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1. 1. NWFL, last game of regular Season IX

First, Respect to Coach Ardonite, who stuck out the game even when he had a right and reason to concede. The specific stats of the game were critical to the tie-breakers for several teams in the League (not including the Poets) to determine the post-season, and for all of them, thanks! (Possibly except for any teams who got hurt by it - but they should thank you anyway, just for good form.)

The short story is the 'Sons had great luck in the bash department, and the Poets had terrible luck with their inducements - and that was the game.


The Poets got a huge pile of inducement money, and plopped all their eggs into 2 baskets, a Wizard and Morg. The 'Sons won the toss, and chose to receive, in hopes to start inflicting damage right away to the now 12-man roster.

The first 2 turns saw 2 Poet Linos off, 1 BH'd but 1 merely KO'd, and the Poets putting pressure on the 'Sons' Ag 4 ballhander back on their own 6. That forced a hastily formed cage around the 9 yard line while 2 more Poets were out KO'd, one a Blodge-Tackle blitzer. That cage invited an early wizard to fireball the 5 players, but only 2 caught the force of it - however one of those was the Ag 4 ballhandler, KO'd, leaving the ball on the 9 marked by the -Ag gimped lino for the 'Sons, and Morg and a Lino for the Poets with more Poets closing in, to end Turn 3.

The 'Sons responded with a risky Blitz against St 6 Morg by the Snow Troll, whose claws barely tipped the balance to break Av 10 (now 7) armour, and then Mighty Blow barely sent him off with a BH instead of KO - and the Poets had just seen the last of all that Inducement cash gone in less than a full Turn.

The Poets tried a 1d to bump the ball clear of the ruck, but it bounced straight into the arms of the surprised Snow Troll. To end their turn 4, a Block/Wrestle Poet tried to -2d clear of an Ulf, but only skulled RR'd to double-skulls to kill himself in the process - and the Apo killed him again, leaving 5 Poets facing 10 'Sons to end Turn 4. This allowed the Wild Animal Troll, starting from his own 10, to blitz his way (with no targets) exactly to the goal over the next 3 Turns, scoring safely Turn 7, but not before the Poets tried to foul a 'Zerk, stunning him but getting a Blocking Lino off the field, and the 'Sons KO'd the other Blitzer, BH'd their St 4 Thrower, and KO'd another lino, leaving only 1 Poet, a blocking lino, on the field, and 1 unskilled lino guaranteed in reserve.

2 woke up for the Turn 7 kick, but nothing much came of it, and only 1 more joined the field 2nd Half for a total of 5 against a fully intact Norse starting squad.

It was somewhere in there that Coach A considered conceding, but valiantly chose not to. Again, Respect, and Thanks.

The Norse should have gone "All menz LoS", but played a standard defense, and a Riot shortened the time remaining. However, the Norse were far from done, BH'ing the lone downfield lino, boxing in 3 others (and allowing only -2d's, which led to another skull and BH), and putting on enough pressure to steal the ball and score to end Turn 4, while BH'ing yet another Poet, leaving only 2 on the field and only 2 more in the KO box.

Of those, all 4 showed up, and again and inexplicably, only a standard defense from the Norse. However, altho' the Poets started well with 1 KO, 1 Stun, and 1 knock-down on the LoS, it was the same story - while the remaining Poets were mobbed where they stood, the lone ballcarrier was swarmed and KO'd at midfield, and the ball recovered and handed off to a speedy Runner for the Turn 8 score, Midnight Sons 3-0.






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