“Fighting a tie off warrants a match report.
So here goes.

The Foxes opted to kick on this one and went with a minimal squad of quality players on the pitch.
I opted to overpower them with quality but it turned out to be a mistake. I was lacking pawns early on and didn't manage to get the necessary CAS in that I needed to dominate.
Instead of found myself with lower numbers quickly.
In knowledge of the difference in quality of both our teams I didn't make much of an effort to move forward.

The foxes routinely and calmly increased pressure as if they had read my playbook. I left my carrier open several times to be one d blocked by a skilless rookie but the foxes didn't take the bait.
I figured without a player on the pitch to pick it up afterwards, they wouldn't be able to do much.
Toward the end pressure got a little higher as Kutenholz Sidestepper constantly harassed us. Everything turned out well tho.
The final turn ended on a riot. I like to call that kick-off event the legend killer because it is a surefire way to beat even the best strategies the world best coaches can come up with.
Didn't work out for Mile tho and just ended with his st1 star catcher getting killed. No apo wasted on him.

Second half fell to one of my weaknesses. My inability to handle doubleskulls well.
I started the half early trying to reduce Chandler Jones an isolated Guard Jump Up Block Lineman who had approached scoring range. There was my Mighty Blow nearby and I was planning on getting a nice second Block there on him in case my Blitz fails.
In order to hit the right angle I had to field my Blitzer John Lynch a little more outerior than I would have favored and the worst happened that could have happened (short of a turnover): Both down tied my Blitzer on spot, Pro failed and I was denied the follow up block.
On the frontline onslaught 2 of my linemen had gotten injured and just like in first half I now didn't have a lot of fodder to provide cover. I really didn't want Milo to go after my Blitzer so I decided to open the field wide for his carrier and to focus on added support for the Blitzer.
I figured I could easily get back into the game in the next turn.

Things went relatively as predicted and I was cleaning up on the upper flank to make my way back to the middle. Situation looked under control. I had to involve the ogre in an action to really clear the path. My Block Ogre doubleskulled, I rerolled, loner failed and the Ogre broke his neck.
But just some impaired agility as a consequence. Was I going to apo? I wanted to but in the end decided against it.
It was a too marginal stat loss on an Ogre. Although I really love that Ogre. But now I have to think about replacing him after all again.

Anyways, now I saw my opponent down pitch, me outnumbered, out of range and him able to set himself up properly and to wall in.

He overcomitted a little on rushing towards me and had his players all over the place.

I managed to get some blocks him and cut some corners to get some pressure on him. Unfortunatly I had to expose Mike Evans to a Tackler as a side effect. But otherwise in spite of the numbers things didn't seem hopeless.
I was relatively sure he would score but he managed to hold it off for a turn. Then his carrier was completely exposed but he just opted not to do it.

Ok so one of my players had to do a dodge, blitzed and voila a Pow.
Ball ended up in the endzone and just about in sprinting range of Mike Evans, who was on the ground locked in by the Tackler.

I opted to add up more security first to cover the ball and then added Mike Evans to pick up the ball in my own endzone.

I felt relatively secure now but in an unparalleled onslaught I got completely locked up where I stood. And there was simply not enough space for my 3 players to prevent Mike even just from getting crowded.

A brilliantly executed final move and one that will probably give me some headaches for some time in regards what better moves I could have made in those final two turns.
In the end he managed to complete his half in turn 8. I only have 7 players left to one turn score and the game ended in a tie.




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