PV XVIII (BLUE 54 - Gold 12)
It was a blustery, cold morning on the hallowed fields of the fancy new JDS upper school campus. The blue and the gold team, locked in their eternal (for at least the last 18 years) struggle, like the great rabbis Hillel and Akiva, sought to dominate the annual Thanksgiving-day game. With the original PBI founders now growing as old as Rashi and increasingly unable to handle the rigors of the day’s athletics, the 18th Paul Blank Invitational also marked the inaugural game under inspired leadership of Jonathan Sachs (’06), Aaron Schooler (’06) and Michael Feldman (’06). Electing to organize the teams by essentially pulling names out of a hat to stymie the increasing age-related athletic imbalance, this years game; the new Talmud to the Mishna of Zuckerman and Fulop (et. al) would result in one of the least competitive football games in PBI history, and in the history of JDS football altogether.
Inspired by the riveting and previously unheard reading of Washington’s letter to some shul in New England and an inspired Shir-madness/Adele inspired star spangled banner by one of Paul Blank’s future music students, the two teams took the field. Blue received the opening kickoff, which was promptly fumbled by Ariel Oxman (‘99) and recovered by Stuart Krantz.
Mercifully, this would be Oxman’s only contribution to the Blue team and Gold’s only moment of competitiveness. Now with a short field, Ilan Fulop completed a short pass to Rabbi Jon Leener (one of his three completions on the day), and then finished the drive with a nifty outside run to the endzone.
Mercifully, this would be Oxman’s only contribution to the Blue team and Gold’s only moment of competitiveness. Now with a short field, Ilan Fulop completed a short pass to Rabbi Jon Leener (one of his three completions on the day), and then finished the drive with a nifty outside run to the endzone.
Blue, incensed by their poor start to the game and drawing inspirations by G-d’s approach to walls of Jericho, was unrelenting in their response. Under the QB leadership of the timeless David May, Blue scored the next 33 points of the first half. Feldman started for the blue team with some quick outside runs setting up downfield passes to Shai Fierst and Elliot Totah. May capped off the drive with a punishing quarterback sneak for a short touchdown run. Gold’s overmatched Ilan “Feckless” Fulop quickly turned the ball back over (interception by Dore Feith) and May seized the momentum with a beautiful deep throw to Shai Fierst for a 50 yard touchdown. Gold’s ineptitude on the next drive resulted in a punt, and Gold would drive downfield again, settling for a David May field goal (one of four on the day). Coordinated by Schooler and buoyed by Yoni Farber’s two sacks and consistent QB pressure, Gold wouldn’t score an offensive point for the rest of the game, and David May continued the first half scoring with touchdown throws to Michael Feldman and Judah Drelich, as well as an additional field goal.
With little hope of recovery and feeling as helpless as Samson after his run in with Delilah, Gold came out for the second half with surprising spunk. US Air Force Cadet Henry Baron took the kickoff and jetted down the left sideline for the first return touchdown in modern PBI history. But Gold would be unable to stop Blue’s aerial assault and May would lead two more scoring drives before invoking the mercy rule and handing the quarterback reins to touted offensive coordinator Jonathan Sachs (who also completed a touchdown pass to Dore Feith). Similarly, Gold’s offensive ineptitude would continue with both Feckless “feeble minded” Fulop and the Rav Leener unable to get the gold offensive past midfield. Fittingly, the last scoring play of the day was a Shai Fierst pick-6 of a misguided pass. When the dust had settled, Blue’s 54-12 victory stood as a more lopsided defeat than Paul Blank’s victory over an African lion.
Blue tried to stick a figurative pin in the floodgates brought fourth by the Gold teams striking the stone of PJB as Moses did in the early years of Paul Blank’s boyhood with a quick touchdown to Oxman, but Gold would rely on the somewhat swift and time consuming running of May and Feldman to eat away the remaining seconds, and the antiquated and obviously fatigued blue was left with insufficient time to mount any form of a comeback. Of note, Ilan Fulop did slap someone in the face, although even this could not stop the Blue team and its contingent of Hebrew Home residents from fading meekly into the history books of the Paul Blank invitational. Gold emerged victorious 33-20 in a game that future generations will celebrate as a changing of the guard; The young generation of Jewish short American DC-area athletes announced, in one voice that they were a force to be reckoned with in future Paul Blank invitational.
MVP: Shai Fierst (’00) – 4 receptions for 100 yards and 1 touchdown, 1 rush for 1 yard, 1 interception returned 15 yards for a touchdown, and 2 passes defensed
Referees
- Crew Chief: Gabe Roark (’15)
- Field Judge: Ben Lieberman (‘15)
- Head Linesman: Bryan Shorr (‘16)
- Game Day Operations Coordinator: Jeremy Schooler (‘16)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss:
Pre-Game Performance: Dramatic reading by Felice Blank of George Washington’s letter to the Newport Synagogue in Rhode Island.
Event Entertainment: DJ Ilan Arnowitz (‘17)
Photographer: Ron Sachs, photojournalist and President of Consolidated News Photos (CNP).
Referees
- Crew Chief: Gabe Roark (’15)
- Field Judge: Ben Lieberman (‘15)
- Head Linesman: Bryan Shorr (‘16)
- Game Day Operations Coordinator: Jeremy Schooler (‘16)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss:
Pre-Game Performance: Dramatic reading by Felice Blank of George Washington’s letter to the Newport Synagogue in Rhode Island.
Event Entertainment: DJ Ilan Arnowitz (‘17)
Photographer: Ron Sachs, photojournalist and President of Consolidated News Photos (CNP).
