FM Home Loans Men's Flag Football League – Week 4

Friday

Mercenaries vs. Old School 6-21

         The first half of this one was a tight hard fought match between the young team from TJ and the veteran squad trying to make a name for themselves in this league. Old School jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, the Mercenaries got the ball but didn’t have it for long as they punted after a three and out with an Eli Shicker sack on third and short to force it. After a few chunk plays to get them within striking distance they put up the first tally of the game on a 34 yard TD scamper down the sideline by Old School QB David Bienenfeld. That lead didn’t hold for so long as the Mercenaries got on the board and tied it up on the very next drive. Their drive was looking pretty bleak as it was third and long after a few short completions but then they got a major boost in the form of a defensive penalty. Old School got called for roughing the passer on a third and 13 making it a first down and two plays later the Mercenaries were in the end zone. Back to back nice plays got them there as they got a 18 yard catch followed by a 13 yard TD catch from Ely Shimunov. The first half ended with that same score as the teams fought for field position the rest of the half. Amir White picked up his first sack of the day in the process. Old School came out of the gates hot in the second half and never looked back. On the second play of the half Zack Stern caught a 35 yard touchdown to go up 12-6. Two plays later Amir White found himself in the backfield for his second sack of the day this time it was for a safety. They were now up 14-6 before you could even think. The mercenaries did get the ball back though as on a fourth and long Ben Neiss got their first takeaway as he picked off the pass intended for the first down. Old School matched that takeaway the next drive as on fourth down as well Zack Stern continued his good game with an INT that he returned 30 yards and put them in great field position. After a Ben Neiss sacked backed them up a little bit they hit on a nice 23 yard touchdown play as they completed the Philly Special. Their QB Bienenfeld flipped behind him to Zack Stern who then threw across the field to a wide open Bienenfeld for the easy 23 yard score. Amir White put the cherry on top in this one for Old School with his third sack of the game. The final score was 21-6 Old School. They seem to be getting a good idea of what this league is about and having a lot of fun while doing so.

Baboons vs. Eretz Bucks 21-14

         This was a close one almost all the way throughout. The baboons jumped out early with a quick three play drive ending in a TD to Ethan Thurm set up by a 35 yard pass play to Shalom Chananya. Jake Goldberg then caught the extra point on a nice jump ball to make it 8-0. Their defense also came out strong as Jake Goldberg got a big 10 yard sack on the second play of the drive and Jacob Winters got an INT on the next play giving their offense the ball right back. After four straight incompletions from their offense The Eretz Bucks took over looking to do something this time. They didn’t do that. Actually quite the opposite as they gave the ball right back to the baboons with a second INT going to Winters again. After another bad drive where they only collected 3 yards the Baboons punted. This time the Bucks took advantage as on the second play Daniel Lando made the first big play of the day for the Bucks. He took a pass 36 yards to the house to cut the Baboons lead to two at 8-6. The rest of the half was defensive and Eretz’s defense got a sack and an INT along the way. The Bucks made a change at QB at halftime in hopes that that would wake their offense up a little bit putting in Alan Shama. It took him a little while to settle in but when he did he made things exciting. On the first drive the Baboons got a couple early sacks to help get the ball, one coming from Jake Goldberg on fourth down. The baboons scored on the next play on a nice 11 yard spinning TD. The next drive the Baboons again got a fourth down sack, this time it came from Ethan Thurm. As the Baboons offense continued to struggle their defense kept picking it up. After a four and out Jack Gruber got the ball right back for them with a pick on the second play of the Bucks drive. The Baboons scored again a few plays later on a 15 yard TD catch from Jake Goldberg who turned out to be the star of this one along with a couple others. Now up 21-6 midway through the second half the Baboons fell into the trap of thinking it was over when it wasn’t. The Bucks immediately burned the Baboons lackluster defense for a 50 yard passing TD to Daniel Lando and they tacked on the extra two to make a a 21-14 game. They then went for the “onside kick” and didn’t convert but on the Baboons first play after the attempt Bucks star of the day Daniel Lando picked off the pass at the goal line and returned it 39 yards the other way to put them right back in it. Unfortunately for them four straight incompletions ending the game with the Baboons taking it 21-14 but this game was a great example of never giving up and always fighting until triple zeros.

Chofetz Chaim Chassidim vs. EarBiters 22-22

This game was meant to be a marquee matchup, but due to a certain illness befalling most of the Chassidim’s team, called “Out Shabbos”, only 6 of their players showed up. This greatly disappointed the commissioner, as he was banking on having a game for the ages. Little did the commissioner know that one can never count a Chassid out. This game was a nail biter, and the EarBiters had the Chassidim dead to rights with a bit more than one minute left to the game. The score was 16-15 but the Chassidim never lost hope. QB Yisroel Wasser heaved up a ball and said a little prayer, and like a good Chassid, it was answered. The game went into the 1 minute warning with the Chassidim scoring a TD to go up 21-16, but such a lead against a juggernaut like the EarBiters wouldn’t be enough, they knew that if they didn’t get the extra point, all would be lost. In a great play they scored the extra point to go up 22-16 and the EarBiters started with the ball on their own 10. After 3 plays that had mild success the stage was set. The whole game came down to a 4th and 7 from Earbiters 23. Receiver Jason Bick knew that this was his moment, all those years of training to make it to the AFI “FM Home Loans” Flag Football League needed to pay off. As the ball was snapped Jason Bick shot off on his go route, nothing could stop him. The Chassidim had done a good job defending the long ball all day, but this play they were focused on stopping the conversion. Bick beat the safety over the top and it was done. However, Chofetz Chaim bounced back like the motherland and the defense held strong on the XP. The game was called, and one of the biggest surprises of the year went down in the history books as a tie.

The imRAY’s vs. The Jays 24-26

This game started out looking like a blowout but it turned into a great game with a very good ending and one of the best games of the week. The Jays opened up this game on fire and that started on the very first drive. After Pinny Rossman of The imRAY’s got a big sack on 3rd and short, David Benami ran for a 23 yard touchdown on fourth down for his first touchdown of this game. Their defense then got a three and out and scored on a 5 play drive to make it 14-0 on another 23 yard touchdown, this one being a pass to TE and captain Yaakov Lurie. Again they got a quick three and out followed by a blocked punt setting themselves up very nicely at the 18 yard line. The next play David Benami found the end zone for the second time in the half making it 20-0. Their defense then stepped up yet again, as the game started to get ugly, when they got a four and out finished off by a Yaakov Lurie fourth down sack. The imRAY’s defense may have saved the game with this next possession as they forced a red zone turnover. On third and goal from the 8 Aaron Bomrind came away with the big INT. Unfortunately though for them, they gave it right back as two plays later Elliot Katz got the pick as the half was coming to a close. imRAY’s opened up the second half with the ball and clearly dealt with something at halftime and were on mission in this half. They drove quickly downfield with a couple of chunk plays and despite a red zone sack from Yaakov Lurie they punched it in from five yards out to make it 20-6. Jeremy Strauss was on the receiving end of that play. They then got the ball back right back but David Benami took it back and put them in great field position with a pick that he returned 45 yards. Two plays later the imRAY’s kept them in the game by getting another pick coming from Rabbi Daniel Stern. They then made it a one possession game at 20-12 with a four yard TD pass to Shlomo Sonneberg. But then they took a gut punch by giving up a shifty 50 yard TD run to David Benami as he showed off his speed yet again as he continued to star in this game. The imRAY’s then pulled themselves back into this one by doing what they needed to do by getting a quick 25 yard score to Sonneberg again making it a one score game at 26-18. Now they needed to convert on the 4th and 20 “onside kick” to keep the game alive. They did so in impressive fashion on an insane toe tap catch by Meir Cavalier where the QB put the ball exactly where it had to be. He then made a 2 point game on the next play on a 7 yard score with another nice throw and catch. On the two point try they went back to the guy everyone knew it was going to and in double coverage it feel incomplete. It was a valiant effort but they came up just short in another very exciting Friday game.

Motzash

Eagles Nest vs. Marvelous Midos Machine 13-7

          The last game on friday was a good one. There isn’t much to say about the first half as it was a very defensive tightly fought half were every yard was fought for. The second half opened with a very quick score as Eagles Nest got the ball and in 3 plays were in the redzone after a couple 10 yard plays and a 20 yarder. They then completed a 2 yard pass play to Shlomo Meisner to finally putting a score on the board making it 6-0. Their defense then forced a turnover on fourth down after the Marvelous Midos Machine try to put something together but stalled out. Two plays later Eagles Nest put up another score with Eli Dreyfuss doing the honors for this one as he caught a pass and ran it in for a 35 yard score. The MMM put a very nice drive together this time making it all the way down to the 4 yard line but again they couldn’t get any further and turned it over there on downs. However they got the ball right back after a quick three and out and this time they realized a long sustained drive wasn’t working for them so they just decided to score on a one play 39 yard TD score going to Snyder who also hung onto the extra point which pulled them to within a score at 13-7, but was too little too late as the game ended a few plays later after they failed on the new “onside kick”.

Mercaz Moosen vs. Route 38 36-6

         Mercaz controlled this one all the way through and showed why they are a perennial championship contender. Route 38 had some good opportunities and should take great pride in even playing that caliber against this stacked Mercaz squad. It was a real group effort for Mercaz in this one as all the usuals contributed. Mercaz will look to keep this rolling like this the rest of the year and it seems as though Route 38 has found their way a little bit in this league and the score in this one is not so indicative of the way they played and rather it shows how good their opponent played.

Omni vs. ShabbosKodesh.com 27-8

         This was a chippy match from the start and it may have gotten out of hand if the veteran ref Matis Goldsmith didn’t take control of the game. Omni used this situation to their advantage as they got into the opponents heads a little bit and pulled away with this one. It was close for the first half or so but after that the more veteran and more polished Omni took this one pretty easily.

Pizzeria Efrat vs. Converse Dating 14-6

         The game of the week this week happened to be the last game of the week. Coming in we knew this one would be a good one as it featured two teams who both have serious championship aspirations and have the rosters to back those up. It was a back and forth game early and a very exciting one as there were highlight plays on both sides defensively and offensively. The more experienced Pizzeria Efrat took this one in the end though as they got the lead and ran out the clock a little bit leaving very little time for Converse to do anything. They tried and got very close and they even had a touchdown called back but just couldn’t punch it in at the end and lost with a final score of 14-6 Pizzeria Efrat. The controversial play at the end was called back for a stiff arm on a spin move that could’ve gone either way and unfortunately for them went against them in this one but this isn’t the end for either team as both these teams have a lot to still play for and a lot to prove.