FM Home Loans Men's Flag Football League – Week 1

The FM Home Loans AFI Flag Football League Kicked off this week at long last and with much anticipation. With a few changes this season the league looks to be more competitive and allow for more intense games with two conferences and four divisions.

Ther were a couple close matchups this week that came down to the last half and a game featuring the runner up last year and a perineal championship contender.

By: Betzalel (BT) Vanderhoofe

Friday

Flush The Lush vs. Ertz Bucks

Opening week kicked off with a game that ended up being a bit ugly. Flush The Lush went up early after getting a turnover on downs, helped by one of Ian Bromberg’s two sacks on second down, Aiden Einhorn caught a 10 yard TD and Saul Fedder converted the extra point to go up 7-0. Two plays later Saul Fedder got Flush’s first interception of the game. Then two plays after that Saul caught a 15 yard TD. Towards the end of the first half Flush scored another TD to go up 21-0 set up by a 46 yard bomb to Bromberg that got them donw to the 4 and they scored on the next play. Early in the second half one play after Flush the Lush went up 28-0 Ian Bromberg came up with their second INT. Then later on in that half Bromberg got a 4th down sack to turn Ertz over and two plays later he scored on a 35 yard TD pass to make it 35-0 with the extra point. After Flush forced another quick three and out on the first play of their drive they scored on a 35 yard flea flicker TD that made it 41-0. Then, as the game was coming to a close, after Saul Fedder sacked Ertz’s QB Judah Leifer put the final nail in the coffin in style with a pick-6 to complete the 47-0 blowout in week 1.

David’s Cookie Monsters vs. Moreshet Misfits 

The second game was a tough hard fought game that ended with Moreshet Misfits coming away with the 13-6 victory to move to 1-0. Moreshet had a few key contributors to get this win. Their two touchdowns were very big long ones coming from WR’s Brandon Magurdumov and Richard Cohen. The former being a 21 yard score 4th and long towards the end of the first half that tied the game at 6 and then they took the lead after Aaron Levy converted the extra point. The ladder was a 30 yarder coming towards the end of the 2nd half that gave the Misfits a 13-6 lead which they didn’t look back from. On defense they mainly got their contribution from Harry Gani. He got a big sack early on 4th down and added a massive interception on 4th down towards the end of the second half when they were leading by just one point that led to Cohen's game sealing touchdown. David’s Cooking Monsters lone touchdown came on a 2 yard pass to go up 6-0 which unfortunately was all they were able to muster against the Misfits and open up the season 0-1.

TO vs. Kedma – Bnei Akiva 

The final game of Friday week 1 was a close game until midway through the second half. Kedma – Bnei Akiva  started the game with the ball and drove all the way down field only to throw a redzone pick to Mordy Purec but they got it right back two plays later with an Ilan Horn interception. The next play, backed up to their own goal line, Netanel Eckman caught a 55 yard bobbling touchdown to open the scoring and put KBA up 6-0. The next drive TO tied it up at 6 by driving down the field and scoring on a 3 yard fade to Tzvi Aryeh Lieber. KBA then came right back and took the lead on a 50 yard bomb in which Abraham (AB) Schwartz mossed his defender on his way to the TD going up 13-6 after AB converted the extra point. Then towards the end of the first half on 4th and goal from the 1 Eckman scored another TD to go up 20-6 after Judah Schmutter’s extra point. In the opening drive of the second half TO hit a 45 yard TD to TAL and followed that up with an extra point to Nachi Lefton that was tipped to make it 20-13. TO then got a quick three and out but then KBA’s defense came out next drive with back to back sacks from Avi Meth and then a tipped pick from Paul Metzger to get the ball right back. The next drive TO’s defense came up big with another three and out aided by Moshe Abramson’s first down sack to give TO the ball back but the next drive KBA counter punched with a 4th down INT from Shmuel Mizrahi to get the ball back towards the end of the second half. This time when KBA had the ball they capitalized. They hit a 25 yard pass to AB on first down to get into the red zone and a couple plays later he scored on a 6 yard touchdown pass to go up 26-13 and put the game out of reach late in the second half. KBA starts the season off on the right foot going 1-0 in this defensive battle. TO takes a tough loss, and falls to 0-1, in a game where they made a lot of plays and were in it for most of the game.

Motzei Shabbos

Mercaz Moosen vs. Bais

In the opening game of Motzei Shabbos in week 1 the Mercaz Mossen led from start to finish and the game was pretty much over when it started. They opened the game with the ball and drove right down the field and scored on a 14 yard pass to Jack Walden and David Shafron added the extra point to make it 7-0. Bais Dovid started the game off in a very rough way. They had a bad snap on the first play which backed them up and then Avi Klien came through with a 5 yard safety on 3rd down to make it 9-0. Then two plays later they hit a 32 yard TD to Avi Jacobs and Jack Walden got the extra point to make it 16-0. Mercaz got another non offensive score on this drive. After backing Bais up on 4th down Dov Olshan blocked the punt and recovered it for a TD giving the Moosen a 23-0 lead. The next drive was once again a rough one for Bais. Mercaz forced a fourth down helped by Dov Olshan’s first down sack and on that fourth down Olshan got a takeaway with a tip pick. Two plays later Mercaz went up 29-0 on a 9 yard score from Shafron. Mercaz got the ball back quickly as Olshan added a sack and with the ball Olshan scored on a 13 yard TD three plays later. The opening two drives for both teams of the second half were Mercaz forcing a quick three and out and Jack Walden scoring a TD that made it 52-0. The very next play Dov Olshan got a safety of his own 54-0 and then two plays after that the Moosen scored on a 25 yard TD to Avi Jacobs. The game would end 62-0 but one of the only bright spots for Bais came on one of the last plays of the game when they got a pick in the red zone. All in all Mercaz dominated this game and had the usual contributions from everyone.

Little Giants vs. Cares Bears

This game was close for the most part although the Cares Bears lead for the whole game. To open the game the Cares Bears got a big stop on fourth down in the red zone and then quickly drove down the field and scored a TD on a four yard pass to Ezriel Valt. That put them up 7-0 and that was the score until late in the first half when the Cares Bears hit a big play to Yisrael Klein for 23 yards that was tipped by Eli Sabo to prevent a pick but the next play the Little Giants got their pick anyways in the red zone. The Little Giants drove down the field but again the Cares Bears got a turnover on downs in the red zone helped by a Dovi Beylus sack but then the Little Giants finally got on the board towards the end of the first half with a pick-6 from Mario Gonzales to make it 7-6. Early in the second half the Little Giants were driving and seriously threatening until the Cares Bears got a pick in the red zone from Mordy Russell to stop them in their tracks. The Cares Bears then used some trickery to get down within striking distance with a flea flicker run for 10 yards and then scored a TD from 15 yards out to Ezriel Volt again making it 13-6. They then got the ball back quickly and made maybe the best play of the week on the 2-point conversion attempt. They drove down and got a short TD to Yisrael Klein and on the 2-point try the play broke down and QB Dovid Barnett scrambled all the way back to his goal line zigging and zagging his way in and out of trouble and somehow evaded the two defenders chasing. He then sprinted all the way back down field toward the line of scrimmage and found Klein again open in the end zone for the conversion. The final score was 21-6 Cares Bears.