“Final match of the series, and we are already conference winners. Thus, we are not looking forward to this match, and has nothing to gain, except glory. This will be hard won against the hard-hitting Pirates, whose record for violence is exceptional in the league and who are playing for a place in the play-offs. We are also outmatched by their skills and experience, and in particular, the scurvy dogs field two extremely good players, their running back goatface Tomas Bot, and their killer Siemon. To top it all up, Claws are not playing this game... How can we win? The coach is crystal clear. We need to take Tomas and Siemon out of the game, and then play disciplined as always. To help us, the coaches have hired the services of Mr. Wulf, and to be able to stay on the field, we employ a babe and an extra apothecary.

For those who knows about the Scavengers, it comes as no surprise that we lost both the toin coss, and that there are more Pirates-fans than Scavenger-fas in the audience... Anyway, Bomber takes Claws Place in the LOS, flanked by Protector and Lightning, and Mr. Wulff hides behind Idler and we are ready to go. The ball is kicked deep, were only Tomas Bot and the Dark elf Renegade Quesedia can reach it. The Pirates offensive line demolishes the Scavenger LOS, and Bomber is nearly killed by Siemon and Idler seriously injured by their ogre Arnold, and one third of our Saurii are out after less than two minutes of the game. Our reserve apothecary has to be sent on the field to look at Bomber, and claims that he will actually manage, but likely not father any more Saurii... In the backfield, Tomas Bot fails to Catch the swing pass from Quesediya, and the ball is loose.

Trying desperately to repair the damage, Booster blitzes rookie Elizabeth Mulders and bowls her over, and everybody gangs up on Arnold, while Mr. Wulf fires up his chainsaw and jumps on top of the prone Siemon, only to be lifted away from him by the Ogre ref, and sent to the banned zone... Another 110.000 gold out of the window... at least he managed to stun Siemon first... Quesediya grabs the loose ball, but this time he manages the pass, and Tomas gives th ball back to him for some practice... In the meantime, the Pirates line pushes the remaining scavengers around, but cannot manage to get in some good hits. This allows the scavengers to try some blocking, but the best they can do is to stun Veteran marauder Sander Theysen to set Protector free. Siemon manages to KO Wiggler with another of his famous Piling On attacks, while Tomas Bot and Quesediya advances to the midfield, still passing that ball back and forth between them. Protector is now free, and attempts to split the two ballcarrying Pirates, but manages only to push them around a bit. Swimmer gets up to speed and torpedoes into the prone Siemon, and proves that skink claws works better than a chainsaw. His claws sever the neck artery, and a dying Siemon can praise whatever gods he knows that the Pirates apothecary was eager and alert, and by direct action (running onto the field with two brawny Ogres to carry Siemon to the treating room) he saves Siemon's life. Shocked by this near-death to hteir star, Siemon's teammates try to reestablish some order on the (Battle)Field. They really have the numbers now, with 10 players to 7 scavengers, but their shock means they aren't hitting as hard. Gustaaf, Theysen and Melchora surrounds Lightning, while the oters try to protect the ball, but Protector is still adjacent to the ballcarrier (although prone), and Warrior and Booster stays in there as well, and half the time for this half has already passed.

Fraternizer pushes Ratkind away, and Booster blitzes Diego, and stuns him, and is now adjacent to Bot. So is Protector, but when Winner tries to Dodge away from the troll to join his teammates, Sylvester just about manages to grab his leg and dump him on the ground, stunning him in the process. THat does it for the Pirates, and with support from Gustaaf and Diego, Tomas Bot manages to blitz Booster away and dodges up into the scavengers left backfield. He is duly covered by Mulders, Theysen and Quesediya, and the chances of stopping Mr. Bot seems bleak. The fact that Swimmer fails to Dodge the troll and knock himself out in the process doesn't help at all. The Pirates are almost in total Control of th Field now, With 10 players to the scavengers 6, and can easily cover the Field. Tomas leaves the ball to Quesediya, for him to get the score. Scavengers try a final effort, and Winner latches onto Quesediya, while Fraternizer stomps on the prone skaven renegade Ratkind, and breaks his jaw, sending him off the field. Now Fraternizer, Booster and Warrior are all on the right side of the Pirates, and Winner manages to hang onto Bot to avoid falling over. Is there hope? The valiant reptiles are given a second chance when Queseidya chooses to stall the game and Sylvester stuns himself (and Warrior) by headbutting Warrior. Team captain Fraternizer blitzes Diego away and runs back to mark Tomas Bot, while Winner Dances away fromBot to mark Quesediya. All hope is definitely not lost, even though Winner does not have diving tackle, and Quesediya is likely to be able to just Dodge away from him. Quesediya instead chooses to blitz Winner away, and can run in the first TD of the game With only a little more than a minute remaining on the clock. Only enough for a kick-off, but the Scavengers have only 7 players remaining, while the Pirates have 10 and can bring in one of their two reserves, rookie marauder Corine. The half comes way too fast, however, and the Scavengers don't even have time enough to pick up the ball before the ref blows the whistle for the half.

The situation at half time seems grim. Swimmer is back, but we are still only 8 players against 11, and we haven't managed to get Siemon nor Bot out of the game. At least we are starting With the ball. Let's see if we can score against the Pirates...

Only 3 pirates are in the LOS, and we pushes them all over, and Swimmer sharpens his claws and fouls another Pirate, the rookie marauder Corine. He doesn't hit as well as against Siemon, but the furiously bleeding Corine is out of this game, at least. Luckily, the ogre ref seems to be of the opinion that claws, unlike chainsaws, are fair game :) The pirates haveies, Arnold, Sylvester and Bot, builds a line of defense at the midfield, with the marauders flanking them while Mechora tries a sneky blitz on the scavenger ballcarrier, but rookie skink Breaker dodges to the side and holds on to the ball. Team captain Fraternizer spots a weakness in the Pirate defensive positioning, and blitzes Diego, and bowls him over. That allows Breaker to hand the ball over to WArrior, who can slip into the tiny hole between Arnold and Quesediya, and Warrior gives full gas and sprints all the way Down to the Pirates left backfield, while Swimmer and Winner runs interference. Pirates are not ingeneral good at dodging, but they hope for Siemon to make way for them. Siemon cannot get the sidestepping Swimmer out of position, however, and only Quesedia has a chance to reach Warrior. This requires extraordinary effort, however, and he stumbles and falls just as he was about to reach Warrior. THus saved, Warrior can easily run in the scavenger TD. Unfortunately, there is still more than enough time for the Pirates to score the gamewinner.

The scavengers make a short kick, hoping for their blitz, but can't come through, and the Pirates pushed the scavenger LOS away. However, when trying to pick up the ball, Quesedia fumbles and the ball is loose, With only one Pirate covering it. This could be our chance! Fraternizer blitzes Sylvester out of the way, and Dances past the prone Siemon to cover the ball, but Warrior fails and stumbles when he goes for it. This allows Siemon to blitz Fraternizer and knock him out With his Piling-on and the Pirates are in control of the game. Quesediya pick up the ball this time (though barely), but the Pirates coach tears at his failing hairline as Quesediya refuses to pass the ball to Bot. However, the Scavengers are not positioned to capitalize on the error, and even though Protector knocks Bartholomeus out of the game, it is too little too late. The Pirates can avance slowly but surely, and manages to send Warrior out of the game, but stalls a bit too long to give the Scavengers a final chance to regroup. Both booster and Protector manages to get close to Bot and Xesediya, while Winner and Breaker screens the goalline. Swimmer also gets a Third chance to foul Siemon, but this time the ref has had enough, and SWimmer is banned from the game for unsportsskinklike conduct. Only 5 scavengers now, versus 10 pirates, but amazingly we have local superiority around the ballcarrier. However, the Pirates rushes towards their beleaguered teammates to rectify that, and Siemon piles onto Booser, while Bartholomeus knocks Winner out, and Zesediya can easily run in the final TD as the ogre ref blows the whistle.

Well played by the team, but the Pirates are too violent for us. We are, however, Conference champions, and will thus govern the draw for next season's Bretonnia Conference. We will also get a bye in the first round of the play-offs. Not bad...








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