Old World Champs Return To Wild Card Game

December 7, 2018April 18, 2019 associatedfantasy Jerusalem Cheesheads, London Falling, World League

The AF#52 Jerusalem Cheeseheads (7-6-0) share a rich post season history with their 2018 Wild Card opponent London. The 2013 Eastern Conference Wild Card Game, was played Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium where the Cheeseheads beat London 129-109. The following year, they beat London at Wembley Stadium in London, 103-85 in the Wild Card rematch before going on to win World Bowl 3. When the Cheeseheads hosted World Bowl 4 in 2015 the championship game was held in Tel Aviv due to ongoing renovations at Teddy, and so was the Eastern Conference Championship where London finally beat Jerusalem, 90-87 before losing the Championship to the Los Angeles Dragons. Now, the Wild Card Game returns to their home turf of Teddy Stadium, and the match sold out in hours once the Cheeseheads’ week 13 overtime victory over Milan was certified and they moved ahead of the field to secure the Conference #2 seed, extra sweet after falling just short of the post season last year. Their young quarterback is #4 in the league, with targets that include the league’s #5 wide receiver and the #2 tight end, and has them averaging 94 points per game over the last 4 weeks as they try to make a push to return to the big game for the first time since their Championship.

**#52 Association Rank* #23**

*Week 11 Rankings

#6 League Rank #7

7-6-0 Record 6-7-0

51-47-0 All Time 53-47-0

9-3-0 Head To Head 3-9-0

		Jerusalem Cheeseheads	London Falling
	Week 6, 2012	98.74	113.88 W
	Week 5, 2013	W 104.80	96.76
Wild Card Game	Week 14, 2013	W 129.86	109.74
	Week 5, 2014	W 90.50	75.18
Wild Card Game	Week 14, 2014	W 103.58	85.88
	Week 5, 2015	W 100.61	89.36
	Week 13, 2015	W 109.83	76.05
Conference Championship	Week 15, 2015	87.70	90.52 W
	Week 5, 2016	W 94.40	93.73
	Week 5, 2017	W 72.54	71.50
	Week 2, 2018	W 76.07	75.26
	Week 10, 2018	95.09	172.05 W

Over/Under: 185

Latest Line: London +19

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AF#23 London Falling (6-7-0) reprises the same roll they had in last year’s post season, as the Eastern Conference Wild Card after falling short against Scandinavia in last season’s playoff push. Historically, they’ve had very little success against Jerusalem, 1-2 against them in the playoffs, and 3-9 against them since the league’s 2012 founding. In 9 of the pair’s 12 historical meetings though, the game was decided by an average of just 5 points, in 4 of their last 5 matches, the game was decided by 3 points or less. Their last face to face with Jerusalem, however, just 4 weeks ago in week 10, was another story altogether as the Falling blew the Cheeseheads away, 172-95, and they hope this redux will turn out just as successfully. London’s W-L record is deceptive, as they happen to be the #3 scoring team in the league, a familiar spot for them as only once in 7 years have they failed to be inside of the top 3 scoring teams in the league. Strangely, on this year’s roster, outside of their league #1 kicker, they have no players inside of the top 5 at their positions; their quarter back is 11th in the league, their halfback 6th, receivers ranked #8, #19, and #54, yet they’re favored in this game and historically have had more post season appearances than any team in the league. The reason for that is the play calling and personel accumen of Coach Kev, 3-time winner of the league’s Coach of the Year Award and the only World League coach to have taken his team to two World Bowls (2012-W and 2015-L). The quest for his third, and second victory, begins this week.