out of the backfield and the team ran the ball 40 times for 130 yards, eating up clock and keeping the under-manned Big Blue defense on the field for extended stretches.

At the seven minute mark of the third, Bauman threw his second pick of the day, to Ben Gross. On the very next play, Gross hauled in a precisely-lofted 23-yard toss from Schiff for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead after the two-point conversion. This one-man-show, game-turning series of plays earned Gross the Mike’s Place player of the game. 

The skies opened up to start the fourth quarter and Modi’in refused to alter their plan, which was working to perfection, even though the game remained a nail-biter. Big Blue would not go down without a valiant fight either, not giving an inch on D and battling for the equalizing score.

An unsportsmanlike conduct infraction on the Pioneers’ coach set up the Lions with a perfect opportunity, which they cashed in on when player/coach Yonah Mishaan barreled into the endzone with 1:42 remaining in the game to bring the score to 14-12. However Adam Lemberg was stuffed for a five-yard loss on the game-tying conversion attempt and Big Blue opted to kick off and hope for their defense to get them the ball back.

However, Schiff, once again marshaled a quick drive with three runs, on the last of which he bounded into the house for a 11-yard score that all but iced the game. While Big Blue would manage another last-second touchdown on a back-of-the-endzone pass to Elliot Kramer to bring it to 22-18, when Asaf Katz recovered the onside kick, all that was needed was a kneel to send the jubilant Pioneers streaming onto the field in victory. 

Both the Lions and the Pioneers have some time off to lick their wounds and revel in their early-season accomplishments, respectively. Big Blue next plays in three weeks on Thursday, January 8, 2009, while Dancing Camel has until Saturday night, January 14th for its next contest.

The IFL kicks off next this Thursday, December 18 in what should be an entertaining slugfest between the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings (0-1) and the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres (0-2). The Sabres and Kings played to a thrilling 52-40 bout in the final preseason game and this rematch has been on everyone's minds ever since. The gates open at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem at 7 p.m. All fans are invited.