“Quarterfinal against the Pirates. Ugh... At least this time we have no inducements to buy... hopefully that mean my team is on a more equal footing with the Pirates than in our last match. Everyone is ready in my camp, and the Pirates still have the same dangerous players; Thomas Bot and Siemon and of course Arnold and Sylvester, if they can get their act together. As last time, the trick to win is to prevent Siemon from causing casualties, and to stop Bot. I cannot expect to be as Lucky as last time, though, when I took out Bot With an SI early in the game.

We do hold the fan advantage, despite playing away, but the Pirates coose to start with the ball. We start in our usual defensive formation, With Claws, Lightning and Brewer at the LOS, paired sauruses on each side and the skink Squad in the backfield. Warrior is kept off field to be ready for a OTS if it becomes relevant. Pirates start with only Bot in the backfield, and the rest of the bunch eager to smash us up. They even have three reserves...

We kick short and use the playbook so laboriously acquired from the Pirates defensive cordinator Coach in exchange for some old recordings of the Nufflebowl to great advantage, and manages to reshuffle our defence, putting pressure on the area around the ball. Arnold, of course, doesn't understand what is going on, and this forces almost every Pirate within range to get in in an effort to push our line of sauruses back, while Bot picks up the ball. We struggle for a while, and cannot seem to get a grip on the situation. The Pirates are more interested in hitting us than moving the ball, though, and slowly we manage to penetrate their line with Lightnings sidestepping and with Swimmer getting around the flank. And then the Pirates gives us a break, as an optimistic Siemon is taking on Blue Brewer single-handed, only to be owerpowered and promptly knocked off the field. This allows us to push most of the Pirates line towards Our right, and to surround Bot and Ratkind with two sauruses and two skinks. They mange to stave us off for a while, but then Hollow Claws uses break tackle and skirts around the Pirate flank to lock down Xesedia and Holster, and suddenly Lightning manages to topple Bot, and the ball is free. Winner dodges away from Arnold, grabs the ball and goes for the goal line. Their only tackler, Xesedia, is on Place, though, and blitzes Winner, KO's him and grabs the ball. The skink Squad brings Xesedia crashing Down, but Bot picks up the ball, and runs all the way to the goalline. We manage to send Alblas off badly hurt, but looses Swimmer to Xesedia.

Hardly anyone comes back for the final one-turn score attempt, but we secure the ball easily and puts Warrior in the scoring position, but he fails to Catch the handover, and that ends the half. 1-0 to the Pirates.

Second half starts With Pirates getting Siemon back, while both Winner and Swimmer stays in the KO Box. That means 10 vs 11, and we lack our +AG skink. We should be able to score, and then it comes down to overtime...

We go for the left flank, and pushes forward with Warrior as the ballcarrier. Siemon stuns our captain using Piling On, but that means he is on the ground and breaker can foul him. This also means Warrior is in a scoring position. Pirates need to stop that, but Bot snakes a Going-for-it, and Warrior can stall just by the goalline, guarded by Wiggle and Breaker, while we try to create some more damage. Bart Quist is KO'd by Booster and Erasmus Badly Hurt by Protector, and then Warrior shifts to the right side, and stalls some more. We are now 10 vs 9, and should be able to make them hurt, but Arnold blitzes the screen away, and Zesedia almost gets back onto Warrior, but a second snaked GFI means Warrior is still free. Still half of the half left, though, and we need to stall some more. Warrior changes side again, the screen is back, and Lightning sends Siemon off KOd. Melchora tries to dodge around the screen, but fails. We consolidate a bit around Warrior, but more and more desperate Pirates find ways of getting at us, and Xesedia blitzes and stuns Wiggler. We crowdsurfs Bot and KO's Ratkind, but find that it is time to score. They shouldn't be able to make a two-turn score...

1-1 now, but Swimmer and Wiggler are still KO'd (failed three rolls each...), so we can muster 10 players. Pirates are down to 10 as well, with Erasmus and Alblas badly hurt and superstar marauder Siemon and rookie marauder Bart Quist KO'd. Things are looking better...

We get a blitz, but can't get to the landing site. Pirates sends Holster and Dagobert through to try for the score while Bot secures the ball, and Arnold KO's Lightning, but then Ratkind KO's himself by a failed Dodge. We use the chance to let Breaker and Wiggler mark down the potential scorers, while the Team Captain takes the responsibility and blitzes Bot. He goes down and the ball is free. We don't have time to score, though, so we choose to let Warrior guard the ball instead of trying to pick it up. Xesedia blitzes Warrior, though, and wrestles him to the ground, so Bot can pick up the ball and try the pass. It's a fumble, though and that ends normal time.

We win the coin toss and play 10 against 10, but Siemon is back... We attack on the left flank, cause Siemon is on the right... Siemon sends Booster off badly hurt, but they are outnumbered on the flank, and it gets worse when Holster suicides on a failed dodge and get killed. Only three Pirates are at the flank, With Xesedia as the safety. We try to pack sauruses around them, and moves Warrior into a scoring position covered by Breaker and Wiggler, but the Pirates manage to get Xesedia in position. Instead, we blitzes Siemon and sends him off Badly Hurt, but the apothecary fixes it. By pushing Arnold away, though, we open an alternative route for Warrior. He will need to dodge around Dagobert though, but that is easy, and Warrior scores the winning touchdown!

Pirates are a tough team, and can deal a lot of damage, but is a bit too fixated on dealing damage. Thus, if you can avoid too hard losses, they can be beat, the way I did this time. It was pretty close, though, and helped along by some snaked GFIs.

We are in the semi-final against the Vagabonds, though, and they should be beatable. The team is fully operable, and Swimmer and Ligthning gets a skill. nevertheless, we sack Lightning and hires a new saurus to bring the team rating down.




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