The game on Friday, December 18 was an instant-classic of a Kraft Family IFL thriller in the capital between the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs and the Big Blue Jerusalem Lions was not decided until the final play, when the hosts completed a first-and-goal pass at the Haifa three yard line and – with no timeouts remaining and the receiver unable to get out of bounds – were agonizingly forced to watch the clock tick down to zero and see their perfect record go down the drain.

When it was all said and done, the jubilant Underdogs players streamed onto the field, knowing they had marched into the Lions’ den and stood toe-to-toe with the beasts, emerging victorious in a 28-22 bonanza that saw them take over second place in the seven-team league.

Alex Fries led the way for Haifa (4-1) with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns and Harrison Bailey recovered a key Big Blue fumble late as well as recording 12 tackles to spark the visitors to a dramatic comeback from a 22-14 deficit in the last five minutes.

This was a contest that right from the opening kickoff and throughout exhibited the kind of ebb and flow that elevates the very good games to the out-of-this-world. There were certainly mistakes made by both teams, to be sure, but it is precisely that human element of the sport, with the million and one intricacies and nuances of strategic timeout usage, play-calling, clock and field management, combined with the on-field bone-crunching tackles and a perfectly executed game-plan that really was celebrated on Friday.

It seemed as if there was a momentum-changing play on every set of downs and the drama and emotion was in full display on every play from scrimmage. You need more than two hands to count the noteworthy performances on both sides of the field and just as one hope to see, the final outcome was the result of one team stepping up and snatching a victory rather than the loser going down with barely a whimper.

The first quarter began with Big Blue (3-1) getting into the endzone on their very first drive, when coach Hanan Stern went back to his favorite well and pulled up an Idan Yaron 32-yard double reverse for an opening score and early 8-0 advantage.

Haifa’s Shahar Yeshurun took back the ensuing kickoff all the way inside the Jerusalem 10, setting up a first-and goal situation and putting the “here we go again!” seed in the minds of all IFL fans who have  witnessed the high-scoring haphazard affairs of late. However, the proud Lions defense was up to the task, snuffing out the Underdogs’ opportunity with consecutive sacks by Aryeh “the Animal” Bauman and Eyal Lapidot.

A relative defensive stand-off settled in and the first quarter came to a close with neither team able to develop any sustained momentum.

Real Housing got on the board towards the end of the half, when their patience with the running game paid off and fullback Allan Hearn culminated a 9-play drive by thrusting himself into the house for the equalizing touchdown, which was in turn converted by Fries.

After getting the ball back with less than 30 seconds remaining before the break, an ill-advised Haifa timeout followed up by a Scott Eizenberg interception would gift Big Blue an opportunity that they would eventually capitalize on. Three plays later with the second-quarter clock reading 0:00, Underdogs’ Alex Primak was whistled for a horse collar tackle of Jerusalem’s Itai Ashekanazi - leading to one final play in which Yonah Mishaan outran the coverage and settled under a 35-yard bomb from his quarterback to give his team the lead heading into the interval.

Eizenberg was literally a whirling dervish on defense for the Lions all day, involving himself in every tackle and imposing his physical will on the Haifa ball-carriers en route to an astounding 17 tackles in addition to his pick.

Even after the momentum-shifting end to the half, oddly enough it was Haifa that came out with a little extra oomph in the third quarter and they were rewarded with the only score of the frame when Taylor Bearman made it 16-14 with a 16-yard excursion to the endzone avoiding three or four would-be tacklers along the way.

In a fateful turn of events at the end of the third, Ashkenazi was hurt on a baffling play where he was sent for special-teams punt coverage and took a hard hit to the head when trying to make a tackle.

With Jerusalem’s signal caller sidelined for the rest of the match, the Underdogs sensed vulnerability and pounced. However, after forcing a fifth Big Blue punt to regain possession, Haifa’s backup quarterback Yuval Hochberg had a pass intercepted by safety Ilya Pittel, and when Mishaan hit Yaron for a 15-yard strike and his second touchdown of the afternoon for a 22-14 margin, it looked as if the hosts would pull out the victory.

But no, the game was not over.

Jerusalem’s conversion, which would have made it a two-score game and essentially iced it, was stuffed by Bailey to keep his team close and give Fries his chance to shine.

On the first play from scrimmage, after he himself had ran back the kickoff 20-yards, Fries would rumble 28 yards along the sideline for an improbable touchdown, and a tie game, when Hearn would not be denied for the two extra points.

With less than four minutes left, Big Blue picked up a couple of first downs and, once again, looked poise to rally for the game-winning drive. But veteran linebacker Itamar Levin punched the ball from Mishaan’s grip to force a fumble that Bailey recovered to give Haifa the ball back one last time.

Two minutes later, Fries tumbled into the endzone from one-yard out after a brilliant 20-yard Hochberg keeper to give Haifa its first lead of the game with just 20 seconds remaining. Even as the crowd began to filter out, Pittel would not let the Lions fall without a last-gasp fight, and when he returned the Arbel Rom squib kick 46 yards, it appeared as if he would make it all the way and keep the excitement going.

However, having unfortunately burned all three time outs earlier in the half and with just 10 seconds on the scoreboard, Jerusalem was forced into desperation, even with first-and-goal, and panic took hold. Instead of going for two or even three attempts at the endzone and the chance at overtime or the win (or to stop the clock on an incompletion) , Mishaan threw a quick pass to Yaron and Yeshurun quickly dragged him to the ground well short of the goal line to save the game and set off the celebration.

The IFL now has a few days to collectively catch its breath before getting back to action this week on Thursday night at Kraft Stadium, when the Expansion Bowl between the Beersheva Black Swarm (0-5) and the Judean Rebels (2-2).  On Saturday night in Holon, the first-place Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres (4-0) host Big Blue in a game that could see three teams end the night tied atop the standings at what will be the season’s mid-way point.