Thursday 6 September 2012

Match Report: OCC Division 6A Game 3

The Grey Haven Guard (High Elves, me) vs F.O.A.D. (orc)

The orc team had been one of the favourites to stomp through the division with their big spiky feet, but an appalling Nuffling at the hands of some vampires (ably assisted by Morg N Thorg) in match day 2 had left them with a star blitzer dead and three players missing this game.

So with a rookie blitzer, two journeyman lineorcs and a wizard to raise their spirits, the orcs took the field. Led by their super-agile thrower Roksh, the orcs boasted an unusually strong passing game, which would come very close to engineering a result for them in this match.

The orcs won the toss and elected to receive, with Roksh dropping back and to the right to retrieve the deep kick. There was some blocking on the line of scrimmage, with the orcs making a pocket of blitzers on the left. The high elves saw that Roksh was isolated from the rest of his team, and knocked over a black orc in the centre and making a screen between the orc thrower and his team mates.

Undeterred, the orc captain motioned his pocket of black orc, troll and two blitzers to run deeper, wound back his arm and launched an astonishing long bomb over the elven screen and into the safe hands of the blitzer.

The action then switched to the pocket which was midway in the elven half, hear the left touchline. The agile elves, making use of their localised guard advantage, got two assisted blocks in on the ball carrier but failed to knock him over, and the orcs formed a strong cage next to the left touchline by the end zone, with the ball carrier hard up against the touchline, a troll diagonally in front of him and a black orc just behind, with other orcs nearby too.

There then followed one of those plays which make elven coaches smile, and all others grind their teeth in frustration. The positions of the key players can be seen here:

http://www.play-creator.com/viewplay.asp?viewplay=10683

The AG5 Xakalwe picked himself up, dodged away from a marker and into two tackle zones to stand in front of the ball carrier, on the sideline. Meanwhile Nesanton Vanval, the mighty blow catcher also stood up, dodged into two tackle zones and put in a one dice block which surfed the ball carrier. The crowd immediately swarmed all over the stricken orc blitzer, attacking his groin until it was well and truly strained.

The ball was thrown back in near the elf end zone, and from there it was a simple task for an elven lineman to dodge away from his marker, pick up the ball, and launch a soaring long pass into the hands of one of three linemen in a little group by the half way line. (Aside - the odds of surfing the ball carrier were a healthy 48%, while the adds of completing the whole play were a little more than 18% .)

For a few seconds the only sound was that of the orc coach hitting his head against the keyboard, before the orcs crowdsurfed the elven blitzer and catcher in a perfunctory sort of way (both only stunned), and knocked over the elven ball carrier with a nearby black orc. All to no avail, as the elves recovered the ball and simply ran away from the orcs up the right hand side, with the ball handed off to a rookie catcher in the end zone on turn 8. 1-0 to the Grey Haven Guard at half time

The Guard lined up in the second half a player and a touchdown ahead, and planned on a quick score. Their thrower Elethomiel gathered the ball and stayed deep in the elven half, with Xakalwe remaining close by in case of the wizard interfering. The high elves ran receivers deep into the orc half. While the orcs were able to mark all the receivers and knock one over, the marker closest to Vanval was clattered into the turf, the ball was passed from deep, and the touchdown was scored by Vanval. 2-0 to the Grey Haven Guard on turn 10

The orcs were looking for two quick scores, and from the kickoff Roksh picked up the ball and stayed deep, while two receivers (a goblin and a blitzer) ran into the elven half. Vanval was having none of this however, and the catcher lived up to his billing as the danger man on the elven team by killing the goblin outright. Meanwhile the blitzer was heavily marked. The orcs switched to a running game, but again were undone by the mobility of the elves - Roksh was protected by a half cage near the halfway line on the elven right, but this was picked apart and an elf recovered the ball. A furious black orc blocker responded by charging forward and pounding the terrified elf into the ground, and yet again Roksh demonstrated his star quality by leaping to his feet and launching another long pass diagonally across the field to the lurking blitzer. The blitzer dropped the ball this time however, and the ball was left close to the elven line.

Two elves scrambled back, recovering the ball and setting up a pass/handoff chain for the last turn. At this stage however the wizard finally unleashed his fireball, which smashed the ball carrier. The remaining elf linemen, ignoring his toasted teammate, picked up the ball, which was swiftly ferried into the orc half. Roksh tried the hero play for a third time, but this time it proved to be too much to ask, and he slipped while sprinting for the ball. The elves were then able to run the ball in at the end of the game. 3-0 to the Grey Haven Guard at full time

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