“It's the opening of season 19 in the NWL! In the first round of Veteran division, the St Louis Hams faced off against the Northern Rotters. Both teams were looking forward to a tough fought slugfest.

The Rotters opened with a blitz from Demonox that nearly put Drunken Little 6 feet under. Only the desperate efforts of the Hams' apothecary saved him from Demonox's claws. That, combined with a kick landing near the line of scrimmage, put the Hams back on their heels. Even so they struck back with a vengeance, quickly knocking out Felrath even as they struggled to both break the Rotters' line and recover the ball. The Rotters held firm and even started to push toward the ball still resting on the field when the Hams took it to the next level, KOing the Rotters' Gnaw, Maximilian, and Raxial. Moving to secure the ball, the Hams' Da Nail Diggs-Graves bobbled the pickup. A favorable bounce let the Rotters put several players nearby to keep the Hams away, at least for a while. With a second and then a third favorable bounce, the outnumbered Rotters, held on with dogged determination. When a fourth favorable bounce left the ball in the rotter Jelaxia's hands, the Hams retaliated by KOing Egregian. The desperate Rotters, mostly knocked flat and outnumbered nearly 2 to 1, struggled to delay the Hams' final push enough for time to run out managing to injure Maul Davis in the process. The Hams' last second press to score (incidentally taking out Ventrix along the way) led to Bradley Stretcher escaping Demonox's grasp only to drop the pass from Da Nail Diggs-Graves as time ran out.

The second half opened with several Rotters waking up, leaving them only down one player. A quick pass from Polluxus to Fengal started a march down the sideline, stunning several Hams players. The Hams replied by putting their "ball hunter" Orlando Pain into position to get to Fengal in short order. However Jelaxia and Deomnox managed to keep Orlando Pain (as well as Eric Smashy) away long enough for Fengal to run in the score.

With plenty of time left, the hams were determined to march down the field and be ready for anything. Their slight numerical advantage as well as their skills would assist their positioning for the tying score. Unfortunately for them it was not to be. While the Rotters moved to cover every advance the Hams made, the real problem came when the Hams' Issac Bruce tried to pick up the ball. And failed. Three times. Finally retrieving the ball on the fourth attempt and with little time left, the Hams tried to set up a hand off to score. The Rotters' Ixiel would have none of that though, KOing Jacob Hell, leaving no one in range to score with the remaining time.

An excellent game from Prophane, who was really defeated by bad luck in ball handling and ball bounces. Good luck with the rest of the season!”