“Sorry about the delay, it's been a rough week.

Anyway, first up: your team.

I like it. I like it a lot. You have a good solid perspective on what's important with Dorfs. There's one goofy rookie mistake in the Strip Ball Runner, but that's fine, I wouldn't have fired him on a random. You have 295k in Treasury and he's MNG, I'd fire and replace. If you don't want to take Block or Wrestle, you have other decent options: you can take a random primary and save 10k on kind of an overpriced but good player, or save up and hope for a good Agility skill. I would approach that with an SABCF grade system for primary skills, and SABF for secondary (grad school lol).

***

Dwarf Runner Random Options (*your grades may vary)
-- General (Primary): GPA 3.09. 5/11 to roll S or A, 2/11 to can the player.
(S: Block, Wrestle. A: Fend, Kick, Tackle. B: Dauntless, Dirty Player, Pro, Strip Ball. F: Frenzy, Shadowing. N: Sure Hands.)
-- Passing (Primary): GPA 1.67, buuuut ... the better pair of S skills, and two A skills. It's just that the rest is mostly awful. 4/12 to roll S or A, 7/12 to can the player.
(S: Leader (but for 10k, "S" doesn't even start...), On the Ball. A: Accurate, Pass. C: Nerves of Steel. F: Cannoneer, Cloud-Burster, Dump-Off, Fumblerooski, Hail Mary, Running Pass, Safe Throw.)
-- Agility (Secondary): GPA 3.5. 8/12(!!!) to roll S or A, 2/12 to can the player.
(S: Defensive, Dodge, Side Step, Sure Feet. A: Diving Tackle, Jump Up, Sneaky Git, Sprint. B: Catch, Safe Pair of Hands. F: Diving Catch, Leap.)
-- Strength (Secondary): GPA 2.4. 5/10 to roll S or A, 4/10 to can the player, but it's worse than that because the four A skills are kind of redundant with the rest of the team and not at a value (but not Break Tackle, that would legit be sweet).
(S: Break Tackle. A: Guard, Juggernaut, Mighty Blow, Stand Firm. B: Grab. F: Arm Bar, Brawler, Multiple Block, Pile Driver. N: Strong Arm, Thick Skull.)

Winner? Agility, in my book. Random Agility or pick Block or Wrestle. Maaaaybe random passing because On the Ball is very nice and 10k for Leader on a player you were going to field anyway is ... disturbing.

***

Now, on to the match.

Your initial setup is fine, but I can teach you a cool trick.

Okay, so I did this, right?
- - - -|- - - - x x x|- - - -
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
where X is my guys and U is Guard. I'm gonna use G for your Guard, and S for your Slayer (or other Frenzy player) here. You also have two backfield players to get the ball, right? I'm also gonna change my line to x, y, and z, to make things clear. (The other defenders can also be X, they're not getting involved.)
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - d -
- - o -|o o - b a g s|- c - -
- - - -|- - - - x y z|- - - -
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
Okay, so start by blocking A vs Y, powing or pushing diagonally. Follow, whether you pow or not. If you pushed, B must block Y, immediately, powing or pushing diagonally and not following. Then G blocks Z, pushing laterally by preference and following, but a pow would be fine too, in which case it should be diagonal. In the event of a pow, move C or D up to zone Z on the diagonal and use the other to flank them (square-on since I have no Frenzy, but you'd use a column formation if I did have Frenzy). It makes a lot of sense to put a Blitzer at D because of his extra speed. If you're going to run two Slayers, the second one should be C.
if Z gets pushed
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - d -
- - o -|o o - b - - s|- c - -
- - - -|- - - - - a g|z - - -
- - - -|- - - - - x y|- - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
or powed
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - -
- - o -|o o - b - - s|- - - -
- - - -|- - - - - a g|- d c -
- - - -|- - - - - x y|z - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
Now, on a push, the fun begins. Slayer hits Z twice, powing if need be, but the first push goes laterally for C's assist, with the second pushing across scrimmage.
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - d -
- - o -|o o - b - - s|- c - -
- - - -|- - - - - a g|z - - -
- - - -|- - - - - x y|- - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
becomes
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - d -
- - o -|o o - b - - s|- c z -
- - - -|- - - - - a g|- s - -
- - - -|- - - - - x y|- - - -
- - x u|- x x - x x -|u x
So now C pushes diagonally and follows, and D pushes Z out of bounds. D can blitz, if you want to get him out of the wide zone. If C has Frenzy, he can do it all himself, just needs D to be positioned there to lend an assist.

***

The game, finally:

Honestly, you mostly played fine. Your main whiff was in playing a bit high-contact, which is kind of unavoidable with Dwarfs. I wouldn't put much behind this matchup, tbh: it's a nightmare matchup, I have more Guard than you and no Dodge for your Tackle. If I can offer one piece of advice, it's that you should focus more assiduously on lateral control, but that's a tall order (heh) for Dwarfs, low on MA and reliant on Frenzy to get stuff done.

Best of luck!”