Games We Play: AFI mourns death of Pizzeria Efrat captain

National team player Yosef Goodman was killed last week in a parachute training accident.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
AFI mourns goodman298.88 (photo credit: )
AFI mourns goodman298.88
(photo credit: )
American Football in Israel was shocked when it heard about the tragic death of Pizzeria Efrat captain and national team player Yosef Goodman z"l last week. Yosef, 20, was killed in a training accident on February 2 while taking part in a parachute jump with his IDF Paratrooper Brigade. The Goodman family has been a pillar in the league for more than 15 years. Many players and league officials attended the funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery last Friday. AFI President Steve Leibowitz led a moment of silence in honor of Yosef before the Pallorium vs Big Blue Holyland Bowl quarterfinal on Saturday night at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. "This is a terrible loss for our league and for Israel," Leibowitz said. While a couple of playoff games were postponed under the circumstances, the majority were played as scheduled over the weekend, with many players and league officials doing so with heavy hearts. Big Blue edges Pallorium In one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, Big Blue reached the Heritage Affinity AFI Holyland Bowl semifinals with an emotional 27-26 victory over Pallorium Saturday night at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. The experienced Big Blue squad came back from a 20-12 halftime deficit, while Pallorium, made up of players from last year's high school league championship team, had most of the capacity crowd on its side, but could not hold on. In another quarterfinal thriller, Seidemann & Mermelstein had to make a comeback of its own in a 13-12 win over Holy Bagel. Seidemann & Mermelstein will face Big Blue in a semifinal next weekend. Klein Management, which defeated CardiaCare Rehab 24-0, set up a semifinal matchup against Tov Pizza, a 38-6 winner over Croton Watches. Big Blue, Jump Gym reach women's final In a surprise matchup, top-seeded Big Blue (11-0) will take on sixth-seeded Jump Gym (6-5) in the Fieldturf Women's American Football in Israel championship game 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. To reach the title game, Big Blue defeated fifthseeded Diamonds.com 25-0 last week. Big Blue has yet to yield a touchdown in the playoffs, outscoring its opponents 56-0. Jump Gym finished the regular season at 4-5 after four straight losses, but the ladies from the Michlelet Esther seminary knocked off third-seeded Misha'an Plumbers 18-13 in the quarterfinals and secondseeded Ziontours Flyers 19-6 in the semifinals - on the same night. In the Fieldturf WAFI ninth-place game, Boston Friends/Havila defeated Pueblo Nuevo Productions 6-0. Pizza Sababa/Superdeal wins high school title Trailing 12-8 in the middle of the first half, Pizza Sababa/Superdeal scored 18 unanswered points to win the High School American Football in Israel Championship over the Thunderbolts 26-12. The win capped a perfect season (10-0) for the team. Big Blue sweeps doubleheader in co-ed league Big Blue finished the Tuesday Night Football League regular season with a 7-3 record after defeating the HUC Mullet Men 45-21 and HUC-YA 47-0 last week. The No. 3 seed in the playoffs faces No. 2 Josh Shuman PR (7-3) in the TNFL semifinals at 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Kfar Zippori, which had a bye last week and finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record, and Pardes (4-6) will play in the other semifinal at 8 p.m. The fifth-place game at 10 p.m. will be an HUC derby between the HUC Mullet Men (3-7) and HUC-YA (0-10). Results from Week 15 in the Heritage Affinity AFI: Derech Etz Chaim 37, One Hour Cellular 0; Israel 21C 34, Cafe Net 12; Jerusalem Foundation 36, Wizard World 13; Travaglini 31, Cafe Rimon 7; Oma's 19, Olive 18; Tov Pizza 38, Croton Watches 6; Fairmont Funding 25, Meridian Capital 19; Klein Management 24, CardiaCare Rehab 0; Cobras 12, Karelitz 7; Big Blue 27, Pallorium 26; Forefingers 13, Jerry's Kids 6; Seidemann & Mermelstein 13, Misha'an Plumbers 12; Waxman Warriors 18, D & D Sugar 6. Tuesday's game: 8 p.m. - Silver Hammers vs Boston Friends. Wednesday: 8:30 p.m. - METV vs Canaan Studio. Friday: 11:15 a.m. - Israel 21C vs Derech Etz Chaim. 12:20 p.m. Travaglini vs Cobras. Saturday: 7:15 p.m. - Terem Bowl semifinal, Waxman Warriors vs Fairmont Funding. 8:20 p.m. - Holyland Bowl semifinal, Tov Pizza vs Klein Management. 9:30 p.m. - Holyland Bowl semifinal, Big Blue vs Seidemann & Mermelstein. 10:35 p.m. - Jerusalem Foundation vs METV or Canaan Studio. All games at Kraft Familr Stadium in Jerusalem. Please submit items for 'Games We Play' via e-mail to sports@jpost.com