“Beards Performance Improves with Draw Against Hogtown Hoosiers

Round 2 of the Plata Division pitted the Beards against the Hogtown Hoosiers. The Hoosiers came in with an impressive 5/4/1 record, their only loss coming by the Beards. Roster-wise the team is steadily gaining momentum, with respectable development throughout, and a deep bench of 16 players.

The Hoosiers won the toss and elected to receive. Galla Slender fielded the ball and the Hoosiers found a small crease in the Beard defense and attempted to push through. The positioning was such that the ball was still in a precarious position, the edges of their cage marked, and more Beards looking to close. The Hoosiers tried to push a bit further to a better position, but stumbled and a scrum for the ball ensued. The Beards were in a strong position to turn-over the Hoosiers, but Blitzer Derinoe Vrisa beat the odds. Hogtown managed to clear a path for the downed Blitzer to get off the ground and make a block on the Beard marking the ball. She dropped Belli Bonnlinn, and was able to recover the ball with enough leg to score Turn 3. Of note, the Beards were quite aggressive throughout these turns, but couldn’t manage to do significant damage to Hogtown.

The Beards received with ample time to push for a counter-square, with Belli fielding the ball and working his way towards the line. The Beards were progressing the ball well, while inflicting damage, just as they’d planned. Turn 5 Box Elder made a mistake. The wall marked up heavily into the Hoosier line, but Belli aligned too close to the edge of the scrum, granting a free hit from Jaguar Warrior Dalla Rupen. She managed to drop Belli, and in the scrum for the ball a moment did present itself where Belli had recovered the ball with a lane to break free, but he was caught in his attempt to dodge away.

Down 3 players, the Hoosiers were still able to field a full squad with their reserves in the second half. The Beards received and they went to work thinning the ‘Zons. A deep kick, combined with Belli bobbling the pick-up, left the Beards momentarily in a precarious position as the Hoosiers looked to swarm into the backfield. An over-eager linewomen stopped the charge, as she stumbled in her enthusiasm. The Beards were able to recover and put on several turns of carnage for the delight of the fans, scoring turn 6, the Hoosiers down 9 players.

The Hoosiers fielded 8 players in the final turns of the game, and the Beards were lucky to get a short kick, with an early jump on the ball. Beards fans rose to their feet with the possibility of recovering the onside-kick. An uncharacteristic blocking fail by veteran Arngrimm Addar dashed those hopes. The Hoosiers attempted to rally for the score in the closing turns, but never were able to solidify the contested position of the ball. The game ended in a draw 1-1.

***Turn 2 of the second half Beard Runner Buck Bellwaen was killed following a violent palm strike to the throat by Hoosier Linewomen Anna Hotsprings. Team physicians attempted to revive him on the field. He awoke briefly, but with the inability to move his lower half. Buck told physicians and the staff it was time for him to go. He waved briefly to the crowd until his arm dropped when he was officially pronounced dead.

Coach Buck Comments:

“First, I’d like to express my condolences to the family and friends of Buck. He was a great player, and I believe he went out the way any true Blood Bowl player would like to. He’s had some great moments on this squad. He’ll be missed.

This game went just about according to plan. We made one main mistake with Belli being a bit too close to the edge of our line. That was just a foolish error. Had he been just a couple steps to his left, I’m convinced we walk out of here winners. You never want them to score on defense, but I felt that what they had to do to get that score, and the time we had to score back, I was comfortable with. Another scare second half when Belli missed that pick-up. We’re lucky to have come out of that as clean as we did. The guys did a great job with their physicality, especially Arngrimm, shame he couldn’t make that hit on the on-side kick. Overall, a solid performance by the guys. We just have to see the whole field, and all of the possible lanes they can get to you. The Hoosiers did well. Looking forward to playing them again sometime.”
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