“Ulthuan Invitational Qualifier round 1.

I should have won this match. Really should. I had the advantage but didn't follow through. Sigh. Before the match I thought it likely that I'd lose, but when it went into OT things were looking good. So I raised my expectations and now I'm DISAPPOINTED! Ah well.

Sonnenschein received first, and Asmadi did not have any luck breaking through towards their ball carrier, who stayed deep until it was safe for him to move forward. We tried to hurt as many elves as possible while they were elf-stalling, but there were enough left to cover the ball-carrier at all times, so... The Elves scored in T8, leaving Asmadi an OTS attempt that failed. 0-1 at half-time.

Our own offense faced a perfect defense that forced us a bit out of position, but we secured the ball and caged it, moving slowly upfield while trying to hurt the elves. Our ball-carrier was never threatened, but the Elves played good defense, staying in the way. This forced a couple of dodges in T7 to put the ball-carrier in range to score, but that worked fine and the score was 1-1 at full time. Nothing spectacular so far, just solid play from both coaches.

For OT, both teams were still at 11 players, with Asmadi at 4 RR and Sonnenschein at 2 (and missing some of their best players). Asmadi clearly had the advantage, and also got to receive. But it started with a blitz!!! that placed the Elves in possession of the ball. Asmadi could easily get it back and cage up however. But somewhere around here things started to go wrong. The Elves played a superb blocking game, not getting knocked down much even while allowing a lot of contact. So our cage got stuck on the LOS, turn after turn going by without any chance of a breakthrough. Again, our carrier was never threatened, but come T7, we had to rely on dodges to put us in scoring range once more. And don't you know it, the carrier fell down and handed the match to the Elves. Dagnabbit.

GG groin, well played, I'm truly sorry that I hurt your team so much, I really want you to beat Tuamadre in the next round. You should have let me win, for the good of all FUMBBL. :-)”