[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen rebound, hold on to division lead
The Maassluis Merchantmen improved to 7-4 after a 24-19 victory over the Brooklyn Fightin' Bums. Brandon Bell and his team showed resilience to get the job done. With the win, the Merchantmen already have won more games that they did all of last season, with 5 still to play. Their focus is on more than just doing better, they are still in the middle of a division title race which remains tight as the Paris Musketeers beat the previously 8-2 Chesapeake Chitterlings.

Scoring early has become the Merchantmen's way to make a statement this season, but in the home game against the Fightin' Bums, things went quite differently. On the first drive of the game, Francisco Patter was stripped of the ball on the second play and get returned to the Merchantmen red zone to set up Brooklyn's 7-0 lead on the very next play as Jason Leeuwenburg ran it in. Brandon Bell and his offense responded as Bell found Ronnie Hammond for 26 yards, Reggie Thongchanh for 34 yards and after Patter ran for 8 yards, Bell found Theodore Bondy open in the end zone for the 7-7 tied score. The Merchantmen defense stopped their opponents with a stuff and a sack near midfield, giving Patter a chance to rebound with 19-yard and 13-yard runs. It was to no avail, as the Merchantmen punted from the Brooklyn 36-yard line, quickly followed by an impressive three and out by the defense. The Merchantmen showed guts with a fourth and one run from Thongchanh to move the chains from near midfield and saw Bell run for another first down on fourth and three shortly after. Patter followed up with 6-yard and 10-yard runs to end the first quarter with the Merchantmen in the Brooklyn red zone and the score tied 7-7.

Brandon Bell used his legs to gain more ground, but after a rushed pass on third down, the Merchantmen finally settled for a 29-yard field goal for the 10-7 lead. Jason Leeuwenburg caught the Merchantmen defense off guard with a 58 yard run to set up a 26-yard field goal to tie things 10-10. Bell continued to struggle with getting the ball to Theodore Bondy, getting intercepted at the Merchantmen 44-yard line. Ross Grinnell responded with throws for 9 yards, 11 yards, 17 yards and 6 yards to get to the Maassluis 1-yard line. Both Brooklyn running backs got a chance to pound it in, but both were stopped at the line of scrimmage, forcing Brooklyn to settle for an 18-yard field goal, yet taking a 13-10 lead regardless. Asher Ford was promoted to third down back today and responded by converting on third and four to keep the Merchantmen's next drive going. Bell had a typical third down conversion with a short pass to Branden Sandlin but right after the two-minute warning, Bondy dropped what would have been another third down conversion. Antoine Boyd ran for 21 yards for the Fightin' Bums but a strip sack by Clayton Jackson ended the first half, with Brooklyn leading 13-10.

On Brooklyn's first drive of the second half, they showed their own fourth down magic, having Jason Leeuwenburg run for 16 yards where was sufficient. It inspired Ross Grinnell to throw for 23 yards to Vincent Turner and get his team into field goal range. On third and very long, Grinnell scrambled for 15 yards, but still short of the first down as Brooklyn again settled for a (28-yard) field goal and a 16-10 lead. The Merchantmen got three-and-outed on the next drive and Oranje Haven was getting more worried than it has been so far this season. Rookie Darien Fletcher sacked Grinnell on second down and still shaky Grinnell mistimed and saw his pass picked off by Clarence Blackwell near midfield. Brandon Bell finally found Theodore Bondy for a big gain (18 yards) and followed up with a 14-yard pass to tight end Jeffrey Blake. Asher Ford saw has efforts end up inches short on a third down run, followed by a missed field goal, again with kicker Emmett Wells giving the evil eye to Brandon Bell for a bad hold. The Merchantmen defense forced three and out, but Bell was looking bad on the next drive. Momentum shifted when a deep punt was fumbled by the returned after getting tackled by Bondy and another multiple All-IHOF selection, Howard Humphrey recovered the loose ball at Brooklyn's 3-yard line. Two plays later, Francisco Patter pounded it in and after the extra point, Maassluis was leading again: 17-16. Rookie Darien Fletcher sacked Grinnell on the next drive to basically end the third quarter.

The Merchantmen defense completed the three-and-out, but the offense failed to get much going as Theodore Bondy dropped yet another pass on third down. In an attempt to gain ground quickly, Ross Grinnell threw a long pass, but linebacker Clayton Jackson showed he's got more than an ability to make sack, picking off the pass and returning it to the Brooklyn 34-yard line. On third and five, Brandon Bell found Bondy wide open on a screen pass and Bondy promoted it to a 29-yard touchdown. After the extra point, the 24-16 lead was on the scoreboard. The Merchantmen defense held ground and the Merchantmen offense went into a time wasting mode. The Bell to Bondy connection failed again. As did the run defense, giving up a 62-yard run to Jason Leeuwenburg (giving him 120 yards on just his two longest carries). Grinnell scrambled for a decent gain, but got sacked by Andy Russell on second down and after Clayton Jackson tackled the third down receiver short of a first down, Brooklyn went conservative and kicked the 31-yard field goal to the 24-19 score. Bondy dropped yet another third down pass and Brooklyn really went for their chances to comeback from behind. Grinnell found Leeuwneburg for 20 yards, only to get sacked again, this time by Gene Kondovski. On fourth down near midfield, Bart Sword batted down a pass to give the Merchantmen a chance to waste a lot of time or time outs, perhaps even get a chance to kick for an 8-point lead. After three runs, the Fightin' Bums were out of time outs, but as the third down run came short, punting was next and the touchback gave Brooklyn 80 yards of ground to gain for the win. Grinnell found running back Antoine Boyd for 30 yards and tight end Dwyane Osterlund for 26 yards, to quickly march to the Merchantmen 24-yard line. Time was running out and after Grinnell went for a scramble with little luck, they had to rush to the line of scrimmage and after a successful third down conversion, Grinnell came time short to spike it.

It wasn't pretty, but the Merchantmen defense has held ground, just barely, to secure a 24-19 victory. In a game where Brandon Bell completed just 17 of 33 passes for 179 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, while Theodore Bondy had 7 catches for 70 yards (with 2 scores) and Francisco Patter ran for 78 yards, it came as no surprise that a defensive player was the player of the game. Clayton Jackson took the honors, as his strip sack, a second sack, a crucial interception and 7 tackles made him the most productive player on his side of the ball. Kirk Hitchcock extended his defensive player of the year chances with 2 defended passes and leading the team with 8 tackles.

As the Paris Musketeers pulled a 26-13 win over the Chesapeake Chitterlings, but the Gothenburg Giants fell 34-18 at the Williamsburg Colonials, the European division appears to have been trimmed to a two-horse race now, despite that Gothenburg and the 22-18 winning Bordeaux Vineyards are mathematically still in the race.

1. Maassluis 7-4
2. Paris 7-4
3. Gothenburg 5-6
4. Bordeaux 4-7

Next up, a trap game, against the 2-9 Harlem Apollos. Even at home, with how this team played recently, they can't take anything for granted. Today, the Merchantmen got sloppy at times, gave up two big runs and saw Theodore Bondy drop too many passes, things that can cost them victories. To maintain the division lead and stay on the race for the playoffs, they have to stay focused, drive after drive, play after play. All game long.