Week 9: Panthers 64 Catania Elephants 57

I knew we were in for a long day in Catania when we had to walk from the airport to the stadium. It was only about half a mile but still it was pretty funny seeing our whole team staff included walk out the front door of the airport with our bags, through traffic and down the street to the stadium. This was our first taste of Southern Italy and now I know why everybody says northern Italy to southern Italy is like the U.S. to Mexico. 

As you can see by the score this one was a real barn-burner, not exactly a defensive battle but an exciting game non the less. Danny was still out with his hamstring injury and will be for at least a few weeks so the team brought in a new QB to fill in. His name is Tom Zetts and he started for four years at 1-AA Youngstown State in Youngstown, Ohio (also Tom's hometown). He got the call Monday and was out here by Thursday afternoon just in time for practice. Good thing too as we were facing the top offense in the league led by QB Jake Johnson aka "J Twice" the self-proclaimed "positologist" who in addition to playing for the Catania Elephants spends his spare time shooting photography (check out his blog "Really Playing for Pizza"... pretty funny). Anyway he played at Arizona then bounced around the NFL and Canada before landing in the IFL and he brought along a pretty sophisticated offense. They also have a really talented receiver from a DII school in Texas named Matt Eperson, who was one of the best receiver's I've lined up against. As good as they were on offense though, there defense was equally as bad if not worse (as the score shows).

The game played out like a Rocky movie, with both teams throwing hay makers and not bothering to block or duck out of the way. On offense everything was clicking for us. Clausch and I were running well and Tom did a great job spreading the ball around. On defense we threw everything but the kitchen sink at them but they had a true pro style offense and we could never get a bead on what they were doing. We did manage to come up with a few stops though including a forced fumble on the opening drive. After missing a tackle on Eperson, I managed to chase him down and punched the ball out from behind. That and a blocked PAT put us up by 8 at halftime but in the second half nobody could stop each other. They started going for two each time and were slowly clawing away at our lead. In the middle of the fourth they tried an onside kick which one of our guys clearly fell on and came up with away from the pile. For some reason their guys jumped up all excited and started pointing in their direction. The little welp of a ref must have pissed down his leg being in mafia country and sided with the home squad. I thought Andrew was going to lose it for good. We failed to stop them again and they went up by 1 with a two point conversion. At this point it was a one possession game and whoever had the ball last would win. After trading scores again we were still down by one with about 2 minutes left. We marched down the field mostly running the ball not wanting to leave too much time on the clock. The drive stalled out though with 22 seconds left and on a critical 4th down Tom was pressured and had to heave it down the middle. Marco went up between 2 defenders and somehow came down with it to keep our hopes alive. What happened next was one of the coolest things I've seen on a football field. Everybody was running up to the line of scrimmage and Andrew was yelling from the sideline to kill the clock. Amid all the confusion, Tom looked over to Corey and blatently yelled "fake". Luckily they didn't have any Americans on defense to understand what was coming, and without anybody else knowing (including the head coach) Tom faked the spike and then tossed one up to Corey who was all alone in the endzone. I watched with amazement from the backfield as Corey made the easy catch. Touchdown, panthers up by 6! We staved off their final hail mary attempts to avoid overtime and it was a good thing too because we had to run back to the airport in order to catch our flight!

Week 8: Panthers 35 Bologna Doves 6

After last week's battle against Corinthia, we returned to IFL play with another big challenge against the Bologna Doves. Unfortunately Andrew, our head coach, was missing as he had to head back to America for the week in order to attend his brother's wedding. It actually turned out to be somewhat of a positive though as everyone pulled together in his absence. My knee was pretty beat up after the last 2 games but I spent the week getting therapy and taking on more of a coaching role during practice. John and I put in a nickel defense to combat the spread offense that Bologna runs while Corey and Danny drew up some good man-beaters as they play Cover 0 almost every snap. This is the first season in Series A for the Doves as they replaced the other Bologna team the Warriors, who had dropped out of the IFL due to a disagreement with the other teams. Despite being their first year in the top league, the Doves were sitting at 4-0 however and were making a lot of noise around the league. They had an Italian QB who was putting up some impressive numbers and 2 American skill guys, one reciever and one runningback, who both played DB as well. They also have a big LB/TE from Syracuse but he was out with an ankle sprain. They managed to pick up a kid from UC Davis (who happened to be traveling around Europe on vacation) to replace him for the week but he was terribly out of shape. 

Come kick off there was actually a pretty good atmosphere at the game as Bologna is a pretty big city and they manage to draw a decent crowd. We kicked off to them to start the game and our D came ready to play. With the help of their center who launched one over the QB's head on second and long, we started with a 3 and out, something we haven't been able to do lately. Our offense struggled to run the ball as they had 7 or 8 in the box every time but given time Danny was able to carve up their man coverage. First he hit Corey for a 15 yard score, then Emma on a deep post, and later Corey again after a few nice runs himself. Our D kept up the pressure and the nickle package worked perfectly as their QB had no idea what was going on. We picked him off 3 times and our D line smothered any attempts to run the ball. Spirits were high towards the end of the second quarter as we were up 3 scores to none but in the waning seconds of the half Danny went down with a pulled hamstring. Luckily it came right before the half so we had some time to regroup but everyone's confidence was blown. We put Corey at QB and planned on running the ball as much as we could to eat up the clock. They almost came back though as they stopped our three runs to open the half and then marched down the field and scored. The scare was only temporary though as we settled down on D didn't let them gain another first down the rest of the game. We actually managed to score twice more as we were aided both times with great field position from turnovers deep in their end. Our fullback, Uma, put one in on a 30 wedge and after Clausch came limping out I went in at tailback and was able to bust one around the right corner and get in, putting the game out of reach. Another big win for us but perhaps at too big a price. We're still pretty beat up right now and with Danny out, it causes a lot of problems for us. 

Sunday we all drove to our team captain Lanzo's house outside of Parma. It was a big old house in the country with a huge indoor fire pit inside of a converted stable. Although the weather wasn't great we made the most of it and had a big indoor bar-b-q. We introduced the Italians to shotgunning beers but most of them got more on their shirts then in their mouths.  

 

Week 7: Panthers 42 Carinthian Black Lions 35

Our second match-up of the EFAF Cup turned out to be another shoot-out, much like our first in Barcelona. We played the Carinthian Black Lions who play in the first division of Austria, which is probably the top league in Europe. They had some washed up QB (as in more washed up then the rest of us playing out here haha) who was a 3rd or 4th string at UConn a few years ago, a WR/DB that I didn't really notice and a guy from Holy Cross, Frank Herlihy who played LB in college but had moved to TE. We were pretty beat up going into the game with our top 3 Italian linebackers nursing injuries. We had to finagle the depth chart a bit and Corey and I would have to go both ways but we weren't going to fold. They had beaten the Barcelona team pretty handily so we were expecting a battle and that's pretty much what we got.

We let up a score early to fall behind 7-0, but our offense came roaring back scoring 21 in the first half. We established the run early and capped a drive with a Brown-Mazza connection. Our defense settled in and played well for the rest of the half but a botched snap went sailing over Danny's head and was recovered in our endzone. That brought them within one score and then they hit a deep post late in the half to tie it 21 all. The second half was much like the first as we kept making stupid mistakes to let them back in the game. On our opening drive we finally established the run and I was able to rip off a few first down carries. Five or six plays and I was in the endzone. Our D couldn't stop their ground game either though and we gave the points right back on the next possession. Towards the end of the third quarter I tweaked my knee again and was relegated to defense as our offense went 4 wide. The action went back and fourth all game and it got pretty dirty. At one point in the third quarter we couldn't go a single play without a flag. Our D tackle, Colacino, added his fair share picking up 2 personal fouls and a facemask... all of which "weren't [his] fault."  Late in the fourth we pulled away as Corey made an incredible touchdown catch with a guy draped all over him. On the next drive we came up with a huge fourth down stop, at which point Herlihy, the TE from Holy Cross, got ejected for yelling at the ref (after the game he informed us that he holds the franchise record for ejections and team-imposed fines). With a few minutes left we wanted to run the clock out so we drew up a play where I would go in as tailback and lead block for Danny on a QB sweep. He faked to the full back and then booted around. I led up and crushed the unsuspecting DE and Danny took off down the sideline. When all was said and done we pulled out the victory and now will advance to the semi-finals where we'll face another Austrian team.

Week 6: Panthers 36 Milan Rhinos 12

     This was a big week for us as we returned to our IFL regular season action. So far we had shown some signs of being a good team and at other times had struggled. Starting with this week we have a long stretch ahead of us and we were looking to find some consistency. We were hosting the Milan Rhinos, who had made some waves in the IFL during the off-season by signing former Wisconsin QB John Stocco, who led the Badgers to an 11-1 season and also spent time in the New York Giants training camp. They also picked up former Holy Cross running back Steve Silva who I had played against for 3 years in college, and knew of his ability to take over a game. Silva was out for the week however with a pulled hamstring, which he injured the wednesday before our game when they played Bergamo. I was back in the lineup after my vacation to Barcelona and my knee felt good. With Clausch still out with his broken wrist though and Andrew unable to play in IFL games, I would have to do double duty as RB and LB. Going both ways and playing in my first game in 3 weeks would have been hard enough but it was also the first real hot weather game that we would be playing. 

With Silva out of the lineup the Rhinos were one dimensional so we decided to try put pressure on Stocco, not ever giving him the time to set up in the pocket. Our defense did a good job of this and we held them scoreless in the first quarter. We jumped out ahead 14-0, the first score coming on a QB draw and the second on a long drive capped by a 10 yard TD pass to Corey. In the second half they started gashing us a bit with the run as their shifty little Italian runningback was carving up our aging linebackers. They managed to put together 2 scoring drives but our offense kept right along and at the end of the half it was 21-12. In the second half our defense adjusted to their more balanced attack and shut them out for the rest of the game. The rest of the game was physical with both teams suffering from the heat. The highlight though came late in the fourth quarter after we were in control when our 45 year old team manager/WR, Ugo, hauled in a TD on a hitch and go. The whole sideline went nuts even though the game was all but over and he came trotting back with a huge grin on his face. 

After the game I started showing some signs of dehydration so while the others were heading to the bar for a few beers I was headed for the hospital for a few rounds of saline fluid. Luckily our team Mom, "Mama Bistek" works at the hospital and pulled some strings to get me around the line at the emergency room. My first look at public health care and hopefully my last (vote McCain!) as I was dragged around from one desk to another before landing in a doctor's office where some incompetent nurse poked my about 5 times before getting the IV in right. In addition he tried to draw some blood but didn't get the cap on right and I had blood spurting down my arm. Already woosy from the dehydration I felt my stomach lurch and I puked all over the poor guys shoes... serves him right though as far as I'm concerned. I felt fine after about an hour but the doc wouldn't let me out until I could take a piss. Finally about 4 IV bags and 8 hours later I managed to squeeze out a couple drops, so they cut me loose. The problem was that it was about 5 in the morning and all my roommates who were sleeping off their hangovers weren't picking up the phone. Around 8 I got a hold of Corey and I was finally headed home to get some sleep.  

Week 5: Barcelona

This week we headed to Barcelona for our first appearance in the EFAF Cup tournament where we would be facing the Bagdalona Dracs (a spin off of the now-defunct NFL Europe team the Barcelona Dragons). Friday afternoon we bussed it to Genoa where we boarded a ferry for the coast of Spain. After having just spent a total of 25 at sea the week before we weren't too excited about the 18 voyage ahead but at least this time we had beds. The highlight of the boat ride was James dancing with "Mama Bistek" at the disco they had on board. 

Saturday we got into Barcelona around 3:30 but there was some trouble getting the bus off of the ship so we didn’t arrive at the stadium until 5:30 for a 6:30 kick-off. Nothing like an 18 hour boat ride and an empty stomach to get ready for a game. I sat out this week because of a bruised MCL so our D-Line coach John suited up in my place, and we also had Andrew eligible as the dual passports are treated differently in the EFAF games. I did my best coaching impression pacing the sidelines with a play sheet tucked in the back of my shorts and yelling at the refs. The Dracs were undersized but they had an athletic quarterback and a lot of speed...something we don’t defend well against. They couldn’t stop us on offense as Danny had a career day with 6 touchdowns: 5 in the air (4 of them to Corey) and one on the ground. Andrew was inspirational on both sides of the ball but especially on offense where he ran with a vengeance punishing any would be tacklers who tried to get in his way. However we let the Dracs hang around as their QB made us look stupid on defense by running around in the backfield all day. We gave up a few big plays and were getting frustrated about playing down to the competition. The second half was one of the ugliest halves of football I’ve witnessed. Things were getting heated and flags were flying in all directions. I think it was the first time I’ve heard people cursing in three different languages simultaneously. They must have picked the refs up off the street as they didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. At one point the entire D-line of the other team was lined up in the nuetral zone and when I so kindly brought this to the attention of the linesman he told he that it was OK because they weren’t “taking advantage of it.” In the end we came away with a win, an ugly one, but it was a win. Unfortunately it came at a price as Andrew pulled his hamstring and John blew out his back in the process.

We spent the next few days in Barcelona taking in the beach, paella, and sangria. Barcelona is a haven for travelers and one of the most popular cities for exchange students so it had a very international feel. We met people from all over including England, Ireland, and Australia. There was also a formula 1 race in the city that weekend so there were a ton of people out. For the most part we hung out on the main strip called the Ramblas which is where everybody goes to eat and drink at night. We didn't get much sleep as the clubs and bars stay open all night and there are always people out. The best place we went was called the Dow Jones bar where they have the prices of all the drinks displayed on big TV screens and they change like stock prices depending on who's buying what. Every 30 minutes they have a crash and everybody rushes the bar to take advantage of the lower prices. As far as tourist sights Barcelona is famous for the architectural designs of Antoni Gaudi, who has a really distinct style. His masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia Church is still under construction 90 years after his death (he was run over by a tram in 1926!). We also saw one of the biggest stadiums in Europe, home to the soccer team FC Barcelona.

Bye Week: the Greek Isles

This week we got some much needed rest as a lot of guys were pretty banged up after the game in Bolzano. I don't know how these guys do it at 35 and 40. Whenever I feel sore after a game I can't even imagine what they're feeling. True they're not getting half the reps we are but still, some of these guys have been playing for 20 years... pretty impressive. Anyway after weighing a few different options for our week off we decided to make a trip to Greece. We found some cheap tickets to Athens, where we stayed for a night and checked out all the monuments including the Acropolis and the original Olympic stadium. Athens, like most capital cities, isn't the cleanest place but there's a ton of cool stuff to see and do. We however were looking for a little more in terms of relaxation so we hopped on a ferry to the island of Santorini. The boat wasn't exactly a Royal Caribbean cruise ship but after 3 bottles of wine we managed to crash out in our little cabin. 13 hours later we arrived at the island and were more than excited to get back on solid ground. Santorini was amazing and for 10 euro a night we got a great hotel 30 yards from the beach. The island was formed by a still-active volcano and all the beaches are either black or red sand. We rented four-wheelers which you could drive on all the main roads and toured around the entire island. The weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing. Every time you came around a corner you had to stop and take a picture. I guess it wasn't quite the high season yet so the place wasn't too crowded but there was still a decent nightlife. After 3 days of cruising the island and hanging on the beach we were ready to head back to "work"... tough life huh. 

Week 3: Bolzano Giants

      This week we headed north for our first away game to the city of Bolzano, which is up in the mountain country about 3 hours northeast of Parma. We didn't know much about Bolzano because it was their first contest of the season but other than Bergamo, the Giants were billed as one of the toughest teams in the league and one that we really needed to beat to ensure a spot in the playoffs. They featured the supposed best back in Italy, a Brooklyn native by the name of Reggie Green who's been playing out here for six years or so. The past few season's he's shredded the opposing defenses and was yet to be held to under 100 yards in single game. Other than him they had an American quarterback and a TE/WR who were good but nothing special. Our main focus was to stop Reggie and make them beat us through the air. We were riding pretty high after the win against Ancona and with Danny healthy again we were ready.

The bus ride up was actually kind of nice as we traveled along some scenic highways passing by traditional villages all throughout the countryside. I was told that this region used to be part of Germany before WWII and you can see that there is still a strong German influence in the cities there. The buildings looked more similar to what we saw in Frankfurt and a lot of the signs were posted in German as well as Italian. Bolzano has a nice stadium set right at the foot of a mountainside, and it is also one of the few actual American football fields in Italy. However it also happens to be fifteen year old astro turf, so, although it was nice to actually have hash marks for a change, I think I would have rather played in the street. We arrived at the stadium around 6:30 for an 8:00 kickoff (Italians are not know for being punctual) so there wasn't much time to take in the surroundings. I was excited though to be playing in our first night game and with the sun setting behind the mountains it was a slightly less than perfect stage. 

We came out pretty flat and the first half was all Giants. They jumped out on us early hitting a fade down the right sideline on the third play of the game. Two plays later they were in the endzone and it was 7-0. Nothing was working on offense as their D-line and linebackers were crashing into the backfield on almost every play. With nowhere to run and no time to throw we struggled to move the ball and were forced to give it back. They hit another fade, this time for a touchdown, and on their next possession Reggie broke through an arm tackle and went 40 yards to put them up 21-0. Things were looking pretty bleak at halftime but our guys refused to throw in the towel and after a rousing a speech by the ol' ball coach we came out determined to make a comeback. We kept pounding the ball, looking for a crease between their blitzing linebackers and things finally started to open up. We mounted a decent drive gaining about 6 or 7 yards at a time on either the Iso or the Toss but nothing was coming easily. We traded possessions but after getting the ball back on a fumble, Danny capitalized as he burst through the middle on a designed draw and scampered forty yards for the score. There was still plenty of time and our defense was playing with a ferocity Reggie hadn't seen in years. Our coach put me in the middle at about 6 yards and I was to mirror Reggie wherever he went. I was in his pocket on every play and we shut the door, not giving up a first down the rest of the game. We continued to grind it out on offense and with their D constantly on the field you could see that they were starting to tire. Finally in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter Danny hit Corey on a post corner in the back of the endzone to bring us within 7. Upon scoring Corey unleashed a vicious spike that I think he had been bottling up for all five years at Harvard...no celebration penalties here! We kept up the pressure on D as they tried to run out the clock and forced them into a third and long. Corey picked off the QB and brought it deep into their territory, however a phantom pass interference call brought it back yet due to some fuzzy officiating we somehow retained possession of the ball. In need of a score we were forced to go to the air but with Corey doubled and tripled and without any other deep threat it was an uphill battle. After a dropped ball that would have been for sure been a touchdown we were forced to punt. Again the D stepped up they had to give the ball back to us with just under 2 minutes left. A personal foul though pushed us back inside our own ten so we would have to take it 90 yards to tie. We ran the 2 minute drill nicely and managed to get inside their territory but with 27 seconds left on a fourth and nine we failed to convert and that was the game. Although it was a tough loss, I think we found our character as a team and hopefully we can ride the momentum we had in the second half.