Underdogs continue torrid pace at home

This time, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs scored in the first half and they scored in the second half. By the time they were done, their opponent was like a punch-drunk boxer, dazedly pirouetting around and ruled down by TKO.

On Friday, in Yokne’am, the Underdogs beat up on the Blue Sun Music Jerusalem Kings 62-14 to set the Kraft Family IFL team single-game scoring mark and keep their perfect record intact heading into a one-month hiatus to gear up for the end of season and playoffs.

Itai Ashkenazi threw for four scores, Lior Subotnik ran for four more, and Arbel Rom and Shachar Yeshurun each had a pair of touchdowns to lead the high-flying Haifa attack, one which the visiting Jerusalem squad would have, at one point this year, enjoyed participating in toe-for-toe.

The victory brings the top-of-table Underdogs to 6-0 while the loss sends the Kings to 1-5, keeping them in fourth-place in the five-team league. Unless Real Housing loses its remaining two regular-season games, to the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions on the road and at home to the 5-1 Dancing Camel Modi’in Pioneers, it will clinch first-place and the number one seed in the postseason. The driving force for the team continues to be the dream of a title-winning, undefeated season, which has never been accomplished in the Israel Football League, and that singular goal has bonded these players into a fearsome unit that is growing stronger each week.

The Kings (1-5) have now lost four straight games and their early-season point-scoring extravaganzas almost seem like a distant memory. The team has a lot of improvements to make if it is to right the ship in time for some playoff success, especially considering that its most likely first-round foe is the same Haifa squad that knocked the players from the capital around the field on Friday. The team’s spirit is still high, however, and players will be returning from injury soon; it says here that they are not going to go down without a making some noise in the end.

The Underdogs never really gave the Kings a chance in this one, though, dominating almost every aspect of the game from the get-go. A botched Jerusalem punt attempt gave Haifa great field position on its first drive and Ashkenazi would not disappoint, reading a Yeshurun defensive mismatch and calling an audible at the line of scrimmage to get his number one target the ball. The tall receiver pulled down an acrobatic 11-yard TD grab over his diminutive defender after his quarterback gave him the perfect opportunity to make a play. The quick-instincts and on-field vision displayed by Ashkenazi on the play typify why the first-year signal-caller and his cadre of receivers have developed such a close rapport.

A quick Blue Sun three-and-out gave Haifa the ball back at midfield and Subotnik would waste no time, dashing 31 yards into the house on the first play of the drive for a 13-0 lead. With two or three running backs sidelined with injuries, ‘the man they call Clark’ would more than shoulder the running load in this game for the Underdogs. Relishing the opportunity to break out with a steady dose of handoffs, the powerful back pummeled the Kings’ defense for 164 yards on 19 attempts (8.6 yards per carry) to go along with his four TDs.

Once Subotnik is able to turn the corner, there is not a quicker ball-carrier in the country, and now that he is finishing his runs with authority, he may be the most dangerous player in the IFL. He ran for scores of 31, 43, 6 and 40 yards on Friday, three of them coming on the first plays of a Haifa possession, essentially acting as one-man wrecking ball. He now has touchdowns in all but one of Haifa’s wins, with a league-leading nine on the year, and for this week, his superman-like effort earned him Mike’s Place player of the game honors.

Down 19-0 after the first quarter and 25-0 midway through the second, Jerusalem’s offense finally got the team on the board after a nice 34-yard kickoff return by Eli Boymelgreen, to which 15 yards was added for a Haifa facemask infraction. Quarterback Joseph Marticius powered his way into the endzone with two consecutive seven-yard keepers to make the score, 25-6, which turned into 32-6 just before the half on a nifty 21-yard Ashkenazi strike to Omer Kedmi that the receiver snagged for a TD.

Marticius would score both Kings’ touchdowns on the day, the second in the third quarter on a lofting 27-yard perfect spiral parachute thrown by usual tight end Josh Flaks that the red-headed QB ran under and hauled in for six.  Marticius has thrown for 19 TDs and scored four more himself on the season, but on Friday, even with 98 yards rushing, his 29 yards total passing and three interceptions were not helpful in the losing cause. It may not have mattered even had he put on a Herculean performance, as Haifa really brought its A-game on both sides of the ball, but the Kings will need Marticius to be at his best for their remaining games if they want to come out on the right end.

After almost squandering a big second-half lead in their last game, just barely holding on for a 30-28 victory over the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres, the Underdogs were not about to take their foot of the pedal in the third and fourth quarters of this one. After being outscored 8-6 in the third by the Kings, Haifa stormed back in the fourth for 24 unanswered points, although the game was already in the bag by then.

The Underdogs did not turn over the ball once in this one, forcing three Jerusalem interceptions plus an Assaf Graif touchdown on a bad snap over Marticius’ head. They have now scored the most points in the league, with 224, and have allowed the fewest, with two shutouts and just 94 points scored against them. While the Pioneers are just one game back in the loss column, Haifa beat Modi’in in the first game of the season and will, as mentioned above, need to lose to Dancing Camel in their last game to relinquish the top spot heading to the playoffs. The best way to put it is that this Real Housing squad has set the barometer quite high and the four other teams, including Modi’in, have their work cut out for them if they are to deny Haifa the championship.

The IFL returns next Saturday night in Kiryat Shalom when the Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres host the Pioneers in their second home game at the Maccabi Soccer Complex. It should be an exciting matchup as the Sabres look to build on their dominant second-half of their last game and record their first victory, while Modi’in attempts to extend its winning streak to six and stay on pace with first-place Haifa. Kickoff will take place at 8:30 p.m. to give both players and fans ample time to get to the field after Shabbat.