American footbal in Israel: Holyland Bowl playoff field narrows

Only two Friday teams (Pallorium and Misha'an Plumbers) remain in the picture.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
flag football 298.88 (photo credit: )
flag football 298.88
(photo credit: )
In the first round of the Heritage Affinity AFI playoffs, six out of the eight second-round division winners advanced to the Holyland Bowl quarterfinals (CardiaCare Rehab, Tov Pizza, Pallorium, Big Blue, Misha'an Plumbers and Seidemann & Mermelstein). With Klein Management and Croton Watches also reaching the final eight, only two Friday teams (Pallorium and Misha'an Plumbers) remain in the picture. Waxman Warriors, D & D Sugar, Fairmont Funding, Meridian Capital, T.C. Farbmans, Pizzeria Efrat, Oma's, and Olive recorded victories in the playoff bracket that leads to the Terem Bowl in memory of Dr. David Applebaum. Teams in other playoff brackets had byes last weekend. Results from Week 14 of Heritage Affinity AFI: Oma's 47, Ziontours/Internet Cafe 0; Meridian Capital 33, Joe's Eagles 12; Misha'an Plumbers 21, D & D Marketing 19; T.C. Farbmans 30, Yesodei.org 26; Klein Management 39, Cleveland Friends 20; Pallorium 32, Uncle Bob's Boys 7; Waxman Warriors 39, Kesher 6; Olive 60, Amigo US 6; Croton Watches 32, The Out-of-Towners 20; Pizzeria Efrat 32, Norman's 21; Tov Pizza 38, World Class Travel 21; Big Blue 26, Jump Gym 6; Seidemann & Mermelstein 36, Holy Bagel 19; D & D Sugar 40, Mass Mutual 0; Fairmont Funding 38, TLC Communications 6; CardiaCare Rehab 34, Lobos 12. Big Blue women cruise in first-round playoff game The top-seeded Big Blue squad played near-flawless football to shut out Eden's Eagles 31-0 in the first round of the Fieldturf Women's American Football in Israel league playoffs. Also last week, the Ziontours Flyers thumped Cincinnati Friends 46-12. In a minor first-round upset, the fifth-seeded Diamonds.com team knocked off fourth-seeded Cafe Rimon 37-0. Diamonds.com seems to be peaking at just the right time, winning their last three games. Misha'an Plumbers are scheduled to play Jump Gym in the final first round game, with the semifinals scheduled for Wednesday evening, February 1. The Fieldturf WAFI All-Star game will take place on Wednesday, February 8, with the championship game set for Wednesday, February 15. Ziontours 46, Cincinnati Friends 12 Emily Neilson picked off five Cincy Friends passes, running three of them back for touchdowns. Neilson also caught two TD passes from quarterback Cindy Scarr. Scarr also hooked up with wide receiver Esti Mandel for two scores. On defense, Yael Hartman recorded a sack. Diamonds.com 37, Cafe Rimon 0 Diamonds.com captain Miriam "Rapper" Rapaport caught a touchdown pass, as did Shira Amzell. Sarit Bailey was awarded the game ball after recording four interceptions and running one back for a touchdown. Big Blue 31, Eden's Eagles 0 Big Blue quarterback Shana Sprung threw four touchdown passes, three to Yael Freedman and one to Ahuva Odenheimer. On defense, Davida Losher had two interceptions. Kfar Zippori wraps up undefeated season in co-ed league Two-time defending Tuesday Night Football League champion Kfar Zippori finished the regular season with a perfect record after beating Big Blue last week. With one week of the regular season remaining, Big Blue and three other teams in the co-ed league are fighting for three semifinal spots. Josh Shuman PR, which beat Pardes last week and plays HUC Mullet Men this week, has clinched at least the No. 3 seed. Big Blue is relatively secure in third, but it can not afford to slip up against either HUC team in a rare doubleheader on Tuesday. Pardes, which came up just short against Josh Shuman PR last week in its final regular season game, is currently in fourth place, but could end up as the No. 5 seed if the HUC Mullet Men pull off an upset in one of their last two games. TNFL standings: Kfar Zippori (10-0); Josh Shuman PR (6-3); Big Blue (5-3); Pardes (4-6); HUC Mullet Men (3-5); HUC-YA (0-9). Results from Week 11 of the TNFL: Kfar Zippori 19, Big Blue 0; HUC Mullet Men 47, HUC-YA 0; Josh Shuman PR 18, Pardes 13. Schedule for Tuesday, January 31 (all games at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem): 8 p.m. - Big Blue vs HUC Mullet Men. 9 p.m. - Big Blue vs HUC-YA. 10 p.m. - Josh Shuman PR vs HUC Mullet Men. For more information on American Football in Israel, visit www.israelfootball.net, or contact Jay L. Abramoff by e-mail, jay@israelfootball, or at 054-440-2659 (+972-54-440-2659 from outside Israel).