Kings conquer Rebels, Hammers still smoking

It was another high-scoring weekend in the Kraft Family IFL, with a pair of big shutouts from the Tel Aviv squads, a Beersheba smackdown courtesy of the red-hot Hammers and a great-to-the-last-drop duel in the Channuka Bowl.

The Bourbon Street Tel Aviv/Jaffa Sabres played a pretty much perfect game in cruising to an 84-0 triumph over the now 0-3 Petah Tikva Troopers on Saturday night in Neve Golan. That followed Friday’s 66-0 conquest by the Clal Tel Aviv Pioneers over the Northern Stars at TA University.

Week 5 got started with the Hasharon Hammers improving to 4-0 on the campaign with a surprisingly easy 68-14 home laugher over Travel Leaders’ Beersheba Black Swarm.

As much as those three games provided plenty of individual accolades and standout performances, from a competitive standpoint, none of those contests could hold a candle to the ultra-tight affair that broke out in the capital on Thursday night between the ISD Jerusalem Kings and Talpion Judean Rebels.

In perhaps the finest Orange-Purple clash yet in the four-year history of the annual holiday rivalry, the Kings held on for a dazzling 42-40 victory behind a relatively staunch defense and a quick-fire offensive attack piloted by Eli Skolnick and Jordan Guin.

The two long-time rivals seem to be going in opposite directions, with the Rebels falling to 1-3 and the Kings improving to 2-1 with Nemo’s Haifa Underdogs coming to town this week in what should be a smashmouth affair.

The Hammers, meanwhile, came into their match with the Black Swarm looking to make a statement that their recent blowouts over a first and second- year franchise were not merely the result of inferior opponents. By the time the game in Ramat Hasharon was done, there remained no question as to whether the Hammers are for real with their perfect 4-0 record.

The Hammers now have a well-deserved break before visiting the Underdogs next Saturday night, however Beersheba better regroup quickly if it wants to avoid falling into a 1-4 hole when the 4-0 Sabres pay a visit this weekend.

Speaking of the Big Red Machine, they were in full throttle on Saturday night against the Troopers, Adi Hakami tossed six touchdowns and seven different Sabres made trips to the end-zone, three of whom had multi-TD outings.

It wasn’t that TAJ tried at all to run up the score on Petah Tikva, but just that it was having too much fun tossing around the football and hitting people en route to a fourth consecutive double-digit conquest establishing itself the team to beat heading into the second half of the season.

All in all, it was a insightful week across the IFL, with all four victors making strong statements about where they are headed and all four losing squads being sent a crystal-clear message that they will need to improve drastically to accomplish their season goals, however those may vary from team to team.

Either way, there is no time to sit back and catch a breath, as the action gears up once again this week with a three-game slate for your pigskin enjoyment. The Kings will host the Underdogs (2-2) on Thursday evening with a late 9:30 kickoff at Kraft. The Big Blue Jerusalem Lions (2-1) travel up north on Friday morning to face the Northern Stars (1-2), while the Black Swarm take on the Sabres in the weekend finale on Saturday night in Beersheba.

For full Kraft Family Israel Football League standings, stats and schedule, as well as for more information on pigskin in the Holy Land, please visit www.israel-football.co.il