“Spectre Valley Open (May 2010)
Game 3

This game SHOULD have been a win for me. Maybe not an easy win, but 2-1 would have been fine. I knew it was going to be a rough game when I used the apothecary to treat a niggling flare-up on my best player, Eduardus Georgius. But I felt I needed the MA 8, MB Tackle blitzer to counter all the Templar catchers. I don't regret it, but he didn't help too much as he got BH the first half. Losing the coin toss didn't effect me at all as I would have kicked even if I won. All I can say is mwilli72 played an outstanding match and had a few dice rolls go his way early on. Mainly the block and CAS dice. I was having trouble putting his players on the ground, where as he was not having any trouble putting mine down. Getting my DP/Kicker thrown out on a Stun foul didn't help either. I couldn't prevent the 1st half score so decided to knock some people down and try to get a numbers advantage in the 2nd half. A thrown rock took out my backup thrower and evened it up at 10 each. Then I lost a player to a KO and was down 9 to 10. I removed one of his and got it back to 9s. Then 9 to 8. I got the ball all the way downfield, then opted to handoff to my 0 SPP lineman, Bruce Matthias, as a reward for making some really key plays. He dropped the handoff but picked it up in my next turn. Then I decided to stall. Probably a mistake, with so many ST 3 Blodging Side Step catchers on the field. One of them put a successful 1 die blitz on Bruce and the ball was on the ground. Warrenne de Luna managed to pick it up in traffic (hooray AG 4 Sure Hands) and dodge away with 2 GFIs, but was out of movement on the goal line. The last 3 turns of the match are worth watching. A Templar Blitzer knocked Warrene down freeing the ball. A Templar Catcher (either Bertrand or Armand) dodges trough a TZ, picks up the ball, and throws it downfield to a waiting Templar Blitzer. I said something rather unkind about that catchers luck, but I knew I still had a shot. On my T8, I managed to knock the ball-carrier down, then move in Georgiy the Bland to pick up the ball (in traffic), dodge away, take 2 GFIs to get in short range, and pass to Mad Kaemgen. Lineman Mawae then marches downfield to hand the ball to Theodoric Macon, the person who could have scored 3 turns earlier but handed off to Bruce, and he waltzed in for the tying score. It was an improbable ending to a great series of plays by both coaches.

Fun game, nobody lost FF, and no permanent injuries though both of us will be missing the services of a nice lineman each. Money wasn't very good, but you can't have everything. Thanks for the game mwilli72, and maybe we can have a rematch soon.”