“Voiders draw Acolytes in tooth-and-nail rematch
Saturday, February 24, 2024

Coaches jingus and fivehead met once again this Saturday in the wooded clearing outside Ilkingdale. The Voiders, having last time suffered a hapless 3-0 defeat, looked to show better form this time around. To add to the tension, the dark elves also suffered a death at the hands of the Acolytes' Suditi last game, making the teams' second meeting a greatly awaited one.

On the side of the fivehead's Acolytes of Astanga, this match was the debut of the club's first thrower positional, the wise and beautiful Vara. A true daughter of the ruling class, Vara spent centuries as an envoy across the Middlelands. She grew disillusioned with politics, however, in the last century or so and found a deep alignment with martial arts and yogic philosophy. Months ago, on a slow meditative walk, she wound up in the woods near Ilkingdale. She stumbled upon the elven team amidst their practice. Pashupati, who was leading the day's yoga, spotted her as he rolled up into a headstand. Sensing a wisdom in her that he didn't perceive in many others around the village, he invited her to join.

Vara has settled-- for the moment-- with the team at their Ilkingdale residence, and has been training with them since. She's decided now to try her hand at blood bowl. And it proved to be a momentous debut for Vara, who threw her first completion as well as scored her first touchdown in Saturday's game.

The Acolytes' defense floundered early in this one, allowing far too much breathing room for the speedy Scarlet Voiders, and found the pitch's conflicts buried on their own side of the field not long after kickoff. The momentum of Jingus's elves was unstoppable at this point, and the Acolytes took an early 0-1 deficit.

Things looked a bit more promising as the Acolytes received their first kick of the match, and #12 Vara launched a great connection to match MVP #10 Blitzer Datta. The Voiders, desperate to force a quick turnover and score again, opened a wide lane for the dime to Datta. The only starting blitzer for her team this Saturday, Datta charged head-on into an open field, only to trip in her haste near the sideline.

The Acolytes tried in vain to salvage the scoring drive (including another pick-up and subsequent trip from Datta, as well as a faceplant ONTO the ball by Priti before attempting a would-be last second TD pass), but ultimately could not cross the goal line.

It wouldn't be until the second half that the Acolytes scored the game-tying touchdown- and it took a bit of emergency playcalling after Vara nearly botched a would-be touchdown pass to Priti. Instead she ate the pass and stood out in the open, as a cage of defenders came to her side. Suditi blitzed into Voiders #1 Alan Agsded and cracked a few of his ribs, too, as the crew ran Vara to the endzone safely.

An important match, certainly, for the Acolytes. While they would have preferred another bash like their last one against the Voiders, they showed great promise under pressure today and that's what the fans love to see. ”