“I was a bit worried when my first blackbox attempt paired my khemri against ogres. With 2 guards the ogres were on paper the better bashers and when khemri loses the bashing game it sure isn't much else that is impressive about them.

The Grinder was buzzing with energy over the debut match and the entire No Escape team had trained hard and were well prepared.

The first half started with the khemri on offense and the mummies tore into the ogre defensive lines. Early on Dalman the goblin got his arm snapped off, but the Smoki'n Hot apothecary managed to patch him up, a move that would prove costly but effective since the sidestepping gobbo would be a real nuisance throughout the match.

For No Escape Melenoch turned out to be the ball carrier for the offensive drive, but unfortunately he injured himself badly when attempting to sprint which knocked the ball loose. A skirmish erupted around it, where Yrzha stood for an amazing maneuver when he ran up, snatched the ball from the ogre defending it and dodged away. An impressive move from a skeleton, but sadly it only took seconds before goblin pursuers managed to push him off the pitch and end the hope of a first half TD.

No Escape had been lucky with the bashing though and for the second half they fielded 9 players against a meagre 6 for the opponents. To make matters worse for zhraia I also got a blitz on the kickoff and managed to tie up 2 of the 3 LOS ogres. Unfortunately the blitz move ended with a bad kick and in my ambition to grind the ogres down I set up a bad defense. Franz, the remaining unguarded ogre which took the ball, managed to blitz his way through the skeletons and run for the TD line. His offensive run was halted just in front of the end zone line when he was ganged upon by skeletons, but a double failed GFI from Tuleman opened up for Dalman to sneak through and run in a TD.

Smoki'n Hot now got several KO'd players back and No Escape had 8 vs 7 players for their last quarter offensive drive. Heroic goblins did what they could to tie up the ball carrier, but No Escape grinded down their defenses and in the very last turn Urtekk could walk in a TD to tie the match.

Besides not winning this match was more than I had hoped for. Decent winnings, no injuries despite having so many AV 7 players against ogres and a virtual SPP paradize which let me skill up 2 of my khemri was a nice treat.

Thanks for the match, zhraia. It was a fun match. I hope you somehow manage to save that team of yours.”