“Antipodal Regional Shield 8/07 - round 2
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The Groggers had a horrible draw in the Antipodal Shield, going up against a dwarf team and then facing another team of dwarves in round 2. They had the fortune of having 2 DP's though and that scared the first round opponents into forfeiting their match.

In the 2nd round the Fool's Gold Miners waited though and with 14 players in their roster they were prepared to face some casualties. The Groggers had invested in a wizard though. A definate must when facing the cage specialists.

The preparations started in a good manner for the Groggers. The Miners reported that one of their players had reported sick from a virus and the norsemen won the kickoff which enabled them to start the offensive with a full squad.

A blitz opened up for a quick 2 turn TD attempt, but sadly the Groggers weren't very skilled at handling the ball this day. A regular pass that would have put the ball within reach for a quick TD was failed despite it being the team thrower Orin throwing to one of the catchers. The bad catch gave the ball into the hands of the dwarves, but a somewhat heroic blitz against a stronger opponent knocked it loose again. Another good attempt was found to score an early TD, but when one of the supporting norsemen ran up they slipped in the grass (despite reroll).

While the struggle close to the dwarven end zone line went on the big skirmish was at the LOS. Bo Sun was the first player to be carried off the pitch, badly hurt by the stout opponents. The Groggers fought back by any means though and disposed of one of the guardsmen through fouling. Snorre Svartskegge, the notoriously evil viking, landed a vicious kick in Thorin Silverbeck's private parts. The dwarf will miss his next match and likely the chance to ever have children.

The dwarves had now gotten control of the ball again and made their way across the pitch. Maldur Mjoedmumse suffered a heavy blow and was carried off the pitch together with one of the blitzers and a Haldar the catcher. The Miner's could run in a TD in turn 7 and in the following turn Snorre got himself ejected from the game after another gang foul.

The Grogger's had suffered some casualties and Haldar was still unconcious, but their coach had made sure to bring a lot of reserves so they could muster a full squad in the 2nd half. So could the Miner's, but that was less surprising.

In the 2nd half the Groggers found themselves in the unattractive position of having to defend while having to score to tie the match up. The LOS battle started good though. A brave blitz from the troll slayer Fili Quartz put him behind the Groggers lines and he could be tackled down for yet another gang foul. With Snorre ejected the honor came to the second dp, Orust Grottnorsk. The foul smelling and fouling viking made the crowd gasp in horror and delight when he pushed his thumb into Quartz's right eye, squishing the eye ball and effectively removing the opponent from the match. The ref obviously noticed the savage attack and ejected Grottnorsk from the match, but at this point the two dp's had taken out a guard and a troll slayer...a fair trade!

Now followed a period with heavy bashing which decimated both teams.
Myterimannen was injured early, but the hard hitting team captain Gunder O'Grogg knocked out the second troll slayer shortly after. Shortly after the blitzer Swen Plunder was punched out, but so followed the unaturally strong runner Holin Gismisson.

While the dwarves focused their energy on the LOS struggle the Groggers set up a two front attack on the ball carrier Loddarin Matsson. The blitz was succesful and the ball scattered into the hands of one of the vikings. A skirmish quickly broke out over control of the ball and yet again the norsemen showed lacking ball handling skills when they failed to catch a simple pass.

At this point the match went from being an even struggle to having the dwarves dominate completly. Through a reckless blitz which left the minotaur Big Feisty knocked out the Groggers broke their own spirit. In the following turns the vikings were battered and knocked out to the left and right and the dwarves could run for a second TD.

The few remaining Groggers did all they could to stop them, including sending a lightning bolt to down the ball carrier, but in the last seconds of the match the dwarven ball runner blitzed himself free of his opponents and sprinted in a TD. Or so it seemed. The exhausted dwarf slipped in the grass just inches away from the end zone line and managed a death defying fall face first into the ground. It was only though the means of the apothecary that the incident didn't end with a fatality. During this dramatic incident the remaining time ran out and the match ended 1-0 for the Miners.
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Thanks for the match, Van Gorin! I very rarely enjoy playing dwarves but this was a fun and exciting match. As you said my wizard prevented caging and forced a more open match. It could have gone either way and after having a quite unlucky start I think the match evened out in the 2nd half.
The stupid blitz with the minotaur was the really defining moment of the match. You would probably have won anyway, but what the hell was I thinking, hehe...
Good luck in the tournament!

I was glad to skill-up despite only earning 5 SPP's, but sadly I rolled snake eyes on the veteran skill roll and niggled my team captain :(”