Bay12 Breakers 2 - 2 Monk's Marauders
ank's piles and piles of Inducements get him maximum bribes and a smattering of potions, one of which elevates Girlinhat to a truly beastly ST5. Humans receive, and on the first turn badly hurt a dorf, opening a route for the Catcher to run deep. Dorfs first turn features a runner blitzing at the Catcher, failing the GFI, succeeding on the RR and immediately throwing double skulls. A quick pass and a handoff later sees the humans granted a 1-0 lead by Nuffle.
ank's Deathroller stays on the field thanks to his bribes, and goes on to do what Deathrollers do best. Armor cracks as dorfs grind down the field, sending half a dozen humans to the KO box and inflicting 3 casualties on various meatshields linemen- one MNG, nothing exciting. Dagg gets badly hurt, but the coach gambles with the apothecary and heals him so he can play in the second half. Since most of the humans are either in the dirt or on the sidelines, the dorf Runner doesn't even slow down on his way to the endzone to tie the game 1-1.
The humans line up for another quick score, but the kickoff lands just behind the line of scrimmage and bounces next to a dorf, necessitating a slight change in strategy. A path is opened for rookie Catcher Omo Thunderjaw to run downfield, after which humans swarm the ball. A bit of violence ensues, followed by a blitzer shoving a dorf onto the ball, which bounces around a bit before the AG 5 Thrower snags it. In the waning moments of the half, he gets clear of the pile, throws a perfect pass despite the blinding sun, and watches in frustration as the Catcher flubs the reception. The dorfs knock down some dudes, but don't have anyone in scoring position.
The Deathroller is sent off at the start of the second half, but the humans only have 9 players on the field- unfortunately, they get a Thrower and Catcher back from the KO box instead of the useful Blitzers napping there. Even with Dagg Silent tying up Girlinhat and an assistant blocker, the lightweight human line is outnumbered by the dorfs, and they grind their way downfield once more. Turn 14 the dorf Runner is in position to score- a last ditch effort sees the Ball Removal specialist throw a blitz against him with an assist, but he throws a skull with the RR spent earlier in the play, and the Runner moves in for a 2-1 score.
Undermanned, with the end of match imminent, in suddenly blizzardy conditions, the humans line up for one last offense. Since the Catchers are unconscious, the AG 4 Blitzer is called on to run a deep route while the rest of the humans try to knock down and tie up as many dorfs as possible, the AG 5 Thrower running forward with the ball. Ultimately ank decided he had a better shot to knock down the block-less Thrower than he did to keep the Catcher from dodging, but for the first time in many many blocks he failed to knock down his target. Eomund Tonkai easily slipped away with his great agility, threw a perfect pass to the Blitzer who effortlessly caught it and ran in for the tying score, 2-2
So yeah, I got super lucky for both of my TDs, and I'm kinda surprised ank didn't stall a turn or two on his go-ahead drive. I'm not complaining, since I'm still on the outside looking in as far as playoffs go. Girlinhat caught MVP for the dorfs for beating an Ogre around the pitch all game, and Seneschal Sigric caught MVP for the humans for his end of game heroics in the receiving game. A pair of my blitzers leveled up to boot, so good game for me all around! It would have been a very very different match if that Deathroller had made it one more drive- one of the bribes didn't work, thank-all-that-is-merciful. I'm certainly glad my road to the playoffs makes no more stops with ank's dorfs!