[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen reclaim division lead without ejected Bondy
The Maassluis Merchantmen have retake the lead in the IHOF's European Division. With a convincing 30-23 victory at the Paris Musketeers, they did their own part. The Gothenburg Giants put a sloppy 20-3 deficit on the field at the Orlando Talons, which helped the Merchantmen leap ahead in the standings. But the biggest story of the game was about one of IHOF's stars, what happened to Theodore Bondy?

The Brandon Bell lead Maassluis Merchantmen are turning into a surprise of the 2089 season. With a solid 24 of 38 completed passes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns without interception, Bell was once again impressive for an unpolished rookie quarterback. Helped by a defense that took no less than three takeaways on the first three Paris drives, the Merchantmen took a quick 13-0 lead and basically held ground from there on. Trailing by 14 points late in the game, he Musketeers almost got their miracle comeback. After making it 30-23 with a minute to go, they recovered the onside kick. But an impressive Gene Kondovski ended the Musketeers' hopes with a defended pass on third down and a solo sack on fourth down. Bell knee dropped to the victory.

But in a game where the Merchantmen pass defense defended 9 passes and had 1 interception, wide receiver Santiago Messenger's 7 catches for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns were the most surprising statline of any single player. The story of the day was the sudden disappearance one of football's stars: Theodore Bondy.

About six and a half minutes to go in the first quarter. Maassluis was up 7-0 and slowly but steadily driving downfield. On second and ten, Reggie Thongchanh got the handoff and after a 6-yard gain was tackled. A couple of feet away from the spot of the tackle, a couple of players had gotten into a brawl. After some time, Merchantmen guard Andre Watson was called for unsportsmanslike conduct, which essentially put the Merchantmen in a field goal at best situation. But on top of things, wide receiver Theodore Bondy was ejected from the game. One anonymous Merchantmen player pointed to the vile and dirty Paris cornerbacks Arturo Dunn and Ross Madison as the culprits for provoke Bondy.

The referees refused to elaborate and "profound language" was given as the explanation. Watson received the penalty for being first to misbehave, but Bondy was visible taunting. It's no secret that divisional clashes can get more heated and the Merchantmen had clearly arrived in Paris with an attitude of wanting to win at all cost. Bondy received a fine on top of the ejection, but league officials said there will be no other disciplinary actions.

With Bondy sitting out the game in the locker room, his replacements Branden Sandlin and in particular Santiago Messenger did their best Bondy impersonations. On top of it, the adrenaline from the heated atmosphere kept flowing through the veins of the Merchantmen players and eventually they got to travel home with their fourth "W" of the season. And with head-to-head wins against both Gothenburg and Paris, they have the tiniest of edges to potentially end up with tie-breakers, albeit they'd probably still need to beat one of them in the bottom half of the regular season.

Standings:
1. Maassluis 4-2
2. Gothenburg 4-3
3. Paris 3-3
4. Bordeaux 2-4

Amidst the turmoil, last year's starting quarterback Moe Sheldon was spotted with an annoyed face on the sidelines. Although he's been silent in the media about it, his role as a backup isn't doing him well on game days. Last season one of his finest performance for the orange-white-and-blue came in a 48-14 trashing of the Musketeers in Maassluis, he had hoped to finally get a chance to travel to Paris and play well to avenge the release by the Musketeers in the 2087 off-season. Last season, Sheldon was a backup as well in the road game in Paris, sitting behind Francisco Farley, shortly before Sheldon took over and guided the Merchantmen to a 6-7 record.

Brandon Bell in the mean time continues to play like a division winning quarterback, still boosted by the lowest interception figure of all starters in the league. He had already shown he can find other receivers than the all world caliber Theodore Bondy, but today he proved to be able to do it even without Bondy. Or perhaps it was his ability to stick with the game plan, not to go for the safer route to throw it to the veteran Ronnie Hammond on the right side, but stick with the game plan and throw it to the left a lot. Branden Sandlin and in particular Santiago Messenger showed they have the quality to play in Reuben Bidwell's spread offense. Imagine Bondy back in the mix and this passing game could actually be good against any defense.