Battle-tested Modi'in, Haifa emerge victorious

It’s still a two-horse race in the Kraft Family Israel Football League, although the pack seems to be gaining ground quickly and will likely be heard from again before it’s all said and done.  

On Thursday, the Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers brought a four-game winning streak to the capital to face the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions and didn’t give an inch in the face of a tenacious effort by the hosts, coming out of the tightly-fought skirmish as 16-6 victors.

On Saturday night, in the first game this season at the Maccabi Sports Complex, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs bent but did not break under fierce conditions in Kiryat Shalom, maintaining their half-game lead on the Pioneers atop the standings with a 30-28 nail-biter over the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres.The real winners this weekend, however, were the fans, who were treated to a pair of the hardest-hitting, well-played and entertaining football games the country has ever seen.

Coming off dominant shutout performances last week, the two league-leaders were severely tested this time out, staving off stiff challenges by the Lions and Sabres, respectively, two teams in desperate need of a victory. The Lions’ loss brings the club’s record to 2-3 and below .500 for the first time in franchise history.  The Sabres played their best all-around game of the season, scoring in every quarter and getting two chances in the fourth to mount potential game-winning drives against Haifa. However the first-place Underdogs were just a little too much for the still-winless Tel Aviv squad, which sits at 0-5 in the IFL basement.

Points were hard to come by in Thursday’s Lions/Pioneers encounter at Kraft Stadium, with the first quarter being defined by the ferocious tackling and steely determination displayed by both teams coming out of the gate. This was defensive football at its best, with the lack of scoring and abundance of three-and-out possessions more a testament to remarkable defensive prowess on the field than an indication of offensive stagnation for either side.  Big Blue was unable to capitalize after forcing two Modi’in turnovers, one on an interception by Akiva Rindenow and another on a recovered Ron Moscona fumble, hitting the brick wall that was the Modi’in defense on seven consecutive possessions. The Pioneers would absorb turning the ball over five times over the course of the game by playing responsible team football as they have done all year, not getting discouraged by, but rather rallying around, mistakes to turn them into motivational lessons.

As opposed to becoming over-zealous on the road and trying to force things when nothing clicked early, the Pioneers (5-1) were perfectly content to sit back and wait for an opportunity to pounce. The Lions’ defense was back to its ball-breaking self, with Yonah Mishaan and Kasey Stewart buzzing around as men possessed, combining for 27 tackles, a half-sack and a fumble recovery. A back-and-forth first half produced no points and the teams entered the interval locked in a scoreless chess match. On its first drive after the break, Modi’in opened the scoring when all-purpose star Asaf Katz threw the team on his back and ran the ball three times for a total of 40 yards in five plays, culminating in a one yard plunge into the endzone for a touchdown and an 8-0 lead after Tomer Edri danced over the goal line for an extra two points. Katz would finish with a team-high 67 total yards of offense and seemed to be involved in every play on the other side of the ball as a linebacker, taking part in 14 tackles and recording a sack. Despite making a bone-headed mistake of a touching a live-ball punt, a de facto fumble, which led to Jerusalem only scoring drive, the lean, mean tackling and running machine, who is the motor of the Pioneers’ engine, single-handedly contributed enough to the victory to garner Mike’s Place player of the game honors.

Jerusalem would valiantly stay in the game with an unconverted touchdown of its own make it a two-point game, at 8-6. Quarterback Aryeh Bauman somehow found target Amichai Bergman in the corner of the endzone and threaded a 14-yard strike through the hands of defender Shmuel O’Neil into the grasp of his big receiver. While Bauman finished only 6-20 for 50 yards and tossed two picks in addition to the one TD, the numbers don’t tell the whole story and, but for a couple of dropped balls on picture-perfect passes from the Big Blue QB, the game’s outcome may have been different. A 29-yard dash through a hole up the middle by Pioneers’ speed-back Edri with just over three minutes left in the third set up a 10-yard scoring dart by Uri Schiff to receiver Ben Gross, who made an unbelievable adjustment on the ball to haul it in just over the goal-line, an inch from going out of bounds on the side. While the two-point conversion attempt would fall short, Modi’in would get the two points on the ensuing kickoff in the most unique of ways when Big Blue’s Matan Lavi fielded the kick in his own endzone and ran out before going back in voluntarily and getting tackled for a safety by player/coach Dan Brunwasser.

The fourth-quarter would see Jerusalem try to mount a comeback, but the 10-point deficit wouldn’t be dented. An eight-play Lions’ drive was snuffed out by Jason Gosnel’s third sack of the day, his third game in a row of getting to the quarterback three times, to take over the IFL lead with nine for the season. Big Blue’s last-ditch attempt ended on an interception by Modi’in platoon-QB and cornerback Tal Brown and the Pioneers bled out the clock en route to their fifth straight victory.

While Thursday`s game was decidedly defensive-minded, Saturday night’s affair had a little of everything. In fact, the 16-6 final result in the weekend’s first match was only the end-of-first-quarter score in the Underdogs/Sabres clash on a wet field in Kiryat Shalom. The Underdogs (5-0) found four different ways to put the ball in the endzone for their 30 points, while the Sabres went back to the basics, riding the wings of old-favorites, receiver Liron Hovan and QB Tamir Elterman, for their four scores and 28 points, which unfortunately fell just one conversion short of their foes from the North.

Real Housing got the first points of the game on a 51-yard punt return by Erez Baharav. After juking two defenders and getting a couple of good blocks, the speedy special-teams whiz was off to the races, splitting a wave of Sabres on his way to the house. Itai Ashkenazi then found Sa`ar Barda for the two point conversion and 8-0 lead with game barely two minutes old, planting the “here we go again!” seed in the minds of the sixty or so spectators.

The hosts were not about to roll over, however, and Elterman lead his men on a 10-play charge down the field that ate up almost six minutes of clock. On a fourth-and-goal play from the Haifa six, after the wiry Tel Aviv play-caller appeared to be contained, he somehow found his footing and hit Hovav in the endzone on a perfect strike on the run for his first TD of the game. Lior Subotnik responded with his league-leading fifth touchdown before the quarter ended on a 16-yard burst after a pair of passes to Barda set the Underdogs up with a first down in good field position. Barda would catch five of Ashkenazi`s eight completed passes for the game for 40 yards and also perform admirably as both the team`s placekicker and punter. He has made an impact in almost every game he has appeared and his comfort level is only improving as the season progresses. His all-around effort earned him the Mike’s Place player of the game award.

The second quarter, as well, would see a Sabres’ TD sandwiched in between a pair of Underdogs’ scores. Haifa got their first on a forced quarterback fumble by pass-rusher Omer Kedmi that was recovered in the endzone by big lineman Alexander Primak for the maiden touchdown of his career. Elterman bounced back from his mistake by immediately finding Hovav for a 27-yard gain and ultimately snuck into the end-zone on a 12-yard QB sneak at the end of the drive to once again make it a one-possession game. Ashkenazi then orchestrated a patented one-play drive, right away hooking up with Shachar Yeshurun on a 30-yard bomb for the talented receiver’s fourth straight game with a score. That made it a 30-14 contest at the half, and while the league-leaders seemed to have the game in hand, little would they know that would not put up another point all game and would have their hands full trying to hold off a furious Tel Aviv comeback attempt.

Coming out of the break with renewed purpose, the Sabres held the Underdogs to three-and-out to open the third quarter. Elterman then led his third scoring drive of the night as the skies began to open up. After Yoni Shochet picked up 13 yards on the ground, Hovav reeled in a spectacular 19-yard TD grab that brought his team to within ten. The two touchdowns were the first in over a month for Hovav, who now has four this year after catching five last season. He ended with six receptions for 86 yards on the day. Just a minute and a half into the final frame, Elterman scored his second 12-yard running touchdown of the game, converting the two points himself as well to make it 30-28 with plenty of time remaining. While the D continued to put pressure on the Underdogs attack, forcing Ashkenazi out of the pocket and bottling up the running game with rambunctious gang-tackling rarely exhibited by the Sabres all season, the offense stalled at the worst possible time as a steady rain continued to fall, making the conditions for aerial football less than ideal.

While the Underdogs would manage only one first down for the quarter – on a 20 yard keeper by Ashkenazi – Tel Aviv couldn’t manage to find any holes either and totaled only 22 yards in the crucial final frame, when the door was wide open for it to swoop in for the upset victory. While Haifa did escape with the 30-28 victory, there were numerous positives for the encouraged Sabres’ team to take away from this one. The team allowed only two sacks, an indicator of much better line play, and threw no interceptions. They outgained Haifa by over 100 yards in total offense, winning both the passing and running games battles, and had 13 first downs to the Underdogs’ six. It is just a matter of time before the results in the win column begin to reflect the improvement in the team that is so visible on the field.

The Kraft Family IFL return this week to Yokne’am as the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings (1-4), the only team not in action last week, travel to face the Underdogs. In the teams’ last meeting, Haifa won 56-38 in the Chanukah Bowl and the Kings will have revenge on their mind as they look to deal the league-leaders a first loss on the season. Kickoff will take place on Friday, February 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the Yokne’am Soccer facility. All football fans from the Galilee and beyond, both new and old, are invited to what should be another barnburner between two offensive powerhouses.