“A late-Friday-night game for this coach, and the predictable handicap was in effect. As a result, some rookie mistakes made it a very back-and-forth struggle despite the Wizard, and surprisingly brutal considering no MB on the field.

The bash started early with a lino from each side BH'd Turn 1, and DC passing for skills. Turn 2 saw another Hospitaler lino out (this one RIP'd), but DC snakes put the ball on the ground outside the cage. Skulls frustrated the recovery and saw a 3rd DC Lino out, -MA. A Turn 3 4+ pickup by a HftH blodgestepper forced the wizard to be called into action early to try to save the drive, but the ball bounced straight into the hands of another HftH blodger as DC started Turn 4. A nearby block failed, but the blitz killed(!) the ballhandler (who had just earned his 31st spp the turn before, -St via Apo). That's when the HftH dice went south, and skulls rained down with absurd regularity, and the stall (and T8 kick) went without event, 1-0.

A KO'd Hospitaler lino failed to wake up, so 8 HftH faced 9 DC. A snaked GFI for the pickup MNG'd the Ag 5 Thrower to end the Hospitaler turn, and a 1d blitz KO'd a lino to make it 6:9 before Turn 2, the ball guarded by DC on the sideline. But HftH dodged and gfi'd (after using an early team RR) to recover. DC swarmed the ballcarrier, but with the help of Nerves-of-Steel and Blodgestep the Hospitalers elf-balled to the T5 tie score, 1-1.

Turn 5, a very deep kick left 9 DC 4 turns (under a Very Sunny sky) to go almost the entire length of the field against 7 Hospitalers. The gfi for the handoff took the RR, and a following greedy 2d block double-Both-Downed to leave the ballcarrier exposed midfield. It was the Hospitalers' turn to swarm the ballcarrier, and a pow left the ball between 3 HftH, 2 of them blodgesteppers, to start Turn 7. DC could not safely recover, and with men out of position chose to position to stop the loss rather than hope for a win.

Headed for the Hospital had a very odds-against play for the win (including a 6+ catch and then 6+ Pass), and Dark City had a slightly less unlikely double-chainpush to get a man in scoring range, but the 3+ hand-off failed thru RR before the final double-gfi blitz - tie game.”