“CIBBL - Y7, Autumn - Silver Division: round 7:

To prepare the season’s last game Timaris Stormwing, headcoach of Modryn’s Midnight Meddlers, was considering his tactical options over a glass of mulled wine. On the table a minuscule box lay open, containing a mysterious powder. Meanwhile Aery, the Meddlers’ newly recruited cheerleader, was standing behind the coach to massage his temples so that he could ease his mind. Seated in a brown leather armchair, Timaris closed his eyes and allowed his mind to drift away for a minute, enjoying the rhythmic rubbing of Aery’s trained fingers. The peace was suddenly disturbed when Mereia, the assistant-coach entered the room. “Having a good time, boss?”, she addressed Timaris, lowering her shades and raising an eyebrow. “Actually yes”, Timaris replied, opening his eyes with a sigh. “Until you decided to end it”, he continued, raising himself out of the chair. As Timaris slowly walked towards the central table made out of polished mahogany, Mereia followed him. “In case you forgot, we still have a game to prepare”, the assistant-coach stated, pulling Timaris’ attention to matters at hand. “Of course we do”, Timaris responded, “the game against the Stone Prince’s Men”, he continued. “Glad you didn’t forget”, Mereia said, grabbing a document from the table, her eyes fixed on the paper. “I need to submit the player’s list”, she continued while turning towards the door. “Be my guest”, Timaris offered, but Mereia had already left the room, as suddenly as she had entered. Retaking his seat in the leather armchair, Timaris focused his attention on Aery once more. “So, my dear, where were we?”

The next day Timaris, dressed in his favorite green gown, excitedly took his place at the Meddlers’ bench. Mereia finished her last instructions to the team before leaving the pitch. She adjusted her cap backwards, ordered her first martini of the evening and installed herself on the bench as well. Seconds later the referee blew his whistle to announce the kick-off. The Meddlers faced the Stone Prince’s Men, who received the ball in the first half. After several turns of cautiously advancing the cage, Ethandril – one of the Meddlers’ wardancers – decided to leap into the cage. He wrestled down the ballcarrier and freed the ball. More elves joined in until eventually Nimrodel lithely somersaulted towards the ball, picked it up, dodged free and prepared to lob it forward towards a safe spot. That didn’t work though. Nimrodel paid the price of his insolent move one turn earlier and got blitzed and badly hurt, allowing the Border Princes an easy recovery of the ball. Hauclir, the Meddlers’ thrower received a punch in the face as well and was knocked out. Timaris urged his Meddlers to regroup and reorganize. Another turn later Syrabeth profited from a gap created by her teammates and managed to blitz the ballcarrier and free the ball. It wasn’t enough though. Next turn the Border Princes recovered it again and ran in the opening score: 0-1. On the bench Timaris cursed under his breath, as his defense had ultimately been broken. Perfect Defense ruined every chance of a one-turner.

The second half started with the Meddlers receiving. Both Hauclir and Nimrodel, as well as two line-elves, were out of the game, which gave Timaris cause for concern. Mereia remained optimistic however, ordered a refill and stretched her fingers. The wood elves aimed at a quick score to equalize, so that enough time would remain on the clock to steal the ball and seal the win. The Meddlers targeted the right flank and forced a breakthrough. Two catchers slipped through, enough to score the equalizer one turn later: 1-1 in turn two of the second half. Meanwhile Hauclir had recovered his senses and would be ready for the next drive.

A deep kick and a quadruple skull on one of the first blocks of the Stone Prince’s Men allowed the Meddlers to put a lot of forward pressure. The Border Princes still had a wizard though. Nevertheless, the wood elves advanced. The ball was too far away, but one turn later Ethandril repeated his trick of the first half. He leapt into the cage and wrestled down the ballcarrier. Isilvar followed and even managed to pick up the ball. For a second a manic grin appeared on Timaris’ face, until the opposition sent in their wizard and transformed poor Isilvar into a toad. Worse, the ball landed straight into the hands of a border prince! Timaris’ grin transformed into a spasm, but Mereia offered him her drink to ease his nerve. Things got complicated, as the ball was evacuated to a newly formed cage, but somehow Syrabeth managed to liberate it once more. The ball landed badly though and was lost again. One turn later the Meddlers stole the ball for the fourth time. Kivan ran towards the endzone and Hauclir recovered the ball. With a strong throw he launched it towards the lineman. The whole stadium had caught its breath, witnessing such extraordinary skillful play of the elves. Aery, high up on her dancing platform, already prepared to start the Meddlers’ victory dance. And then the incredible happened. Kivan missed the catch! How could that happen? What would have been the cherry on the cake became instead a sour cookie! Mereia heard something snap, it could have been Timaris’ nerves.

Meanwhile on the pitch the game wasn’t over yet. Chances had once more dramatically turned. Now the Stone Prince’s Men smelled victory was within their grasp. Luckily for the Meddlers they also carried butter on their hands. The last catch was missed so that the game ended in a draw!

The Meddlers end their season on the third place after some ups and downs with a 3/3/1 record. Two draws, including this one, stood out in terms of ball stealing. Nine times the ball was stolen from a cage in those two games. But it didn't suffice to seal the win. All in all a solid season.
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