Coach Lancelott and Scott Van Rok talking through the highs and lows of season 46

Coach Lanelott sat down with our very own Scott Van Rok for an end of year interview, recapping the year that was and looking forward to season 47 of the NCBB.

SVR: "Coach Lancelott, thanks for joining us, great to have you here. A momentous season for the Mary's Land Terrible Terrapins, first year in the AQ, first year in the SMACK. This was quite the step up for Mary's Land who have never competed in the big leagues such as this. Walk us through some of the high points of the season."

Lancelott: "Well, I'd first like to say thank you for the invitation to be interviewed by you, we're all big fans of the SVR show and any time the mage priests can get your show going on the seeing pools the team usually is there for the entirety. Yeah, this season was definitely different for us as you mentioned and certainly at the level of competition that we expected. Back home near DeeCee, Blood Bowl isn't the most popular sport, sometimes being eclipsed by bas-ket-ball or las-cross, and so our players often are not the most experienced in the game. That being said, we've earned the right to be here in the NCBB and I think we made a good showing this season. Qualifying for a bowl game was always the goal and given our second half run where we went four wins and one draw to qualify was certainly a high point of our season. Couldn't be more proud of our team."

SVR: "Good to hear we are on heavy rotation down in DeeCee! Yes, that second half of the season push was certainly remarkable. How did it feel to come into the vaunted SMACK conference and end up dominating to win the conference?"

Lancelott: "I wouldn't say 'Dominate'. Yes, we won our games but there were many games that could have gone either way. The win against UDub was what I think really propelled us to our victory. Before that we'd gone 1-0-4 and it was safe to say that the team had genuinely forgotten how to win. That game against UDub was what we needed to turn our season around. Going into the game we had a team meeting and I'll never forget... David... Sotek preserve his memory.... (Coach Lancelott was visibly emotionally moved) he stood in front of the whole team... all 6 claw lengths of him and said that 'Not today. We may lose tomorrow. We may lose next week. BUT NOT TODAY AND NOT AGAINST THE RATS'. And Sotek, bless his memory, he played his heart out getting us two TDs that game. I still see him running for that third score before Michale Junio sent him to the Old Ones.... It was a hard win, but I know now that it was what needed to happen for us to be in the position we found ourselves in at the end of the season."

SVR: "Indeed! The team went on to roll over the UNLV Throwin' Rebels, draw Bro-hio, and then beat SUNY and Kieslev State. It seemed like you all had all the momentum in the world, so what happened in the bowl game against George Washington Revolution???"

Lancelott: "Yeah, that was a disaster of a game. I take full responsibility for that one, the team was just not prepared. We had just come off a season where we'd made an incredible recovery and achieved all that we had set out to do. If there was anything I would have done differently, it would have been to set our goals higher, to win a bowl game. But, we can't go back in time and so we need to just move forward with the lessons learned. That being said, George Washington is not a team to be underestimated. They are well coached and being an Amazon team clearly knew our weaknesses and how to exploit them. We couldn't hit, we couldn't dodge, we couldn't move the ball. It was domination on all levels. On top of that we lost Kevin St. Michaels to a head injury as well as both blockers Raymond Hagerston and Alessandra Alleygainy. Our only saving grace is that we have all of the off season to rest up and get ready for the next season."

SVR: "You mentioned goals, given what you accomplished this season what do you think your goals might be?"

Lancelott: "Well, I alluded a little to it earlier but now that we've made it to a bowl game we'd want to win a bowl game. That will be the main goal for next season. Secondarily, we know that the UMBC Bay Reptiles are entering the AQ. Being a school just down the road from us, we will have our sites on them and while I don't want to promise anything because I know that Drrek is a heck of a coach, we know that our team will be more than ready to play them if we get to meet them during the season. Beyond that, we have only one senior going into this season, dear Harmony One-Love and we'd love (no pun intended) to see her have a massively impactful senior season. We have several rising juniors looking to make their mark, we will want to see them break out and really make an impact this season. Beyond that, we always look to have a winning season as that is never a given in the NCBB."

SVR: "Well, Harmony has certainly become a darling for us as well, we hope she keeps those casualty numbers going and hopefully improves upon them! We certainly appreciate you coming by and wish you the best of luck in Season 47!"