“Down 270 in TV, Coach Curro chose a Wizard and an extra RR, showing he meant to win and not just survive, and he might have come closer to doing that if he hadn't been dice-bit with the ball unprotected - twice.

The Expats received to start the game, and after a Perfect Defense rolled two Pushes and then three 1's for a Bone Head for the Krox, a Foul Appearance to fail the only other LoS block, and a dropped pickup, but with the ball fairly well screened on the 9, but their MB Saurus tied up by the Beast of Nurgle. By next turn they had BH'd one Warrior (who regen'd) and switched sides of the field with a tight cage - too tight, as they had forgotten the Wizard, who unleashed a very weak fireball on 6 targets that only stunned one Saurus and dropped another, leaving a pair of Sauri and Skinks smoking but standing, but now vulnerable, and a few GFI's (and a RR) later, a 3d blitz put the skink and the ball on the ground.

Turn 3 the Expats chain-pushed to clear the two markers and recover the ball, but some MIT 1d Blocks opened the door for another GFI blitz (and another RR), and again the ball popped loose with a (non-blocker) Both-Down, but landed in the hands of a rookie Saurus to end that turn, who could only fall back to the 6 to stay safe Turn 4 (if also end up marked) as more Foul Appearance plagued any blocking plans. He blitzed free, but another BoneHead Krox left only skinks to dodge and form the cage, which inspired the MB Saurus to finally 1d the Beast and stun it, freeing himself to leave next turn and a skink to join the effort right then.

With only 3 Turns left in the half, the ball in the hands of an unskilled Saurus on their own 9, but (finally) a full team in play (MIT was unable to take out even a skink until Turn 10, and then the only casualty), the Expats woke up, starting blocking, and (RR'ing one Foul Appearance to free the ballcarrier), left the slower team behind without further challenge.

Turn 8 Kickoff, a Thrown Rock KO'd MIT's Beast, who would not show up for the 2nd half drive.

Only 9 MIT's lined up to try to tie the game. A sell-out, strong-left offensive push meant that a very short center kick left no room for errour, and a snaked GFI left the field wide open for the majority of the Lizards to flood to the dropped ball, and despite MIT recovering the ball for a moment, without their Beast the Expats controlled the field enough to - eventually - on the 5th try - get the ball to the same rookie Saurus for a score (and a skill!) by the end of Turn 5.

Turn 6 started with a more conservative LoS by MIT, but they again left the ball completely un-protected, and again they tempted fate, taking a 1d Block that required their RR, and then dropping the pickup, the ball bouncing to just within range of two skinks. By Turn 8, only an Expat coaching errour (failing to complete the screen) and the last MIT RR prevented the easy 3-0 score.

No perms, which is a good thing for both teams. If the Beast hadn't been KO'd and stayed that way, if the wizard hadn't been so weak, if MIT had taken out more skinks - if MIT hadn't been burned taking chances with an unprotected ball - might have been different.












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