“Hargendorf, a small Place up in the North, and by the sea. You can smell saltwater and hear the gulls' cries. It is almost like home, except not enough snow and not nearly as cold, muses Norse-born coach Vatn. The team is ready, except for TJ, who has a broken arm, while the Unicorns have a full Squad ready for their home match. "We need a win now, so go out there and hit them!", coach says. "Hard!" Everybody nods. Especially Althoff. They are however also dreadfully aware that the home team needs a win as well. After a good first half of the season, the Unicorns have been slumping a bit lately. They are sure to show that they can get their game together, and the fans wil be on their side. Tonight will be tough...

Cascade starts with the ball, and from the very start, Cascade players means business. In the opening moves, Jeremias sends lineman Omar Wolfen off badly hurt, and then Althoff smashes into Blitzer Tim Harris. He ha to be carried off, unmoving, and only after long treatment, the apothecary can declare that he wil survive, albeit with a serious skull injury. With two players more, Cascade are advancing slowly along their left sideline with Nicola the ballcarrier. Unicorns are struggling to Block their path, and failing. In quick succession, Friedrich KO's Strip Ball lineman Greg Scruggs, and Ballard sends Greg Spires, the other Guard Blitzer off badly hurt, while Matt Kalil, the Unicorns strongman stands confused on the midline, not really understanding what is happening to his team (fails two Boneheads in the first three rounds). Even though the badly outnumbered Unicorns are starting to hit back (KO's Turbin and Jeremias), they are nowhere near preventing an easy score for Nicola. 1-0 Cascade, but there is plenty of time to equalise for the Unicorns... or to steal a defensive TD for the Cascade!

Unicorns form a strong left formation at the midline, and starts by KO'ing Rainer, but then star quarterback Montanna fails the pick up (snake eyes). This allows the Cascade to pack in around the Unicorn players, ad Althoff gets his second cas of the day when lineman Block Knocker is sent off with a broken jaw. Undeterred, the unicorns break through in the center when Matt Kalil finally succeeds in blitzing someone, and Star catcher Rick Nimble can run through With the ball after a nice Quick pass from Montanna. They can't get much support around Nimble, though. Only catcher Wolven is close by. Cascade sends backup Quarterback Inga and Blitzer Martin to hunt down Nimble, and Althoff makes the blitz, KO-ing Nimble and the ball is free! Nicola positions herself in a scoring position in case they can grab the free all. In a final desperate attempt, to get the TD, Tom Rathman blitzes Inga and stuns her, while Wolven goes for the ball. However, he can't pick it up in Althoff's tackle zone and is instead killed by Althoff for his effort. This is Dietmar's third cas today. With Inga stunned, Cascade chooses not to try for the TD, and guards the ball instead, easily fending off Rathmans attempted blitz.

The unicorns starts the second half with five men out of action, and short of talent among those left. They are only one TD down, however, and can still manage a Draw. They are taking things slowly, but gets a chance when Erwin comes up badly hurt in a clash with Kevin Deadface, the Unicorns backup quarterback. Unicorns pushes their advantage on the right flank with Tom Rathman as their running back. Cascade is in the process of mopping up the left flank as Turbin gets Cascade's sixth cas for the night when he gougs catcher Run Rundars eye, but then Ballard fails his Block against rookie lino Splatten, and Unicorns changes side. Cascade overcompensates, and suddenly Rathman blitzes and KOs Jeremias and is through on the right side, protected by Montanna and Rick Nimble. Cascade players scramble back to pack in around Rathman, but he pushes Quarterback Hoffman away and runs forward... only to fall on his face after failing a GFI (another snake eyes). The ball is free, and Hoffman recovers it and makes a quick pass to Nicola. She declines to run for the goal line, as that would leave her relatively unprotected and with several Unicorns having a shot at her before she can score. Instead, she seeks the relative protection of the Cascade blitzers. Scruggs blitzes her, however, and we have to send out our apo to save Nicola's collarbone. Unfortunately for the Unicorns, the ball Bounces into an open square between everyone, and Montanna fails a pick-up in two tacklezones. Cascade don't really manage to protect the ball, however, and some nice pushing blocks from Unicorns free the ball, and Nimble can pick it up... only to fail the last obstackle as he snakes the dodge out of Hoffman's tacklezone... Thus, the game ends 1-0 Cascade.

The fans are released to og berserk in the bars and tavernas of Hargendorf, and the talk of the day is the six casualties Cascade earned, and particlarly Althoff's three (two kills and one SI). Unicorns were trying, but were outnumbered most of the time and unlucky as well. It thus was a very uphill Battle for them. Cascade is back on top of the division, pending the outcome of the Vikings match against the Grizzlies. And then comes the home match against the Vikings. The winner, if there is one, is likely to also take home the divisional title! Be there!
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