“Heading for our away match against the Pirates, the headcoach realized that we have been lucky twice now, in avoiding injuries against this rightly feared team. Siemon, Arnold and the others were pretty destructive, but we got away with only two SIs in the first match, and none in the second. Now the team is rebuilding, but the coach has an aggressive playing style so the question is, can we get by without too much injuries a third time?

There are more of our fans at this game, but the Pirates win the coin toss and starts with receiving. They have also added a babe and a wizard as inducements, while our squad is complete and everyone is fit for the fight... We hope! Aggresive appeals from the home crowd even before the match challenges the ref to allow fouls. A solid ogre in home crowd colours posted just behind the ref seems to be set on following up on the home crowd demands. Scavenger followers hold a quick conference and decides to post their cheerleader captain Kroxigor Grashnix just beside the ogre to emphasize that if Pirates are allowed to foul, then in fairness the Scavengers should be allowed as well... Funny enough, this makes the home crowd cheer even higher!

The kick is wide, and the ball ends up in the hands of Elizabeth Mulders. She proceeds to the centre, and watches as the pirates demolishes our LOS, sending Brewer off the pitch badly hurt and starting the foul-fest by stunning Claws. Our primary target is the Pirate rookie minotaur Kovalev. Team Captain Fraternizer brings him down, and Mobster kicks his guts, and... the referee whistles for foul! Grashnix picks him up and stuffs the whistle down his throat, and wisely, the ref reconsiders his decision before creeping off the field to go for a holiday. Perhaps a replacement ref will come later. We don't know...

The Pirates proceed lustily to demolish my team. Their ogre KO's Peeler and Claws is once more stunned by a foul, but Kovalev get a bit too eager against Breaker and both of them tumbles to the ground. Perfect for Mobster, who can get another boot in, and this time, the foul leaves Kovalev bleeding profusely on the ground. The strecher bearers has just dumped KO'd marauder Erasmus off at the Pirates dug-out after he met with Fraternizer's steel fists, and are now back to carry Kovalev off the field as well. Two players from each team out already, and barely a quarter of the first half is played... This can get pretty bad...

Usually aggressive Pirates then actually hunkers down to try to score. Elizabeth advances up the Pirates left side, protected by Xesediya and three marauders, leaving the troll, the ogre and the remaining two marauders to battle it out at the LOS. Scavengers bring Fraternizer and Idler up in front of the advancing Pirates, and the skink squad surrounds them, preventing an easy blitz to freedom. Pirates send Xesediya forward to try to tackle the lead skink, but he only succeeds in wrestling Mobster to the ground. Thus the skinks get back into position, while Idler puts on more pressure by sending Willibrord off KO'd while Fraternizer pushes Gustaaf to the outside of the protective screen around the ballcarrier. Pirates strikes back as Jacobus manages to stun Idler, but when their ogre tries to brutalise Wiggler, our nimble skink wrestles the brute to the ground. This frees up Claws and Protector to engage the struggling Pirates, and the intensity of the battle along the sideline increases. Fraternizer looks to end it by taking out Xesediya, but he easily resists (double skulls) and block Mobster. Finally, the chance for a blitz and go is there for the Pirates, but Jacobus is tripped by Warrior and thus fails in his blitz and is stunned instead. Elizabeth is almost open for attack now, but Scavengers plays it safely instead and Fraternizer and two skinks crowdsurfs Xesediya while Booster gets his first injury of the day by breaking Melchora's jaw. Claws manage to get close to Elizabeth by making a going-for-it. Only 6 pirates left on the field now, against 9 Scavengers, and they all seem to be between the remaining Pirates and the goal line... Their team leader Alblas fails to dodge Claws tail, and topples, getting the Pirates into even more trouble. With only a quarter of the half left, it is time to end the Pirates drive. Protector stuns Gustaaf, while Booster blitzes Elizabeth Mulders and brings her down. The ball is loose! Warrior picks it up and brings it safely in behind Claws lumbering bulk, while Booster and Idler builds a screen and Wiggler runs like crazy to put himself in a scoring position. Desperate Pirates can do nothing but hope and pray, and are possibly heard as Wiggler drops the hand-off from Warrior and the half ends with no score...

At half-time, the situation has probably improved... one casualty to each team, and both can field 11 players for the second half. But now we start with the ball... We get off with a quick snap, and advances on our right flank. Gustaaf is stunned and their LOS pushed aside for a while. They manage to get both Claws and Booster toppled though, but have to use four marauders to manage that. We have lots of time and concentrates on the Pirates that have penetrated our skink screen. Peeler send Kovalev off for the second time this match, badly hurt again, and this time, there is nothing more the apo can do. At the LOS, Fraternizer takes out Zaend at the same time, and suddenly Pirates are down 9 to 11. The pirates coach send in the wizard to hit the skink ballcarrier Water Winner and his two close guards, but the fireball is snuffed out almost before it hits, and only result in two singed guards. Undeterred, the Pirates tries to put pressure on the Scavenger offense, and pushes Claws away towards the LOS. With death-defying bravery Alblas tries to dodge through the gap between Booster and grounded Protector to get to the ball, but stumbles and falls. With more than half a half left, Scavengers still find that prudence is better than valor and pull their skinks back to try to advance on the other flank instead. With the ball safe, they continue with skill and luck to decimate the hapless Pirates, and Idler KO's rookie marauder Dagobert at the LOS while Peeler gets his second casualty of the day wen he almost rips the arm off Xesediya. 7 vs 11 now and Xesediya and Melchora, two of their three most experienced players, are both seriously injured. The match is almost over. If the Pirates are going to come back now, they would need to pull a truly miraculous trick up off the hat. They try, though, and manage to bring their ogre up to mark the ballcarrier, but Winner dodges away and scores the first TD of the game. With half of the second half left to play, the coach admits that this is a gamble, but expects to be able to stop the remaining 9 Pirates with 11 players, and perhaps being able to score another goal.

The teams go to their starting positions... and Scavengers blitzes!! They crash into the Pirates LOS and Mobster is placed in a position to receive the ball, but it bounces off. Playing on the utmost margin (1d blocks), gambling as they must if they are going to make an equalizer, plucky Pirates manages to push the Scavengers away from the loose ball, and Mulders can pick up the ball! And there is still time to score!! The skink squad stays cool, though. While their saurii teammates hold down the other Pirates, they surround Mulders, and Warrior blitzes her, and stuns her. The loose ball is lazily picked up by Wiggler, who sets off towards the goalline. A desperate Jacobus fails to blitz Wiggler, and Wiggler can dodge in the second TD of the game, while Fraternizer sends Douwe off badly hurt. The remaining time does not end in anything remarkable, and the game ends at 2-0 Scavengers, and with a 6-1 casualty score in favour of the Scavengers.

The Pirates just didn't have what they needed today, and was unlucky in most phases of the game as well, wheras player skills made the day for the Scavengers. We are on top of the division and can field a complete squad for the next game. On our one skill development, Peeler got stronger as well (+ST). However, next match will probably be against GoldLords, or possibly Lahmia, so it is too early to think about the Cup. We need at least 2 more points, probably three, to make it to the finals, and we are not there yet.







”