Football / Rebels pummel Pioneers in battle of expansion teams

Both IFL expansion teams gave inspiring performances last weekend yet produced somewhat different results.

On Friday in the south, the Be'er Sheva Black Swarm played their finest game of the season, falling just short of their first victory in a 42-40 loss to the Papagaio Jerusalem Kings.

The next night in Modi'in, the host Dancing Camel Pioneers were pounded 36-12 by the Judean Rebels, who finished their inaugural regular season at 6-4 to wrap up the No. 3 seed. They now have a month to prepare for a first-round playoff matchup at home.

Rebels wunderkind Joe Martisius continued to make a strong MVP case, passing for almost 200 yards with 4 TDs and no interceptions while hitting three different teammates for scores. After back-to-back 13-catch outings, Chris McKinny caught seven passes and recorded a pair of touchdowns, while Ariel Morgan was a beast on defense with two sacks and an interception to go along with his seven tackles.

While Be'er Sheva has yet to crack the win column, it was only beaten by six points by the defending-champion Pioneers (2-6) in the season opener.

If the Swarm can somehow shock the first-place Mike's Place Tel Aviv Sabres (7-1) in their next contest and Modi'in fails to beat the 6-1 Big Blue Jerusalem Lions in their penultimate game, the season finale between the Pioneers and Black Swarm could see Be'er Sheva snag the last playoff spot. For that they need a victory of at least seven points.

With only three or four roster additions, the new-and-improved Swarm attack that exploded for a season-high 40 points reflected months of dedication and perseverance. Koren Cohen was 6-10 with a pair of touchdowns passes, while a cadre of shifty running backs consisting of Roy Bendor, Yasha Polyakov, Yair Cohen and Meir Perez combined for a stratospheric 235 yards and 30 points on the ground.

The game came down to the forever underrated two-point conversion rate: Each team scored the same half dozen TDs, but the Kings out-converted the Swarm 3-2 to account for the margin of victory.