Monday, November 29, 2010

DEC crushes Drimark 33-0 30-6

Coming off of a two week bye, Derech Etz Chaim brought their record to 9-1 rolling over a Drimark team that talked big prior to the game. Drimark (a team made up primarily of South Shore Yeshiva students presently attending Ohr Yerushalayim) won the Five Towns tournament last year, came into the game with a winning record, but quickly found out that they do not belong in the same league with Derech Etz Chaim!
DEC scored 10 touchdowns, one for every possession of the night with Gilad Silverman throwing for 7 touchdowns and running for one. Jacob Kon besides catching and running for 4 TD’s threw to Pinchas for a long TD as well. Pinchas caught 3 TD’s on the night, Joseph Gomez 1, and Lior Goldstein had two interceptions one that he ran back for a TD.
Though there were some serious defensive lapses and flags missed, Levi Klein came through with two sacks, Mendel Lazarus came up with some important stops, and Ezra Isaacs intercepted a pass. Aron Hertz at center dominated at line and Josh Weisel filling in for an injured Noam Silverman at TE played great, blocking well, and catching an extra point.
With the group stage approaching (December 25th) DEC has asked to play Big Blue in an anticipated showdown of two league heavy weights following the Chanuka bye week.
Highlights:

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Israel to Host Flag Football World Championship

Israel has been named the host of the 2014 IFAF Flag Football World Championship. Although this will be the federation's first time hosting an IFAF sanctioned event, Israel has many years of experience in organized Flag Football.

"It is an exceedingly proud moment for all of us in Israel to be awarded what we know we will be an incredible event," said Israel Football League Commissioner URIEL STURM. "To bring the World Championships to the Holy Land is the continuation of a life-long dream for both our founder STEVE LEIBOWITZ and our close partners ROBERT AND MYRA KRAFT, and we thank IFAF for this wonderful privilege.

"We look forward to the perpetual growth of American football in Israel, and more than anything, we can't wait to welcome the world in 2014!"

American Football in Israel is the government-recognized federation and enjoys a unique partnership with New England Patriots owner ROBERT KRAFT, who built the Kraft Family Stadium to benefit the growth of the sport in Israel.

The Israeli Women's national team was established in 2002, and in 2005 the women shocked the flag football world with a first place finish at the 2005 Flag Oceane - one of the largest flag football tournaments in Europe. In 2008, Israel participated in their first IFAF Flag Football World Championship claiming fifth place then in 2010, the Israeli men took ninth place and the women finished in fifth.

Change of schedule - again

Derech Etz Chaim's big showdown with Big Blue has been delayed as Big Blue requested a last minute bye due to a scheduling conflict. DEC will be playing Drimark this week. Drimark is a team from OJ that prior to coming to Israel played together in NY and won the Five Towns tournement so they should be a challenge. (Rabbi Katz has reported that he interviewed many of the guys for DEC before they made the mistake of going elswhere!)
It will be DEC's first game without Micha Rafkin, and Ezra Isaacs is expected to step up and fill his role at CB and Joseph Gomez at WR.
After a two week layoff the team is ready to get going. Stay tuned for the Game report and results on Sunday.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Another Bye Week for DEC - then Big Blue!

Coming off of last weeks bye Derech Etz Chaim was looking forward to getting back to playing. Some confusion in league scheduling led the league to ask DEC to take another week off, so everybody gets another week to be edgy and look forward to the next game.
As the regular season approaches its conclusion, Derech Etz Chaim requested from the league to play some of the elite teams. After having already played Bitach, DEC will next week be playing Big Blue in what is certainly the game of the week in the AFI.
Big Blue has a long tradition as one of the top teams in the AFI and has not played DEC since the first game of the season three years ago.
The team is pumped up and looking forward to the challenge.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

DEC splits with Bitach 21-6 0-13

Derech Etz Chaim played their most difficult opponent yet in Bitach and came away with an overall win, winning the first game 21-6 and losing the second 13-0.
In the first game DEC was in control after Bitach’s initial score the defense held firm stopping Bitach twice inside the 20 on 8 downs, and the offense clicked with Gilad throwing two TD passes to Pinchas and another to Jacob Kon.
The second game was another story with DEC only having 3 possessions after kicking off the game and throwing an interception on another possession. Bitach utilized their size and ran down the entire field one play at a time to wind down the clock scoring twice with DEC having no answer.
DEC learned a few lessons this game, they are going to have to learn to defend the run better, but at the same time they put the league on notice that they are once again for real.
This coming week DEC has a bye.
Here are the highlights: