Despite a scoreless second half, the Shalhevet boys’ flag football team defeated YULA, 21-7, Sept. 22 to keep up their winning streak. The game at Oakwood Recreation Center was the fourth win of a perfect 4-0 season that the Firehawks, led by coach Mr. Chris Buckley, have put together so far.

Quarterback Jacob Dauer says that it’s the defense that’s been getting them through the season.

“Our defense has been dominant both today and all year,” Jacob said after the YULA game. “We’ve had timely sacks and shut-down pass defense.”

Last year, the Firehawks went 4-9, so the 4-0 start definitely shows improvement. Along with the undefeated start, a victory against the defending league champion Crossroads and a rival victory against YULA have given confidence to the team.

The game against YULA featured a Shalhevet-dominant first half. The Firehawks scored three touchdowns while only giving up one to YULA, and they were able to maintain their lead the entire game.

“The defense stepped up big-time,” said running back Micah Gill. “During the second half, we didn’t execute as well as in the first half, but the defense was able to hold YULA back.”

Shalhevet started the game off with the ball, and scored on the opening drive with a touchdown pass from Jacob to Max Helfand. They then stopped YULA and got the ball back, at which point they scored another touchdown on a pass from Jacob to Micah Gill.

YULA then led a drive downfield and scored a touchdown on a pass from Panther quarterback Noam Posner to wide receiver Sam Richter. But Shalhevet answered with a touchdown pass to Jeremy Glouberman to bring the score up 21-7.

Just before halftime, Micah Gill made a huge run that brought the Firehawks within scoring range. But he tore his hamstring on the next play and left the game. On the next play, a touchdown pass to Jeremy Glouberman was called back because of flag guarding on Shalhevet to end the half.

The second half consisted of shut-down defense on both sides. However, the amount of time that Shalhevet had the ball was considerably longer than YULA’s, contributing to the inability of the Panthers to score during the second half.

Most of all, YULA couldn’t score because of the Firehawks’ defense. Over the course of the game, Shalhevet had three interceptions, one of which prevented YULA from scoring before the end of the first half. Pass rushers Boaz Willis and Alexander Wiesel put constant pressure on the YULA quarterback Noam Posner. He was constantly rushed and didn’t have enough time to set and make a throw.

There were also eight penalties over the course of the game, six of which were on Shalhevet. The four flag-guarding penalties were not normal for the Firehawks — it was the first time all season that they had been called for that offense.

However, the defense stepped up and kept these penalties from having too much of an effect. YULA could not capitalize on any of the errors caused by penalties and came up short in the end.

“This win didn’t mean so much because of the quality of the opponent, but because we keep winning games,” said team captain Mati Hurwitz. “However, it’s always sweet to beat the Panthers.”