“Final game of the season for both teams and the winner would be crowned the Conference North champions. With some powerful dwarves facing Houston, they had to make sure and brought a wizard along to help out. It is good that they did, for the dice were unkind and we missed several scoring chances early.

Houston received to start the game and the fans chipped in by gagging the ref. A well placed boot would have killed a longbeard on turn 1 if not for the quick work of the apothecary. However, the block dice were against Houston and rats were flying off the pitch, so a quick score was called for and Blinky took it in on T3 for the 1-0 lead.

The Dwarves had the ball now and caged up...the fireball was unleashed and the ball was free (in 1 tacklezone)...Blinky darted forward...2+ for him to pick it up...then a single dodge needed for the TD...instead...Snakes! on the pickup and the Dwarves recovered the ball. Blinky then went to redeem himself, leaping after the fleeing dwarf blitzer, a -2d block against (looking for push for strip ball) ended up in double pow (even better!), and Blinky stole the ball and dodged away. The dwarves could not get to him and he dodged away from a feeble mark and tossed a pass to Paul for the 2-0 lead. Although the dwarves got the ball back, they failed to two turn score it and it remained 2-0 going into the second half.

KO rolls were rough for Houston and they were short handed now in the second half - especially with 3 players removed on the first drive of the second half. However, the ref was on their side. Another boot to start the second half was another RIP. A 1d blitz by a dwarf against Erik (claw rat) was a SKULL (no RR left that turn) and seriously injuried the dwarf. The dwarves scored, as Houston continued to foul - one dirty player was ejected by the ref for each side now.

With it still early in the second half, Houston had the ball up 2-1. The fans again got the ref and Houston set to work to continue to knock down and out the dwarves. A play developed quickly and although a voice urged caution, Blinky instead raced forward and tossed a 2+ pass to Willow...however, Blinky fumbled the pass (used RR) and then Willow fumbled the 2+ catch. However, the ball was all alone near the endzone...one longbeard got close but that was all. Blinky was knocked down, but not stunned. Blinky dodged away from the non-tackle marks and grabbed the ball (fumbled pickup again), and made the last dodge for the TD and the secure 3-1 lead.

Only three turns remained and the dwarves had clearly given up...Houston continued to target the MB dwarves and foul them out of the way as they went after the ball ruthlessly...the dwarves just retreated, however, gave up a 2d blitz and the ball was free...Blinky snatched it again and tossed a perfect pass this time to Willow for the T16 score.

Overall, we missed a lot of opportunities, but were saved by kickoff rolls...our higher FF got us the ref for about 12 turns of the game and picked up 3 RRs as well. They were needed (as seen by the luck meter)...but with the CAS from the fouls, we removed enough dwarves that they could not stay with the faster rats.

Thanks for the game!”