Wednesday 1 August 2012

Match Report - SSC Division 2 Match 7

Angband Wolves (Orc, me) vs Zombie Economics (Undead)

The orcs lined up for their last match of the season, knowing that a 2 TD victory, combined with results elsewhere, could see them winning the division.

Meanwhile the Economists, led by star mummy Jean-Claude Trichet, knew that a win would be sufficient for them to win the league.

The Wolves came in at a significant disadvantage in strength for the match, and were granted £200,000 of petty cash as an incentive to play. This was spent on a bribe for the ref and some extra training.

The undead received the ball from the kick off, and immediately made an impression with Trichet belting an orc lineman off the pitch. Despite a failed pickup, the Economists consolidated their position just inside the orc half, with Trichet and his fellow mummy Angela Merkel knocking out another two orcs. The undead, with their numerical advantage, rolled the cage from side to side, pulling the orcs out of position but unwilling to commit to a touchdown run. Eventually, with time running out, they ran the ball in on turn 7. 0-1 to Zombie Economics on turn 7

With a short time until the half time interval, the orcs decided to go for the equalising score. Black orcs and blitzers blasted a gap in the undead line, and two of their blitzers ran into space near the Economist's end zone. Meanwhile their thrower Lurgash, who has replaced Gothmog as the main quarterback in recent weeks due to his more accurate passing, held the ball deep.

The undead swarmed back to the Wolves' blitzers and marked them heavily but were unable to knock either of them over. At this stage the orcs decided to sod the touchdown and to dish out some pain. The flurry of orc blocks, followed by a gang foul, resulted in three undead being carried off (two casualties and one KO), with only one of these regenerating for the second half. 0-1 to Zombie Economics at half time

The second half began with Lurgash recovering the ball in their right hand wide zone, and the orcs pushing forwards on the right and in the centre. The undead responded by decisively knocking back the orc moves on the right, but at the cost of leaving gaps elsewhere. Lurgash saw the opening and dashed forwards to hand the ball off to an orc blitzer, who in turn hared away for the line with another orc blitzer on his shoulder for support.

Only one undead player was anywhere near the orc ball carrier, but fortunately it was a ghoul with tackle and wrestle skills, and the resulting one-on-one block lead to the ball bouncing into the crowd, who then threw the ball back into the centre of the undead half.

With no player withing three squares of the ball, the orcs made a gap in the covering players for Lurgash to run forward, pick up the ball and throw it laterally across the field to the remaining orc blitzer. This blitzer bulldozed the ghoul out of the way to run the ball in for the touchdown. 1-1 on turn 11

With injuries mounting up for the undead, it was the turn of the orcs to have a man advantage at the restart. Trichet splattered another orc to level things up, but star blocker Bolg backhanded the undead's key zombie (who has the guard skill) off the pitch and the rest of the orcs charged into the undead line, inviting the hits and trusting to their armour to protect them. With most of the undead team tied up by markers, it was down to the three remaining ghouls to try to save the match.

The three ghouls made a break for the orc end zone with the ball, but Bolg and Ugluk (hero of the first few games of the season and helpfully knowing how to tackle) brought down the ball carrier and caged up around the ball near the sideline about halfway into the orc half. Time was running out for both teams, and the orcs ran a blitzer clear into the undead backfield to offer a receiving threat on the final turn.

It came down to a single unskilled ghoul, who picked up the ball and weaved through the mass of bodies in a headlong dash for the line. Although he couldn't quite get to the end zone, he was far enough away from the sole remaing orc thrower Gothmog to ensure that the orcs could no longer win the game. Only Ugluk could get back to make the hit and knock him over, which he duly achieved, but the ball bounced away from Ugluk and towards the orc end zone. The wrackling ghoul took down Ugluk in a one dice block, leaving his rookie colleague to stand up, pick up the ball and run it in. 1-2 to Zombie Economics on turn 16 and at full time

Zombie Economics win SSC Division 2!

Angband Wolves must content themselves with third...

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