It was a beautifully sunny but gusty day, on the pitch to start the match. Nineteen thousand fans showed at the Hillside Hawks stadium; mostly rowdy and boisterous as they were sopped in bugmans beer. The Manglers had won the coin toss and elected to punt. At kickoff, the crowds cheering reached a fever pitch and one would have wondered if it was the wind or the fans screaming which affected the bounce of the ball. Whether Nuffle was in the can or not, fate would have the ball gently land into the awaiting hands of the elves with nary a step taken. The Hillside Hawks made a series of furiously frustrating Elvish moves and expectable dodges- which high elf or not, has engendered disdain for elves overall- and positioned themselves unscathed. In a blink, the Monrovia Manglers were left staring at each other with be-deviled elves on both sides of the 50 by the end of their turn. The Manglers, an expansion team this year, made great efforts to cobble together any defense. Off balance and out of position, the fans- not to mention the coach- had difficulty understanding the Manglers desperate efforts to stem the tide. On the elves second turn, the Hawks made some basic blocks shredding any remnant of the Mangler defense leaving players with open field ahead of them. The Elvish ball handler trotted past the 50 yard line, tiptoeing for finesse, and made a flawless lightning ‘quick snap’ pass to his receiver. Moments later, the Hillside Hawks were in the end-zone ‘prancing’, and the Manglers hung their heads as they made their way back to the line of scrimmage.
No one said Nuffle didn’t have a sense of humor. After both sides had setup, and the crowds jeering had settled to a low ruckus, the expertly placed Elvish kickoff was masterfully coordinated. One would have almost thought that the Hawk players were way ahead of the kicker as the ball had not even landed when 5 elves were 20 yards deep on the Manglers half. A perfect kickoff blitz had once again left the Manglers stunned and bewildered at the speed of the elves. A dinky bounce, a smirk from Nuffle, and suspicion of a loaded ball left it in the Manglers endzone by the time they had come to. Again, off the back foot the Manglers tried to position themselves in cover positions in efforts to slow down the Hawks. A deep Mangler lineman spotted the ball. With his eyes slim and focused he made a mad dash for it. He closed the distance quickly and ferociously attacked the ball. The Mangler rookie must have oiled his boots with his gloves. Despite trying to strangle the ball in his mitts, the Mangler player only managed to have the ball squirt out of his hands as he shot past head first with it not in his possession. It rained beer for a moment as the fans could not contain their laughter despite mouths full of ale. Nuffle chuckled, and the Mangler coach nearly killed a Halfling intern when he threw his clipboard. The Monrovia Manglers were bewildered.
Opportunistic as they were, the Hillside Hawks attacked the timid and vulnerable opponent. As furious as an itchy minotaur- or sober deathrolla for that matter- an elf lineman with dreams of superstardom laid everything on the line to blast a Mangler lineman out of his boots. Forgetting his leather based armor and oblong helmet, reality came crashing down as he smashing himself on the iron breast plate of the opponent lineman. The elf crumpled to the ground with a broken neck and was removed from the pitch by gobo paramedics. The crowd roared for the injury and jeered and spat at the medical staff. For a moment it was unsure if the fans had come to see the Hillside Hawks win or just to see violence. The Monrovia Mangler coach raised his head from the palms of his hands as he was curious about the crowd noise. The glimmer of hope was quickly squashed as the Hawks maintained a stranglehold on the situation. Despite an opportunity presenting itself, the Mangler Oger-instructed to blitz from the sideline by the coronary red coach- was enthralled by a piece of wafting confetti and boneheaded into a glazed stare. For a moment its beastly lips cracked a smile and it laughed; the medical staff rushed to restrain the Monrovia Mangler coach as he was clubbing his Halfling intern with an Orcade bottle; Nuffle chuckled. The Hawks, with the resolve of a thirsty Vampire with a thrall in sight, decidedly struck the death knell. In a series of surgical precision blocks, the Hawks again effortlessly wrestled the ball away from the Manglers and found the endzone. At the end of the 4th turn of the 1st half, the score stood Hawks 2, Manglers 0.
You had to have been there. The Monrovia Manglers managed to tumble toward the endzone enough to have scraped back a touchdown in the 1st half. It was long and drawn out and the fans yawned at the defensive struggle. With no causalities or significant plays, they looked at each other and scratched their heads and the Manglers dis-coordinated offense. It was no guess what they were thinking; they were boggled at what awaited them in the second half. The crowd welcomed the halftime whistle as some of the troll fans had relieved themselves in the stands without a care. The dwarves darted away to get their next ‘triple pints’ ales.
In the second half, the Hillside Hawks Coach thinking the game was over, replaced the bludgeoned Halfling intern - and guided the Monrovia Manglers during what he thought was an after the game training scrimmage. Which led to an 8 turn touchdown ending the game in a 2-2 draw. This was not charity nor did too much mercy enter the heart of the Hawks coach. From the Manglers sideline, he ordered a 4 man block against the Mangler Ogre knocking him on his face. Seeing the Ogre still moving on the ground, he ordered a Hawk lineman make a leaping stomp on his neck. Despite the malevolence and determination, the Ogre spent the final turn looking up at the sky looking at goblin shapes in the clouds; unscathed.
| Posted Tue Feb 28 2012 20:06:49 (last edited Wed Feb 29 2012 11:55:35) by daloonieshaman |
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