January 25, 2026… that was our last football game. A week 17 tackle game in the heart of a blizzard. But then snow turned to ice and the turf was nowhere to be seen. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month. But jewball persevered. While some traditions were postponed or updated, we pushed on. Super bowl bbq turned into super bowl breakfast at the Kut home. What should have been week 20 turned into the prancing bowl. Finally though the rain came and the temps got warmer and the field was there once again. Week 18 would finally be played. Just barely though as more snow would come during the game. But a beautiful 3 game jewball sunday morning was had. Can’t say it was worth the wait bc a month without football is too long, but football was back.

On the first side of the field we had Green Machine vs Stogies. Both teams trying to bounce back from losses in their previous league game. Stogies struck first with an opening drive td to gronk and just marched their way down the field with dump offs to dk and stella. 6-0 stogies. Green machine took a while to get going and the score would stay at 6-0 for a while. Stogies marched their way down the field once again and had first and goal from the 5 with a chance to go up two scores. But the GM captain was sneaky and jumped back from d line to the middle to pick a slant off to gronk and returned it 50 yards and gave GM the momentum they needed. three plays later it was captain daveo once again with a dump off from Avenger for a td. 6-6. Unfortunately, the game took a pause then. I didn’t see what happened but it was described as gruesome. Tom went down with an injury and the game stopped to make sure that the In Both vet was okay. He was not. With his wrist bent the wrong way, Tom was rushed off the field. RS Tom! We will see you back on the field soon. Tom doesn’t get enough credit for it, but the man always plays every game. He is the true definition of in both and still doing it at 40. He’s our snow game majestic horse. You’ve bounced back from having Bert as a brother, this is nothing. Feel Better! Eventually, the game continued and Avenger ran one in to make it 13-6 after the extra point. Stogies would falter on their next drive and GM had the ball with a chance to ice the game. On 3rd and goal from the 15, avenger tossed a beautiful touch pass to the back of the endzone for berk.. who hauled it in, toe tapped… and then got rocked by landy and couldn’t hang on to the ball through the ground. An incredible effort, but landy made the defensive stop. GM couldn’t punch it in and Stogies were now down to their final drive. score and a two point conversion would give them the win. a few short plays by yaron set up 4th and 3 to keep the drive going. But a toss to gronk across the middle got knocked down Captain Daveo again and the game would end. 13-6 Green Machine. Jewball to the GM of GM and their captain Daveo on the all around offense and defense in this one.

On the other side of the field it was Semi Pro v. Gorillaz. Last time these two teams played there was controversy abound and it took away from the incredibly close game that it was. This time there was no controversy…..there also wasn’t much of an incredibly close game. SP was without their captain as he was off visiting Jordan in the holy land. But SP (aka solo) came out with a fire that we haven’t seen in some time. When Solo first started playing Jewball he was a dream that Yaron had invented and no one really knew if he was real. Then he finally showed up and dominated. But then solo moved far away and we saw less and less of him. Sunday he was determined to show that he should not be forgotten. After three and outs by both teams, SP took the ball and started moving. a quick out to stats, a dumpf off to solo and a few short plays to storm. set up a 3rd and 3 from the 47 yard line. A designed run by pray got SP the first down but as pray looked up after crossing the first down marker…. it was three gorillaz in sight and one solo. That was all SP needed. Solo proceeded to mow down zada, mighty and rook en route to a 30 yard rushing td for pray. 6-0 SP. Gorillaz took the ball back and moved methodically until on 3rd and 10, lego stepped up in the pocket and was met by a flying solo and pummeled to the turf. Following drive for SP , it was again dump offs to solo and storm culminating in a solo hand off that he took to the house from 20 out to make it 12-0. Stats extra point made it 13-0. Gorilaz then put together their best drive of the game. and had 3rd and 12 past midfield. A lego pass to Goldberg made it 4th and 1. Can’t say for sure exactly what happened but lego tried catching SP off guard and hurried to the line to try a quick play. Unfortunately, that quick play caught everyone off guard and Lego ran directly into solo. Once again Solo pummeled lego into the ground, despite legos outstretched arm it was a turnover on downs. Three plays later it was pray to DJCP (not urkel because he wasn’t wearing the glasses) for a 20 yard td 19-0 SP. Sp got the ball back again and it was djcp for his second td of the game on a ten yard slant to make it 25-0. SP set up for the extra point but a tipped ball by zada led to a mighty int and he was off to the races. 80 yards on a zig zaggin winding return for the rat and it was 25-1. SP would score one more time, this one to storm and a stats phill philly extra point to pray capped the game at 32-1. Gorilaz finally got on the board again after a mighty td to make it 32-7. If you couldn’t tell solo absolutely dominated this one. On both sides of the ball he reminded jewball (and lego) of just how terrifying he could be. Jewball to you. Together with Sam and Spiegel the O line and D line of SP had a day. DJCP would have gotten a jewball but this day was the solo domination one.

In game 2 It was colors of yaron, blitz, bz, spiegel, steveo, storm, and zinn vs. dark of pray, gronk, rabin, kagan, prime, rook and stats. Colors struck first. After a leaping vintage zinn catch over stats, it was storm hurdling the defense to go up 1-0. Dark would put good drives together but each one would end in pray throwing an int (first to storm and then zinn). Whether it was the hangover from a big league win or the ferocious pass rush of blitz, bz and spiegel, it was a redzone int to storm and then a redzone int to zinn to shut down the first two drives of the game. Lucky for Dark, Colors didnt take too much advantage and only scored one more time on a flea flicker td from yaron to storm to make it 2-0. Then the snow started to fall and the QB of Colors made the infamous statement “if I win this counts as a snow game”……. whether the football gods have a sense of humor or that comment enraged Dark enough. They got to work and quick. An angry prime started doing what he does best and catching quick outs and slant and running through people for chunk yards. A 7 play drive ended with a pray to gronk slant to make it 2-1. next drive it was kagan on an out and up from 25 out to make it 2-2. two drives later it was dark with a chance to win it but a pray deep ball to rook was picked off by storm and the game went to overtime. Yaron tried to answer quickly and a deep ball to zinn was picked off by pray and now dark was playing for the win. Dark went right back to the well and hit a quick out to prime to go get them the chunk yards once again. Steveo came up to make the stop and went low for the flag and all we heard was a muted scream. Steveo bloodied all over his face would have to leave. Refuah Shleima Wizard! We will see you back on the field very soon. We went to 6s for the last two plays and on 4th and goal from the six, it was rook in the back of the end zone to win it 3-2. Jewball to kagan in this one for 1 td and being a willing third blocker all game. Also three sacks on the day in huge spots to keep Colors out of the redzone. Storm was on his way to a jewball with the two tds and two ints…..Season of bartender.

Snow….there’s nothing like it. Yes, some find it annoying and dangerous, but when looked at through the proper glasses there’s something scenic and peaceful about the white fluffy cloud-like substance coating the earth. Yet, some snow comes down so hard and blizzard like that there’s nothing calm about it. It revs something up inside of you that can only mean one thing……tackle football. This would now be our third tackle game of the season, an enormous number that we haven’t seen in years. We’re lucky to get one per year. Ecstatic if we get two. Three??…..almost unheard of. The last time being the 2020-2021 season.

It was colors of yaron, landy, zinn, urkel, logic, mandelbread, and tom vs dark of pray, bert, bz, prime, steveo, daveo, and the mighty snowdent. With the snow coming down hard the first few drives were sloppy three and outs (with one monster sack by yaron on third and goal off a well timed blitz). But then dark got clicking, a slant to daveo, a run by prime, and a deep ball to mighty set up third and 10 from the 40. A screen to mighty was all they would need and dark had the first down and then some as the snowdent took off down the sideline to open the scoring 1-0. The next drive colors got after it and worked the ball down the field with runs to landy and a tom catch and run of 35 to make it first and goal from the 24. After a yaron tush push where the ball may or may not have been stripped by mighty, it was determined that the first down was reached and colors would maintain possession. However, a chance to tie it up on a pass from yaron to zinn was just a bit behind and tips up into the hands of pray for an int. Next drive, Dark was right back at it with a mix of runs and slants, even hitting Bert on a tight end leak for 15 yards. After a logic sack, it was third and goal from the 20 for dark with a chance to go up 2-0. And that’s exactly what they did. With pray evading a zinn blitz, the ball just barely got off and into the waiting hands of prime who adjusts and makes the catch in the endzone. 2-0 dark. Unfortunately for colors, their fortune would go from bad to worse and three drives in a row ended with ints. The first one by pray, his second of the day, on a pass intended for tom. After a lateral to Steveo, it was 1st and goal from the 11. After a pray run to bring them inside the 1 yard line, it was a forward pitch to bz and tush push to bring the score to 3-0. One play later it was a daveo pick six to make it 4-0 dark and the game getting out of hand. Colors would make a qb switch to Zinn but on his first play he lofts a ball up the sideline to urkel that gets picked by steveo island (no map needed) and it’s dark ball once again. Two plays later it’s daveo finding the endzone on a quick tight end leak to make the score 5-0. Colors would finally get on the board with zinn at qb and after some good qb runs and dump offs to landy, urkel, and tom, it was logic in the back of the endzone on 4th and goal to get colors on the board 5-1. Both dark and colors would go three and out on the next two drives to end this game at 5-1 dark. Another awesome snow tackle game for jewball. A lot of jewball worthy candidates in this one, especially with guys keeping track of their tackles. Mighty led the day with 9 and a maybe forced fumble, prime with 7, pray with .5 (ya i sucked at tackling today) but the Jewball winner this week goes to Daveo. A td, a pick six, and a bunch of other catches and huge defensive stops in this one, the GM of Green Machine was all over the place on both sides of the ball.

Tackle games are infectious and bring out the best of jewball. It’s a high that you can only get once you’ve played them. Not saying you should or shouldn’t but if you do….. congrats daveo.

Who wants week 18! IJWT!