Montreal Blitz ready for IWFL semi-finals

The Blitz have been unstoppable thus far in 2012 and are eying the big IWFL championship.

MONTREAL - The Montreal Blitz work all day for money and then come out at night to fight for every yard of gridiron turf.

During the day, they're teachers, nurses, and marketing executives. But at night this diverse group of 18-40 year olds becomes the only semi-pro full contact football team in Canada to play in the Independent Women's Football League.

And at 9 and 0 this season, they're good, as proven in their recent trouncing of the Baltimore Nighthawks 35-6 in Lachine.

In fact the team, which plays at the Dalbe-Viau High School, in Lachine, Quebec ($8 per ticket, free for kids under 12) has only lost one of their past 26 games over the last three seasons. In fact they are 51-22 since their inception in 2003, a period in which they won the title twice.

They are propelled by a passion for pigskin.

“These women play because they love it. It's a huge time commitment, it's a financial commitment, they're away from their families; they're away from their friends. And they’re here because they love to play. And it's not as if the guys don't love to play but they have the extra incentive of a salary coming in,” said Quarterback Saadia Ashraf.

The biggest challenge in playing U.S. teams is the size difference. An American offensive line typically outweighs the Blitz’s offensive line by at least 50 pounds per player. So the Blitz has to be fast, or risk getting tackled hard. But the players say, it's all just part of the game.

“It's not all that bad. People think, ‘oh my God, you must get broken.’ People usually look at me and say, ‘look at the size of you. How do you not get taken down all the time?’ But you get used to falling you get used to getting hit, and it's just the way it is,” said Receiver Alia Palmer.

As the only women's tackle football team in Quebec, it can be tough to find other teams to practice against. They've approached boys teams, but so far no one is willing to take on the challenge.

“We wanted to play 16 and 17-year-olds, Midgets, they're big enough, technically competent, they're very good at the game, but I think we could compete but we could not organize a game," said Coach Pierre Migner.

“I'm a physio and I used to work with a team of kids 15, 16-year-olds and we could have taken them,” said the Coach. “So I don't know if they’re scared of if they're worried about hurting us or what.”

Even without competition to practice against, the Blitz feels confident heading into tomorrow night's semi-final playoff matchup against the Houston Energy.

If they win that, it's off to Texas for the IWFL world championships. And then it's time to start recruiting for next year's team.

“There's reasons why there are so many movies made about football, it's because it's the best team sport out there. It takes different types of attitudes, different types of bodies, different types of athletic abilities and everyone can play, everyone can play,” said Quarterback Saadia Ashraf.