“Back in the North, to play the Icedragons. Won big last time, and should have a good chance now as well. Of course, they have got Ragnar Kharnatsblut and Icetread as ballcarrier, and Skadi is a dangerous man for my skinks. Still, we have real hopes... and babes, of course :)

Weather is great, with clear skies and fresh air. Surprising up here in the north, as I had expected rain or possibly a blizzard... Anyway, we take what we are given, and as hosts the Icedragons are even kind enough to let us receive first :) The Norsemen spreads out along the LOS, and line up behind their frontmen with both flanks free. We also concentrate in the centre, and aim to penetrate on our right flank. When the dust from an early riot has settled, we start by pushing over the front line, stunning Gammel and toppling the other two, but have to wait with our advance as Breaker struggles with the ball. The Dragons see an opportunity and tries to turn our right flank. Skogull blitzes Idler and stuns him, allowing Wolven to advance into our backfield and threaten the ballcarrier, while Storolf holds down our left flank and Skadi and Steini plays deep defenders for the Dragons. In face of this agressive play, we decide we might as well spend a lot of time on this drive, and shift our advance to the right flank. Claws, Lightning and Brewer does our advance pressure, while Booster and team captain Fraternizer handles Wolven, and Protector helps out the skinks with the ball. Breaker, however, stil fumbles with the ball, and now Storolf comes running for him. We have one more chance at picking it up. At the most...

The Icedragons pack in our advance group, and Ragnar piles on top of Brewer, knocking him out of the drive. We shift back to the left flank, and Protector blitzes Storolf away, pushing him farther into the backfield while Booster and the skink squad runs interference for Breaker, who FINALLY has gotten a hold on the ball. WE are almost at the middle of the field with the ball now, and all the Icedragons except Storolf are on their left flank and in danger of being blindsided. The 'Dragons are aware of the danger, though, and quickly shifts Olav, Ragnar and Skadi to cover their right flank. Skadi's blitz even manages to stun Swimmer. Gammel and Skogull marks down Booster, and the remaining 'Dragons fight it out with Idler, Fraternizer, Lightning and Claws. Claws outflanks the norsemen line, and locks Kalervo and Oddgeir down against Idler, and Lightning pushes Wolven away, allowing Fraternizer to blitz Skadi and free up the ballcarrier Breaker to run over to the right side and hide behind the reassuring bulk of Lightning. Wiggler supports the right flank, while Warrior helps Booster to topple Gammel and knock him out of the drive. Protector stuns Storolf and gets ready to join the main fray agin. Grimtooth topples Idler, and Steini blitzes Claws to topple him as well, allowing Kalerbvo to mark down the ballcarrier and Oddgeir to get free from the lock and retreat backwards to a deeper defensive position.

We still feel comfortable, though, as we are now 10 vs 10, and only Steini and Oddgeir are free and wellplaced to stop us. Claws are too confused to help after being toppled by Steini, but Lightning pushes Wolven away and Protector blitzes Kalervo away from the ballcarrier. Booster comes through with a nasty cross against Ragnar, sending him sprawling with a pinched nerve in his leg. A desperate 'Dragons apothecary comes onto the field and carries him away, but it seems to be nothing serious, and the apothecary patches him up and makes him ready for the next drive. For a moment, we have superior numbers, but then Wiggler is tripped by Grimtooth while dodging, and have to leave for the game, badly hurt. This proves to be critical, as it opens up our defense. Oddgeir and Grimtooth topples Idler, allowing Steini to blitz the ballcarrier! A might crash as the two players collide, and then Breaker is toppled and stunned, and the ball is loose! Steini can't seem to pick up the ball, however, as Protector slaps him on his hands. Helped by Swimmer, Protector topples Stein, who in a desperate sideways jump lands upon the ball, and it bounces in the reach of Swimmer. Warrior runs into a scoring position, and Claws blitzes Oddgeir.

However, Kalervo and Storolf can reach Swimmer and help Steini, as he blitzes Swimmer and grabs the ball, going for the endzone, relying on his teammates to mark down all the saurii. The Scavengers realise that there will be no scoring in this half, due to the unfortunate failed dodge by Wiggler, and the best they can do is to try to stop the 'Dragons from scoring. Warrior steps back into the fray, and helps Lightning to push Wolven away, allowing Booster to mark down Steini. Then, a desperate dodge from Fraternizer allows him to blitz Steini, but Steini holds on to the ball and remains standing. Swimmer and Breaker tries to help in delimiting the movement of the 'Dragons while the clock is ticking... will the 'Dragons make the score? Skadi and Kalervo helps Steini, who blitzes Fraternizer away, and, elegantly dodging Booster, Steini is free to score. 1-0 'Dragons and the half is over.

This was not the plan at all...We were supposed to score, and hopefully also beat up some norsemen to allow ourselves the luxury of a numerical advantage. At best, Skadi, Steini or Ragnar would be among those taken out of the game. But no. As the apotecary managed to patch up Ragnar, only Gammel is in the KO box, and we are down one TD. Luckily, we are still 11 players, despite Wiggler's early demise, and with a good defense, we can still make this game a draw.

We sstart in our wedge formation, with Brewer, Claws and Idler in front at the LOS, and await the norsemen. A high kick almost to the 'Dragons endzone from Breaker is almost caught by Steini. However, high hopes are instantly smashed to pieces as the 'Dragons proceed to demolish our line, stunning Brewer and Claws, and sending Idler to the KO-box. Skogull blitzes Breaker and stuns him as well. Only good thing is that the 'Dragons then hold back at the middler of the field, posibly waiting for Steini who comes trotting up the field with gthe ball in his capable hands. With only seven players standing, there isn't a lot we can do... We do blitz Skogull and retreats into defensive positions, and at the same time trying not to surrender too much of the field to the 'Dragons. By design, we allow some concessions on our let field, to let the norsemen commit themselves to that side. Granted, this is a risk, but short of people we need to take some risks, and at least this allows us to concentrate our players on this side, if the norsemen takes the bait.

The good news is that they do take the bait. The bad news are they are doing so competently. Helped by Grimtooth and Kalervo, Ragnar blitzes Boster, sending him limping off the field with a gouged eye. Our apothecary must get in ation, and saves his eye, but we are now down two saurii... The 'Dragons opts for a defensive position at the midline, waiting to see what we will try next. with Claws back on his feet, we blitz Oddgeir and topples him, and then our saurii surrounds Ragnar, allowing rookie skink Winner to foul him. Not very effectively, but at least the referee didn't see it... The gauntlet is now thrown, as we do not like fouling, but Ragnar is an exception.

In retaliation, the norsemen pulls Steini back into their backfield, and topples Claws and Brewer, and set El Cid up for a foul on Claws. However, the Cid is an experienced dirty player, and the ref is well aware of him, immediately blowing his whistle as he sees El Cid lifting his armour-clad boot... and El Cid is out of the game! Given this little respite, we use it well. Fraternizer stuns Grimtooth, while Lightning blocks Oddgeir away and Protector blitzes Frodi-Galinn away. Now, Ragnar is unprotected on the ground and all the skinks crowd in on him, hiding the action as Winner tramples his back. Another back injury to Ragnar, and this time no apothecary will save him. In fact, the injury will stay with him till his death. And what more is, with Ragnar injured and El Cid banned, we are back into a 9 vs 9 situation! Maybe there is hope?

Norsemwen are aware of the upcoming problems, and need to score. Thus, they push every player they've got to their left flank, toppling Brewer and Claws and blindsiding the rest of the Scavengers, while Steini pushes forward to the midline. With three norsemen in a scoring position, the Scavengers scramble to cover as much of the field as possible. Protector blitzes Frodi-Galinn and pushes him back, and is helped by Lightning, while Fratenizer and Brewer marks down the secondary. Warrior marks down Skogull in the hope that he will be able to sidestep any hits, getting into a better position, while Swimmer supports Warrior at his back. It's a feeble defense, however, and the 'Dragons know how to break it, and as Skogull manges to topple Warrior, Storolf and Skadi takes care of Swimmer, allowing Steini to move into a scoring position.

Scavengers are in a desperate position now, with no saurii in position to blitz any of the possible scorers, let alone the ballcarrier. Fraternizer tries to push Kalervo away to open for Winner, but for the second time this match, one of our skinks, Winner this time, is tripped up while dodging and then has to leave the field with an injury. Steini now has a free run to the goalline, but chooses to stall while his teammates are going for trying to hurt as many Scavengers as possible. They only succeed in stunning Brewer, though, and more and more frenetic attacks on Protector are dodged, bringing Protector to the end of the norsemen defensive line. Letting Warrior hold up the support, Lightning blitzes Skogull, sending him off the field for the match and freeing up Protector, allowing him to mark down Steini, while Warrior, Swimmer and Lightning desperately tries to hold back the teammates in order to stop them from coming to Steini's rescue. Breaker breaks free from Grimtooth, and puts himself in a scoring position, in case a miracle happens... Unfortunately, no such miracle is forthcoming, as the norsemen free up Frodi to give Steini support, and he just blitzes Protector away and goes for the gamewinning TD. We may have time left to score one, but not two as we need to tie the game, and another defeat is staring us in the face.

'Dragons are down four players, and can only field nine, while we are down two dodging skinks, but can field 10. We are eager to get the game under way again, and a quick snap let us move forward. We move Warrior in scoring position, and protects him with Lightning and Fraternizer, while Booster topples Storolf to keep his strip ball skill out of play. The protction was not good enough, however, and Storolf helps Grimtooth to topple Fraternizer, allowing Skadi to blitz Warrior, bringing him down. That should have been the game, as Warrior is now out of range for a scoring run. We discover, however, that Booster is within range, although marked down by Wolven. Wolven has to go, so Idler arrives to blitz him backwards and away from Booster. Breaker arrives with the ball and hands it off to Booster, who catches it with some diffculties. And then it is just a matter of dodging Oddgeir and go for it for the TD, which he manages! Easily!

A well played match by the 'Dragons, giving them revenge for or last meeting, and we have to swallow the bitter pill due to failed dodges by our skinks. Next week will be obligatory dodge traning for all skinks (and saurii, after seeing how they can easily score when mastering the dodge skill :)). Best part of the game was the fabulous score by Booster and of course, the injury to our nemesis Ragnar Kharnatsblut, thanks to Winner's excellent and stylish foul. The crowd chose Protector for the MVP, thanks to his desperate (but futile) defense of the goalline before the 'Dragons second TD. Also, Booster mansged to acquire Might Blow. We now have two losses, howver, and see very little chance of getting to the play-offs. Theoretically, of course, there are always possibilities, but the Jadefire are good at scoring and we do not have the speed and skills needed to stop them, so unless it becomes a bloodbath, they are likely to manage at least a draw. Sigh.








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