[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Remain Unbeaten In USA Beating Fury
In the previous meetings in Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Fury and Maassluis Merchantmen kept it close, but both times the Dutch team took the victory home. In the third game in the series, history repeated as an almost perfect Louie Flannery passed his team to a 24-17 victory. The defense had their share of the win, making the turnover battle go their way, despite being outgained in yardage. Randy Harris got injured and might not start for the Merchantmen in franchise history.

Louie Flannery was the player of the game in Texas today. The defense set it all up, but Flannery took full advantage all game long. The second year quarterback completed 21 of 26 passes (81%) for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sure, his yardage went down a bit, but that is to be expected when his wide receivers are covered and only tight end Jim Reiser (9 receptions) and running back Randy Harris (5 receptions) can get open to make the scores. Reiser set a franchise record with his number and helped Flannery to avoid interceptions for the first time this season.

On the other end of the ball, interceptions were crucial to stop the Fury's quarterback Shawn Jahr. Cornerbacks Myron Stevens and Johnnie Stidham have to prove the management they are worth starting opposite shutdown corner Tai Wayne as Winford Endicott will return from injury and accounted for one pick each. And just like the duo of cornerbacks, linebacker Carl Meier had his role on the line with a returning Mike Kershner, thus decided to make a big play and make the third interception. With that, the Merchantmen won the turnover battle 3-1 and helped out. Amazingly enough, the whole Merchantmen defense had made only one interception in the previous five games.

Variety of big plays can also help. The mentioned duo Stevens and Stidham made their mark on other fronts as well. Johnnie Stidham blocked a punt near the Fury's endzone. Safety Lincoln Gilmore recovered the ball in the pile of players and made the score tied 7-7 as the Fury had taken the lead earlier on a run from William Wood. Myron Stevens became the first Merchantmen player to record an interception and a sack in the same game since linebacker Ellsworth Thelen had a career game in week 17 of the 2006 season against the Gothenburg Giants. But unlike Thelen, who made 12 tackles, Stevens made only one tackle.

Ellsworth Thelen saw his playing time on the line as well and paid back with a sack as well. Add sacks from Albert Bernardo and Andrew Rasmussen and you see 4 sacks for the game to pressure Shawn Jahr into struggling. Jahr eventually had a decent game for a second year quarterback, but his 18 or 33 completed for 261 yards didn't look as good as Louie Flannery's numbers. The draft day decission by the Dutch team to trade up and take Flannery at #5 rather than Jahr at #12 looked like a good one today.

Looking back, the game was pretty much dominated by the Merchantmen defense and they allowed 331 total yards because they could allow then and they compensated with big plays. The Merchantmen offense did well on the short field and took the win well. After the game, headcoach Leroy Van der Woude couldn't be happier: "Team effort is the key. We missed Charles Gomez again, but the defense stepped up and everybody showed they deserve playing time. It'll be tough to put up 11 starters next week."

Les Musketeers are awaiting for the Merchantmen in week 8. The team from Paris is detirmened to win for the fourth year in a row at home against the Dutch team. With both Paris and Maassluis at 4-2, it will be crucial for Paris to be able to win tiebreakers, since Maassluis took the win at home. For Maassluis, Randy Harris might for the first time not start as he pulled a groin. It would be a bad timing as fullback Jamel Flannery is also still banged up. In return, the Merchantmen see three defensive starters return to the active roster (Charles Gomez, Winford Endicott and Mike Kerhsner) meaning there will be tough decissions made on who plays and who doesn't.