There is snow in Erengrad today. Lot’s of snow. And it does not stay on the ground either. Since early this morning, it has been whirled into the air by powerful winds. In other words, we have a blizzard tonight! Doesit stop a DLE game from happening, though? No sir. Our intrepid and valiant players went out there, battling for victory. Despite the intense hope of the homefans, rooting for another play-off, it was not to be tonight. Once more, the Vikings play-off hopes were brutally stopped by the crimson shirts, who outscored, outfouled and outcas’d the home team. In the end, not only did they win, but four Vikings, among them star blitzer Christine Michael, POMBer Juqua Parker and star catcher Kayvon Webster, won’t be playing the next match due to serious injuries suffered in the match. Hertha, you are down on the field right now, and have two team captains with you, or so I hear it?

Hertha: “We do!” She turns to two lanky catchers, one a woman, still in crimson uniform but with a large jacket thrown over her shoulders, the other a man with loose training gear and a heavy coat. “I have with me Nadja Kümmel, the current team captain of the crimson shirts and Cody Latimer, the former team captain.” She turns to Nadja. “A hard fight today, Nadja? Nine casualties means heated moments, I suppose?”

Nadja: “Indeed. It was action from the first minute, when Parker blitzed Goode even before we had started (BLITZ). And then Goode sent Washington off badly hurt and Lexer stunned Parker on her foul, only to be sent off by the ref.” She shakes her head. “And then I got hit by Christine and went down, and that bugger Enempkali was suddenly there, kicking my hip almost until it broke. It hurt like Hell, and only the apo saved me from permanent damage, but I had to watch the rest of the half from the sideline.”

Hertha: “But the team came back with a vengeance! Even though Goode was also sent off?”

Nadja: “Yeah. Christine KO’d Goode just after I left the field, but Kippenberger rose to the occasion and tok over leading the team. He was a tornado tonight, getting two casualties, a badly hurt Edwards and giving Christine a broken arm, and then in the end getting his hands on the ball and handing it over to Allen for the TD.”

Günther: “And in the second half, you were back and really made a difference in the end. Tell us about that!”

Nadja: “Yeah. It was at the end of the half. Vikings did an early score to try for the win, but we played offense 11 vs 10 and drove them to rhe ground. I was almost at their goal line with a larger screen of crimson in front of me, foolishly thinking myself safe, when all of a sudden a blue and orange uniform hit me from the side. It was Stipe, who had scrambled around my screen, and manage to hit me, grab the ball and pull away. Luckily, he had nowhere to run, so he was quickly surrounded by Goode and Kolskegg and Tayana, and then I could hit him back… hard… Down he went, but he managed to chuck the ball off into the stands, and the crowd tossed it back. It was outside of my range, but we had just time enough for Fatima to pick it up and hand it to me for the winning touchdown, just as the end signal was blown. Fatima was great tonight too, with the hand off to me and she was also the one stepping on Parker’s leg to break it, which obviously helped a lot.”

Hertha: “So, a 2-1 victory here in the home of the Vikings. How does that feel?”

Nadja: “Great, of course. We love fighting it out in these divisional match-ups, and are happy to kill off some more Vikings, even though we always take a beer with them after the match!”

Günther: (to Cody) “Cody, Inga promised us two more points in the second part of the season, and now you have gotten five. Victories over the Wolfskins and the Vikings, and a draw against the Wreckers. Is this the start of something bigger?”

Cody: (grins) “Well. You always know your numbers, Günther, so you know that despite the poor state we are in, we actually played 10k down this time. And we were not very far behind the Wolfskins or the Wreckers either, so as Inga said it, this is more due to the other teams having taken a beating this season, than any prowess from our side. When that is said, I was proud of my team tonight. They played with grit and style, and especially Fatima and Berndt did excellent plays. This is the way I want to see them.”

Günther: “And you have the Grizzlies left. Any predictions?”

Cody: “We do not have much of a chance there. Must be if they are over-cautious because they do not want to lose players before the conference semi-finals. But I hope we will be able to score a goal, to show that we can… Grizzlies have their chance to take it all now, and we are rooting for them. Has never been a SHC North team in the superbowl!”

Günther: “And next season, Cody? What can we expect of the CCC?”

Cody: “Ah, this is more Inga’s department, but given that we survive the Grizzlies, we should be able to add a strong lino or blitzer, an agile catcher, a fair and versatile lino and a replacement for Biryukov. This will take the team into the 1350tw group, and we should be on par with Vikings and Wolfskins. This should make for an interesting division next season.”

Hertha: “Yeah. You all heard Cody? Be there in the Pool as we play the Grizzlies in the final match of the season, and make sure to get your season passes for next year, as CCC will be back there after two dark seasons!”

Brought to you by Hertha Wendlinger and Günther Schiele, Carroburg Tageszeitung