“Final game in the series... and my team is in tatters. Red Shield and Grey Challenger are gone, and Purple Protector still in hospital. I have to play wth no less than 4 skink journeymen. They look eager enough, surely, but eagerness is not likely to be enough in this match. Best I can do though, and I round my team up with a wizard and the return of the great Hemlock. He did his job in the match against the Icedragons, and since we meet another team with little armour, his services will likely be highly needed. The opponent has a great coach and at least six great players, 3 cathcers a good blitzer and two good lineelves. They have also taken losses and have to field two journeymen, however, and maybe most important was the loss of their tackler in the game before this one. Our gameplan is simple; stick to the elves like burrs and hope for some knockouts and casualties, and maybe a failed dodge now and then. The elves have the fan advantage but we start with receiving.

Even before we have kicked off the game, the Marienburg fans are going bananas on the lecters. It takes a long time before the crowd calms down just a bit, enough to start the game, but not nearly enough for any of the players to hear what the coaches say... The elves kick a short kick close to the line-of-scrimmage, so we gather our plentiful skinks around the ball and set to work on their LOS. Two elves stunned and Hollow Claws almost rips the shoulder off the newly signed elf blitzer Liti. Won't see him no more in this game. Jungle Warrior picks up the ball and we have a live game on our hands.

Despite early losses, the elves throw themselves at our line, preferring to cover the skinks while staying well away from the few saurues we have left. The catcher Johansson leads the onslaught with a steel punch that knocks the journeyskink Hideouseagle off the field. We advance slowly along our left sideline, and leaves the elves to come trailing after us. Things get a little dicey when Hollow Claws takes a hit that stuns him (and belive me, that takes a lot), but we relentlessly continues our advance to bring Jungle Warrior into a scoring position. The elves form up in front of us, and try to nibble at our rear by knocking out Hemlock. We will not be distracted, however, and despite the fact that Hollow Claws can't hear my orders over the crowd noise, and lies confused in the green grass of the elf stadium (great homefield, by the way :)), Black Booster does the job of pushing the elf thrower Niemi away. Not far, but just enough for Jungle Swimmer to squeeze past for the TD. Crowd noise was nothing before, 'cause now our fans have joined and suddenly all the fans present are screaming like mad...

We are only halfway in the first half, however, and there is plenty of time for the elves to score. Both Hideouseagle and Hemlock is back so we have a full team while the elves are short one blitzer. Luckily we also managed to get hold of a Marienburg playbook from a disgruntled fan, so we easily blindside them and blitz into their territory before they even have realised what is going on. Claws, Fraternizer and Guardian holds down the line while Hemlock gets his first kill of the day when he pushes his dagger straight through Tolsa's eye. Good to get rid of the strong lineelf. Black Boster advances in the direction of the ball to put pressure on the elves. These elves are not easily spooked, though, and Niemi calmly picks up the ball not far from the onrushing Booster and tosses it to emerging star catcher Kolkka who sprints through a hole in the line and rushes towards the goalline. He doesn't get much support though, as Johansson, who was supposed to support him, get his feet swept from under him by Hollow Claws' tail. Instead, the hapless Kolkka finds himself surrounded by five scavengers, Hollow Claws among them, and he narrowly manages to escape Hemlocks' daggers. A desperate lounge does the trick, though, and Kolkka jumps away from Claws' tail and easily dodges the skinks and there goes an easy Marienburg TD. 1-1, and we may have time for another one before the break.

Heavy snowfall suddenly transforms the field to a white, howling monster that even the now totally crazy crowd can't beat. Elves kick deep this time, and takes another loss as Hemlock slips his daggers in between the ribs of the journeyelf Whitewing and gets his second kill of the day. 3 elves down, 8 to go. We move Claws, Goldstream and Jungle Warrior into scoring positions, although they would need to go for it at the end to reach the goalline, and that's pretty hard in this weather. And the longshot becomes even less likely when Clearfist fails to pick up the ball. The elves manage to make it even less likely as Kolkka blitzes Jungle Warrior and pushes him to the ground, and then manage to cover Goldstream with the help of Hypiaa. Hollow Claws manage once more to bring Johansson crashing down on the ground with his tail, though, and the scavengers go for the longshot. Hemlock knocks Hypiaa out with his steely blades, and then we are ready for some skink magic. So Clearfist picks up the ball, hands it over to Hidesouseagle who sprints over to Goldstream and makes the quick pass. Then it's just a matter for Goldstream to squeeze bedtween Kolkka and the sideline, which he barely manages, and then do the going-for-it to score the Scavengers second TD of the day. And with only seconds to spare before the half is over... The elves just manage to receive the kick and do some tossing of the ball, and then... the break :)

And wonders, the situation looks sooo much better at halftime than at the start of the game. We got our casualties, so now there is only 8 elves left, while our squad is still unharmed. We are one TD ahead, and as a bonus we still have our wizard left, as well as the elves playbook. Now we just need to stay cool and not loose our heads. We are kicking in the second half, so we put our journeyskinks on the line-of-scrimmage. Luckily, however, the playbook again comes in handy as we recognise the play and can move our heavy hitters up to block the elvish line. Elf thrower Niemi does his part of the job, by elegantly grabbing the kick out of the air and running to his right, where Kolkka is waiting for the pass... and gets it. Protection is not bad, but this time it is Hypiaa who is brought down by Claws' tail.

We box the elves in, and brings out the wizard and his fireball. Four elves in the blast radius, among them the ballcarrier, so why not? Snow seem to dampen the effect of the fireball, though, as only one elf, the rookie lino Kuqi is knocked out. The others are still there and have to be taken by more conventional means. The Marienburgers sense that they cannot go through the whole Scavenger team and so changes their approach to the other side. Hypiaa goes first, followed by Johansson and Kolkka, but Kolkka has misjudged his speed and slips on the ice just as he is about to toss the ball to Hypiaa, and breaks two fingers in the fall. Off with him, to racuous laughter from the Scavenger fans. The Scavengers skink squad manages to cover the ball with help from Claws and team captain Guardian, and an eager Forsell fails to come even Close, being tripped by Clearfist as he tries to dodge away. Swamp Swimmer picks up the ball and has the whole team around him as a desperate Hypiaa commits suicide by trying to dodge into five sets of saurus and skink claws... Third kill of the day, and it strikes me that I would not like to be the Marienburg coach, nor it's owners, right now... a loss to a supposedly less able team is one thing, but loosing three players to the man with the scythe is a bit harsh... Hypiaa's demise also finally cracks the morale of the elves, and they retreat away, trying to stay alive as Swamp Swimmer easily runs in Scavenger TD #3.

Still time to score, and the elves do their best. Forsell manage to send Goldstream off with a huge tear in his shoulder muscle, but his triumph quickly turns to panic as Black Booster comes at him like a remorseless boulder, and that's the last he remembers before he wakes up in the hospital a couple of hour later. Five elves left, and the elves are boxed in at the LOS. They try for Johansson, but he never gets the ball. Fraternizer pushes Hideousstream onto the loose ball, and manage to catch the bouncing ball, only to loose it again as Heikkinen bowls him over. Johansson tries to go through team captain Guardian to reach the ball, but Guardian is aware and his clothesline lays Johansson flat out. Then he pushes Hideousstream away as well, and the ball is free, and it is a simple matter for Jungle Warrior to pick it up and hand it off to Swamp Swimmer who can run in his second TD for the day, and the fourth for the jubilant Scavengers. Game is over, and with a surprising 4-1 win for the Scavengers. The elves tried, but never seemed to get their game going, and the playbook we stole was extremely useful as well. One blitz and two defensive set-ups was amazing.

We improved some players, and also got enough money to buy a replacement saurus. With Protector back, we are only one saurus short of a full complement, and should be ready for the inter-conference shield action.

We will probably not get to the play-offs, even though there is a small chance since we are number three right now. It doesn't matter much, though, as we have outperformed our own expectations in this first season, and we are a likely winner of the Giant-killer award. Not bad for a first-season rookie team :)
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