“The Crimson Pool is filled to the rafters with spectators today as the first match in the second half of the season is played against the recently relocated Marienburg Foxes. The Foxes were not doing too well in the first half of the season, due mainly to economic woes as the franchise in Kutenholz proved underfunded. The move to Marienburg has proved beneficial With stronger economic muscles and a New head Coach, and the Foxes arrived With a strong belief in being on the road to something great.

They played like it, too, especially in the first half, whereas our local heroes were in trouble from the first second of the match. We started with the ball, but Anders fumbled the ball on a very easy quick pass to Hattendorf, and suddenly the team was in serious trouble. Aggressive Foxes With their signature fox-tail helmets were all over the place, and lead by aggressive blitzers Guyton, Heldmann and Marshall they set out to demolish the Cascade line. First to go was Raoul, Our guard lineman, who was piled upon and almost killed by Dirk Heldmann. Then both starting receivers Tim and then Nicola both injured themselves on failed dodges before Brandon Marshall smashed down Anders Hoffman, the starting quarterback and sent him off with a serious back injury. Finally, Robert (Turbin, blitzer) was KO'd in a struggle for the ball, and the remaining six Cascade players knew they were in a load of trouble. Our heroes had only managed to get one Fox off the Field, when Dietmar broke 2nd round draft Trevor Guyton's arm. Only half of the half had passed, and it was a full-fledged scramble for the ball on the midfield. The underdogs fought desperately (chancy 1d Blocks) and somewhat successfully for a while, but then starting quarterback for the Foxes, Steve DeBerg, picked up the ball that had bounced out of the pocket, and made the pass to Steve Van Buren, who got the TD after being pressured by Friedrich Dunkelhelm. 1-0 Foxes, and the Cascade had only 12 players left on the bench vs 15 Foxes. And Our best lineman, Our starting quarterback and Our two starting receivers were all out for the match...

Not to be deterred by some bad luck and rough plays by the Foxes, the Cascade rallied and set up for a classic TJ run. The Foxes were not at all lined up to prevent it, but when rookie lineman Jeremiah Scheidel, who had been posted at the back left side, saw something coming in the air towards him, he did what he was supposed to do and went for it... only to be hit right between the eyes by a rock from the crowd. He was KO'd on the spot, and did not see the ball following just behind the rock... Thus, with the "cut-off" man out, back-up quarterback Inga Dedekind simply had too far to go, and even though she got to the ball, she couldn't make the long pass back to blitzer Robert Turbin. This gave the Foxes a long shot chance to increase their lead, but Markelle Martin blitzed and stunned Steve DeBerg and the others were not in a scoring position. Thus, the half ended With 1-0 Foxes, a nice defensive TD for the visitors.

The situation looked grim at the halftime break. Foxes were in the lead, started with the ball and had 15 players to the Cascades 11. Anders was back from the Medical facilities, still in uniform but stooping due to his back injury. "Listen, guys", he said. "I won't be out there with you in the second half, but I WILL be there in spirit, and I know you can still get these guys! Just smash'em up and there won't be anyone to stop you from running the ball to a TD!" After this little speech, everybody felt their blood soaring and got out there to raise Hell. Foxes started their drive the same way the Cascade had started their, by making a mistake and getting under pressure from the start. In their case, Van Buren fumbled the catch on the pass from DeBerg, and lead Cascade blitzer literally went through Foxes blitzer Brandon Marshall (kill) to put Van Buren under pressure, with blitzers Martin and Turbin following behind. The Foxes mangae to stabilise the situation for a while, as Dietmar was stunned and DeBerg caught the free ball, but then Heldmann failed his Dodge, and this opened a big hole in the Foxes defence. Friedrich toppled lineman Chandler Jones, and Erwin and Vick Ballard ran through the gap, setting up the blitz on DeBerg by Vick Ballard. DeBerg tried a dump-off, but failed and the bal bounced the wrong way for the anxious Foxes. Most of their team was now blindsided by the Cascade, and TJ had an easy pick-up... which he failed!!! (1 on the pick up after having used the RR on a double skull in the blitz vs DeBerg earlier in the turn). The Foxes lineman Wolfgang stunned TJ, and Steve Van Buren grabbed the loose ball and ran with it towards the Foxes right flank, while Steve DeBerg, eager to redeeem himself from the misjudged dump-off, ran downfield to act as receiver. Cascade was again in trouble, but by pushing rookie lineman Tenneckermann away, Rainer Kornfeld opened for another blitz on the Foxes ballcarrier. Cascade kicker Erwin Grompfel got the job, and barely manage to Dodge Wolfgang and without any ability to tackle Erwin went in skull first. In a classic literal head-to-head collision, both men went down, and while Erwin was a bit dazed, Van Buren was stunned and the ball was loose once again. Cascade was closest, and receiver Tillmann Hassel managed to pick the ball up, and hide behind a screen of Cascade blitzers, and with TJ just in front andable to run down the Field after an easy hand-off. Dogged Foxes managed to Block the line for TJ, though and almost surfed him, so Hassel was forced to og inside and hand off to Turbin... who failed his catch!! This gave the Foxes yet another chance to prevent the goal, but receiver Rainey failed the pick-up and was promptly KO'd by Turbin, and that was the end as TJ grabbed the loose ball and got into the end zone for the equalizer.

A complicated one-turn goal attempt by the Foxes failed, and the draw was a fact. With the horrible first half in mind, Cascade should be happy to have managed a draw, but the Foxes came through mostly because of the stone from the crowd at the end of the first half that prevented the TJ run... Both teams should be commended for their doggedness. They both seemed unable to accept a loss and fought on bravely whatever happened. Hoffman once again got the MVP for the Cascade, TJ scored his Fifth TD for the season and Dietmar doubled his cas score from two to four, and one of todays cas was ca clean kill of the 4th round draft blitzer Brandon Marshall. Cascade now has two players down for their important divisional away match against the Grizzlies next week, but still clings to the first spot in the division as the Vikings breathe down their neck with their Draw against the mighty Universe. If Cascade falls to second Place, Greenskins will take the available Wild card spot, so the next round will be quite exciting. All honours to a hard-fighting Foxes, and it's nice to have Marienburg back on the map with a franchise after the Marauders left the town...


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