[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Shock Ann Arbor And Move To 2-0
With a last second field goal, the Maassluis Merchantmen upset the Ann Arbor Anachronism 18-16 on the road. Cary Coles scored six on six in field goal attempts and took the game honors. Despite a struggling Louie Flannery, the offense kept making big plays at the right moments. Lead by Cody Cluff, the Anachorism offense was stopped a couple of times. The bad news of the game was the injury to the best player of the team, Charles Gomez.

Weena Eloi Memorial Park, home of the Ann Arbor Anachronism. In 53 game before today, the triple A's lost only twice in their own house. In contrast, the Maassluis Merchantmen had won only six of 48 games on the road. There couldn't be a bigger miss-match possible. But the contratry become reality, the Merchantmen wrote an amazing scenario and won the game 18-16. But how?

In the first quarter, the Merchantmen got first possession. Anchored by a nice 10-yard run from Randy Harris and a 19-yard reception by Jerry Beyer, the Merchantmen moved into the red zone and Cary Coles opened the score with a 27-yard field goal. And as the Merchantmen defense forced a punt, the Merchantmen took a 6-0 lead as Louie Flannery spread the ball around and Coles scored a 46-yard field goal.

Going into the second quarter, Ann Arbor took a 1-=point lead as quarterback Donald Woods completed a pass to William Duenas. But in the game of stopping the offense and punting, the Merchantmen won territory. The Anachronism got the ball back, but Donald Woods' problem of last season showed up as his pass got intercepted by linebacker Cody Cluff on Ann Arbor's half. Flannery and his offense failed, but Coles was sharp and converted a 24-yard kick. With a brilliant two-minute drill from Flannery, anchored by two catched by Bryce Ewald, a 51-yard kick was setup and Coles scored.

In the third quarter, the Merchantmen played te stop and punt game not so well and Woods again found Duenas for a score. Being 13-12 up, going for the two-pointer made sense, but Garrett Freitas was stopped by Aaron Sherrill. In the next drive, Louie Flannery tossed an interception to Lindsey Liles, which resulted in a 16-yard field goal from kicker Ann Arbor. The 16-12 lead was there, but the game was far from over.

The Merchantmen offense started making mistakes more than before, yet the team managed to keep punting and the Anachronism broke. Rookie cornerback Chris Zimmerman fumbled a punt return in Merchantmen territory and the Dutch visitors got lucky to get the ball back. A couple of nice catches by, again, Bryce Ewald put the team back in scoring position and Cary Coles sscored a 33-yard kick to shorten the Ann Arbor lead.

The Merchantmen played the punt and defend terrain game well in the last ten minutes and got the ball back at their own 30-yard line with 99 seconds left. An amazing 50-yard bomb to Gregory Monti was called back for a penalty, but Flannery found Bryce Ewald for an amzing fourth down conversion shortly after. Still in their own half, Flannery had to try another bomb and found Ewald again, now for a 36-yard reception. Again, Ewald ran out of bounds and the visitors reached the red zone with half a minute left. Randy Harris shortened the distance, followed by a spiked pass from Flannery. Cary Coles converted the 31-yard kick. Although there was a kickoff, the retuner was tackled by Cody Cluff midway the field to end the game.

For the game, Flannery completed just 19 of 44 passes, but when he was needed, he managed to find the right guy to make a play. Bryce Ewald was clearly the big hero with 8 receptions for 137 yards. But without Jim Reiser, Flannery clearly struggled and the next game could be another tough one. "It's an easy escape, really," Flannery explains, "Jimmy [Reiser] is always open and can be reached for the short gain." In Reiser's absence, Arnold Ramirez had just 2 catches, but made up with 2 key run blocks and a crucial forced fumble.

Charm of the team was Cody Cluff, as always. With 10 tackles and an interception, Cluff made difference. Although, it does mask the furter defensive play as keeping Donald Woods to below 300 yards and a completion percentage of 60. With 3 sacks and no less than 8 defended passes, the defense made plays. Especially Winford Endicott's 3 defended passes jumped out. Shutdown corner Tai Wayne said: "Winford is a winner. He perfectly fits the system and bats down 3 passes per game, he's a cool guy to team up with."

Despite the win, the Merchantmen again took a blow on the injury front. Defensive tackle and star player Charles Gomez left the game in the fourth quarter with a strained deltoid muscle and is ruled out for up to three games. Linebacker Mike Kershner joined the list of injured linebackers with a knee tendonitis. "The defense is taking blow after blow," said head coach Leroy Van Der Woude, "but we'll see Carl Meier back next week. Plus, the secondary is making some progress this season as well."

Sitting at two wins, the expectations in Oranje Haven are getting high. The Merchatmen are one of ten unbeaten teams, but seven of those are from the Atlantic Ocean Conference. "All our rivals won, so we don't make progress, despite beating a top team," said tackle Harold Hurtado "I guess we'll have to win the Futility Bowl again." Hurtado knows what he's talking about, next up is the matchup between the two lowest graded teams in the IHOF.

The Rochester Lake Monsters will host the Merchantmen next week, knowing they lost the matchup in Maassluis last season. And the Monster are 0-2 and can't use another loss in their hunt for a playoff ticket. Quarteback Jackie Williamson is expected to sit out the game not being 100% healthy after reconstrucitve knee surguery. The Lake Monsters acquired quarterback Eugene Westcott to fill in, but in two games he tossed 4 picks and for only 320 yards. But the Merchantmen know this guy, Westcott guided the Paris Musketeers to a league record offensive yardage total aganst Maassluis and he'll remember some of the defense's faces. 2-0 or not, the Merchantmen will be underdogs in Futility Bowl IV.