Football: Haifa stuns Jerusalem
Underdogs remain undefeated at home, handing Big Blue first loss of the season
It was only a matter of time. Whether due to the eight injured starters, the early morning bus ride, or simply being beaten by the better team on the field for the day, the end story was the same. In Friday’s IFL action, the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs remained undefeated at home, handing Big Blue Jerusalem their first loss of the season while improving their record to 3-2 with a 26-18 victory at Kibbutz Ein Hashofet.
Playing behind an inspired defense that just got stronger as the contest went on and an offense that rallied after its starting quarterback went down early, Real Housing kept their composure after going into halftime down 12-0, outscoring Big Blue 26-6 in the second half and overwhelming them in all aspects of the game after the break.
The turning point of the game occurred at 7:23 of the third quarter, just after Haifa had lost a fumble after driving deep into Jerusalem’s territory.
Forcing Big Blue to punt after a much needed three-and-out, Haifa lineman Ben Friedman managed to get a paw on the ball and Idan Maor recovered in the end zone to put Haifa on the board and, just as important, give the Underdogs the confidence that they could, in fact, defeat the Lions.
The change of momentum seemed to invigorate the entire Real Housing lineup and from that point forward they seemed to play with an added sense of purpose and intensity. Even a quick Jerusalem touchdown by Moshe Horowitz to put Jerusalem up 18-8 did not do much to quash the extra vigor displayed on each play by the Haifa players, and they kept on coming straight at a Big Blue team that had not yet faced much pressure this season, and seemed not to know what hit them.
Electrifying match-up
The Underdogs succeeded in flustering the Jerusalem quarterbacks into throwing four interceptions on the day and, indeed, won the turnover battle 4-3, one of their key goals for victory at the start of the game. Their defense, infused with the second half addition of middle linebacker Omer Kedmi, was also able to keep the damage of the Big Blue offensive stars to a minimum. Jerusalem tight end Yoni Lehrer did catch a touchdown pass on the day, but was held in check in the second half, seeing double coverage on most of his routes.
Although Moshe Horowitz racked up both a running and receiving touchdown, he was stymied for most of the game, running for only 18 yards and taking a number of hard hits from the enthused Haifa tacklers.
Real Housing’s two-headed running tandem of Leor Subotnik and Niv Medlinger did not disappoint as well, each running for a touchdown and combining for 164 yards on the ground. Medlinger also came in to play quarterback after starter Ori Shterenback went down with a knee injury and was quite adept at keeping the offense calm, chewing up the clock in the fourth quarter while clinging to a one score lead.
All told, the game proved to be an electrifying match-up between two teams that both left it all on the field. The tackling was especially impassioned from both sides and the pace of the game was fantastic. All in attendance were treated to a closely-fought affair that was not settled until an interception deep in the Haifa red-zone with seventeen seconds left on the clock.
Real Housing now goes into their three week break on a high note before traveling to visit Tel Aviv, while the Lions (4-1) have a two week hiatus to lick their wounds, both physical and mental, before facing Hasharon at home in the friendly confines of Kraft Stadium on Thursday, January 10.
The IFL gets back underway this Friday with an 11:00 am kick-off between Hasharon (1-2) and Tel Aviv (0-3) at Maccabi Fields in Tel Aviv. Plenty of tickets remain available for the game.
