“NCBB - Season 40
Week 3 - FBC vs Smack

It was a beautiful day, perfect for Blood Bowl, as Miami rolled into Texas to take on the Bobcats. Texas won the coin toss and elected to receive while the BallHawks set up their defense. With the whistle the kick when up and the match begun. The kick did however come up short, bouncing back into Miami's side of the pitch, resulting in a touchback.

The Bobcats immediately advanced the ball forward and caged it, safely screened by their offensive line of a ogre, a minotaur, and a troll. Miami chose to maneuver around said offensive line, and to leap in, sack the ball carrier, and swarm the now loose ball. Texas State, in an desperate attempt to regain control of their offensive drive took to the more physical side of the game, doling out a number of blocks, bouncing the ball back into the hands of one of their own, and moving the ball into the Miami backfield, but in doing so consumed all three of their rerolls for the half. The BallHawks gave chase but mistimed a leap before they could make any real attempt to halt Texas's momentum. Texas now had the ball in scoring range, and leveled a massive blitz on the only real threat, Senior Sterling Wanggao, killing the linefrog in the process. Miami found a way to send in four players and to set the ball loose and adequately cover it. Again, with the ball loose, Texas went on the physical, resulting in the rarely seen double casualty, a result of a Both Down block result. Texas also inadvertently bounced the ball into the arms of Miami's Catcher, Jeet Sorenson, who immediately lept free of the Texas players and moved the ball closer to midfield before handing the ball off to an awaiting teammate. The Bobcats responded with an impressive attempt to cage the ball along the southern sideline, however, Miami dodged away and into scoring range, with only two Texas players capable of defending their endzone. Miami flexed their muscle, holding the ball on the goalline, but also suffering an unintended injury of one of their own in an attempt to get away from the furious Texas players. Texas State bashed and surfed and did their worst, but they could not stop Miami from scoring a touchdown to close out the first half, 1-nil.

Start of the second half, Miami receiving, playing down, 9-on-11, the BallHawks decided to play aggressive offense, rather than attempting to secure the ball in their own backfield. This "plan" looked pretty foolish, as it resulted in Texas State walling off Miami's advance and getting a blitz on the ball, which only failed due the Bobcats' inexperience with hitting hardened targets, such as a Blitzer. Seeing their chance Miami pushed harder into the Texas half, for which Texas responded, sacking the ball carrier, and sending in all players to cover Miami's attempts to get within range of the ball. Miami mounted an impressive play, blitzing away defenders, regaining the ball, and scoring, pushing their lead, 2-nil.

Midway through the second half, Miami once again on defense, playing 8-on-11, with Texas State setting up for the possibility of a thrown goblin play, where it not for a deep kick which bounced into the endzone, and the "BLITZ!" Miami sent in while the ball was still in midair. Though the Bobcats were able to retrieve the ball and cause another casualty, the renegade dark elf fumbled the pass attempt to clear the ball out of the backfield. With the positioning advantage gained from the earlier blitz, BallHawk Blitzer Reese Mantella dodged away from the player marking him, collected the ball from under the nose of the dark elf, and dodged into the endzone, taking the score to 3-nil.

With the game all but over, and with Miami only able to field 7 players, the BallHawks drew back toward their own endzone, looking to protect themselves from further injuries, while Texas State made good on that thrown goblin threat, even if the gobo failed to stick the landing. With the ball now in hand, and safely away from any of the Bobcats players, Miami stalled out the last few plays as Texas made a few more hits, but all in vain, as the BallHawks came away victors that day.

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The score tells one store, while the match tells another. Had it not been for the proper dice rolls at the proper times (or the wrong rolls at the wrong time, for that matter), this match could have ended very differently. Good Game!”