“NCBB - Season 32
Week 6

When finding yourself in a two week slump (tie/loss), Oregon is the last place you want to find yourself. But here we find Miami, with hopes of victory on their minds.

Miami set up conservatively and kicked the ball deep to begin the first half. Oregon made some hits, set up a "anti-leap" screen, but bumbled the initial pickup before recovering and bringing the ball forward. Miami remained loose, guarding both flanks as well as maintaining a solid presence at the LOS. After an unfortunate series of blocks from bother squads, Oregon took the initiative and formed a cage within the Miami half of the pitch, complete with the ball carrier at the center. Miami did what they do best: leapt into the cage and brought down the ball carrier. The ball bounced and came to rest under cover, and Oregon did a masterful job of clearing out any Miami players and recovering the ball. But Miami proved to be relentless, and after a few pushes, leveled the catcher holding the ball, injuring them in the process, and applied coverage on the loose ball. Oregon got mad, made a couple of big hits and regained control of the ball, but they were not in a secure location, as Miami again blitzed down the ball carrier. Time was running out as Miami made a last defensive play to ensure Oregon could not collect the ball and get it into the endzone; Sophomore Blitzer Linus Smallberries' ankle was smashed to pieces, which the Apothecary was able to reduce to solely a fracture. Still, Oregon pushed through, got a lineelf into the endzone, recovered the ball and threw it into the endzone, where the pass was promptly dropped. To celebrate the lovely pass Oregon had just attempted, Miami pushed Thrower Jack Devlin into the crowd, removing him from play for the rest of the match. For good measure the lineelf who had dropped the pass was also surfed. Half came to a close, 0-all.

The second half begun with Miami playing up 11-to-7, but continuing to set up wide to prevent any elves from getting past the LOS. This turned out to be a wise choice as Oregon came blitzing in with the kickoff. Though able to mark a player, Oregon could not get to the ball, and in the end Miami recovered and started the ball forward. Even after a scrum around the LOS, Miami emerged unscathed, racing the ball towards the endzone. Oregon refuses to quit, giving chase and marking the ball carrier just outside of the endzone, followed by an amazing blitz in which Senior VG Saber Dodged out from double coverage and wrestled Pete Lyman down (-2d blitz, Both Down or Push for the forced early TD.) The Miami fans watched in horror as Blitzer Yenzy Margroff dodged away from one of their blitzers, performed two additional dodges, collected the ball, and made a pass attempt to a player just over the LOS. As the ball was in flight, Brody Cauca leapt up and snatched the ball out of the air, returning the momentum to Miami. Stalling to control time, Miami caged the ball within scoring distance, but Oregon dodged into the cage, attempting to blitz down Brody, who was still holding the ball, only succeeding in marking him. The marking elf was successfully blitzed away, and Brody stepped into the endzone for the go ahead touchdown, but not before Yenzy's interference was rewarded with a push into the crowd, whereby he was quickly killed via the Miami fans who had made the journey with the team. While some may have viewed this as an unnecessary late hit, when playing against elves, any actions not taken to potentially remove players from the pitch is to your own detriment.

Oregon returned to the pitch, fielding 7 players, looking to do what they do best: chain together a series of pushes for the equalizing score. Miami set up in a formation to minimize Oregon's chances, but thanks to their Side-Stepping catcher, Oregon weaved past Miami's defense and were within range. Oregon picked up the ball, ran forward, and fumbled the pass attempt. With that the match was over, with Miami narrowly defeating Oregon.

Good game.”