“The Championship...on the Frozen Tundra!

After a season full of aggressive Bloody Bowling, it was clear that the title game was being treated differently. Both the Felons and the Underground set out with caution in the opening rounds, clustering their players and refusing to allow easy gang-tackles and other injury-prone situations.

The Dwarves opened with the ball, setting up a full-squad box and establishing the line of scrimmage. Lizards retaliated by setting the 'edges' with brutish Sauri in typical NFL fashion, leaving the Kroxigor to play a central nose-tackle. Skinks scattered along the perimeter waiting for openings to attack.

A Lizard blocking error allowed the Dwarves an open alley on the left flank, and they quickly took advantage as Fire managed ballhandling and blocking duties simultaneously. Another blocking error allowed Fire to scamper downfield, 6 paces ahead of the competition.

But Fire's teammates failed to protect his backside, as a convoy of scampering Lizards caught him with relative ease, knocking him over and surrounding the ball. A series of bungles by either side would see the ball still on the turf as the halftime whistle sounded (although Underground threatened to score, with Fire slipping on the icy turf just yards from the goal line).

Having successfully defended their goal in the first half, the Felons set out to take full advantage of their collective speed and strength in the second. By using their oft-proven 'divide and separate' tactic (and GREATLY benefiting from the KO'd status of Thunder, the dwarves' guarding blitzer), the Lizards found a seam behind their 'right guard' Timmy the Tooth, and the Quiet Kid raced through with the ball.

Five turns later, having camped on the goal line with his Skink buddies surrounding him, the Quiet Kid would score the Title Game's first (and only) TD!


Lizard Keys to Success:
- Gibroni's blocking skill. On several occasions, this skink saved his own hide with his knowledge of blocking tactics. No doubt he'd have taken some serious damage during one of those 4 attacks that he withstood.
- Stronger smelling salts! Halftime saw one KO for either team; the dwarves couldn't rejuvenate their guard-blitzer, while Saur Scarzz was able to get back on the field.
- Rerolls; that third reroll saved our defense of the Dwarven breakaway, and preserved our scoring drive in the 2nd half. Without it, things go wrong very quickly.

Post-Game:
- Carl posted his league-leading 5th casualty.
- Angelo nearly killed a dwarf, who was resuscitated by medics. After the game, Angelo showed great improvements in his blocking technique.
- The Quiet Kid picked up some lessons from his fellow skinks, and should be able to dive after dodgers a little more effectively.
- Timmy the Tooth was named game MVP by the assistant coaches; he's on the verge of improving.

Timmy the Tooth has also been named game MVP by his coach, after playing a critical role in each big play we made during the game. He set the edge for our first blitz on the Dwarven ballcarrier (executed by Carl), then held three dwarves in the middle of the field, allowing two teammates to break after the ball when it seemed the Dwarves were clear to score.

In the second half, Timmy set the block that sprung our runner into the open field on turn 3. He followed that up on turn 4 by knocking a Longbeard out of the game, which gave us a clear numbers advantage in the middle of the field and gave Carl an unimpeded attack that knocked another Longbeard off the pitch just moments afterwards. He later assisted on a block that knocked a Slayer off the field.

Wooooooohoooooo! We're the Champs!
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