Duel in the Drainpipe

The second of two challenge matches this weekend saw the Fly-By Knights answer the challenge put forth by the Blackwater Bilgerunners. These two well-rounded and experienced squads did battle in the Tidybowl to the delight of nearly twenty-five thousand fans.

Having won the coin toss, the Skaven would receive to open the game. Both teams were given inspiring speeches from their coaches before taking the field, and the resolve in the eyes of both man and mouse reflected their determination. When the kick from the Knights sailed out of bounds, the ball went to Fivel Mausketrap, quarterback and team captain of the Bilgerunners. Starting their advance with sound blocking, linerat Stumptail knocked out Knights' captain Karl Von Uberstamp. Taking immediate advantage of the momentum this caused, Mausketrap threw a pass to the nimble Dingleberry. The Knights worked to settle the score in terms of numbers as Barglesnart Livingstone sent Stumptail off for a brief nap, and Wamsley Wedgeworth, playing in the secondary, threw a block on Dingleberry. The hit succeeded, and the ball flew free, but Wedgeworth was down as well, and spent the rest of the game asleep. Not more than a few seconds later, O'Rattigan the rat ogre collided with Barglesnart Livingstone and both giants fell to the earth, with O'Rattigan getting the worse of the impact.

Rising from where he fell, Livingstone backhanded Brutus the Skaven blitzer, causing him to fall onto the ball and knock it away. Throwing caution to the wind, Fivel Mausketrap showed his leadership quality by charging into the fray and recovering the ball, then tossing it to a suddenly-open Twinkletoes, who scampered his way to the game's first point.

On the following kickoff, despite a gust of wind carrying the ball further than he'd anticipated, Lance Freely tracked it down and threw a clean pass to receiver Brad Attitûd, who took moved up the middle of the field into protective support. His timing was off as he made his cut to the sideline, however, and Attitûd fell forward, losing the ball. Linerat Krunch pounced on it, and looked to make a desperate pass before getting pummeled by a quartet of Knights linemen. The pass was tipped by Cyrano de Baggagerack, and nearly caught by Victor Dashing. Almost every Knight on the field was in tight against the skaven, but the hard-working Abraham Sandwich got free and got his hands on the prize. Looking for a target of his own, Sandwich saw Stanley Steele streaking down the sideline, and launched the ball his way. Steel made the catch, and was untouched en route to the end zone, tying the score at one apiece.

The Knights' kicking difficulties continued to plague them as their kickoff once again sailed out of bounds. A quick snap on the first play of the drive further confused them, and the Bilgerunners took full advantage of the miscue. Brutus stormed across the line of scrimmage, knocking out a bewildered Cyrano de Baggagerack. With little coverage on his receivers, Fivel Mausketrap calmly lobbed the ball to Dingleberry, who made his bid for the highlight reel by leaping directly over top of Barglesnart Livingstone. Only one other player has even attempted to vault this meaty mound of ogre, and you may recall Ol' Teabagger crashing pelvis-first into his helmet and spinning end over end into the dirt. No such problem for Dingleberry, who landed with ease and was well on his way.

Dingleberry wasn't the only player on his way, which the gutter runner soon discovered. Abraham Sandwich was on the spot once again, landing a solid block on the skaven and sending the ball bouncing away. What followed was another little miracle for the Knights' defense, as rookie lineman Humphrey Bogatyr gathered the ball up, saw that he was mere seconds from being munched by O'Rattigan, and launched a long bomb down the pitch, into the waiting arms of fellow lineman Max Limit. In a flash, Chet Jackweed was downfield as well, lending support to the unlikely receiver. The Bilgerunners weren't far behind, however, and Stumptail made a great tackle to slow the Knights' advance, knocking down Limit and freeing up the ball for Piddlepaw to grab. Piddlepaw couldn't get a handle on it, though, and it came back to Chet Jackweed. Jackweed was nearly in the clear, but as he moved to break away from the skaven, his foot caught in Piddlepaw's cape and he fell to the ground as time ran out in the first half.

The Bilgerunner had put a stop to the Knights' defensive rush, but how would they fare against their offense? As they kicked off, the answer seemed to be "pretty well, actually". Calling for the blitz, the skaven scurried across the line of scrimmage and made a break for the ball. Lance Freely got there first though, and managed a pass under pressure to Brad Attitûd, streaking down the outside on a familiar route. Squeesplat was quick to move into pursuit of the catcher, and Twistknee earned a cheer as he crashed headlong into Chet Jackweed before the blitzer could run to his teammate's aid, mangling the human slightly. Even without the support, Attitûd was able to scramble away from Squeesplat and high-stepped over the goal line to give the Fly-By Knights the lead.

Unshaken by the Knights' touchdown, the Bilgerunners' coaching staff rallied their troops and sent them out on the field with a similar quick-scoring play in mind. The one snag in the pan came as Fivel Mausketrap's pass to Piddlepaw was bobbled and dropped. With humans bearing down on him from all sides, it seemed that Piddlepaw might meet his end - until O'Rattigan showed up, fuming with animal rage and swatting Knights aside as if they were small figurines. With the only breathing down his neck coming from his lumbering teammate, Piddlepaw regained his footing and took the ball quickly down to tie the score at two.

The Knights still had a chance to win, but the clock was running out fast. Their desperation translated to heightened awareness on the line of scrimmage, and the humans were up and moving the ball before the skaven could react. Lance Freely hit Brad Attitûd for his third completion of the day, and his target charged headlong down the field while the Knight line did its best to hold. Their effort in that regard suffered mightily as O'Rattigan's continued frenzy enabled him to plow through Barglesnart Livingstone, knocking the ogre out cold. In light of this change in strength dynamic, the Knights shuffled their playbook a bit, and Brad Attitûd handed off to lineman Abraham Sandwich in order to deflect the rat ogre's wrath to a stronger target. Sandwich took the hits that came, and lost the ball as a result, but remained in the game. Now came another lineman, Solomon Squatz, who found the ball and lobbed it back to Attitûd, who made his cut back inside and hurried down the middle of the pitch, but fell not halfway to his goal. Lance Freely moved in to try to recover the ball, but couldn't hold on amidst half a dozen skaven. The match ended in a draw as Jenner threw a quick pass out to Stumptail, who was too far from the end zone to score in time.

The match MVPs for this 2-2 draw were the hideously disturbing Gurglegasp of the Blackwater Bilgerunners, and catcher Brad Attitûd of the Fly-By Knights. Stanley "Stainless" Steele earns a nod as well, for a remarkable burst of speed in his first half touchdown run. Next for the Bilgerunners is another challenge - this time issued by the Smash and Go'nads. The Knights will host the Pancake Valley Shortstacks at Valor Keepe Stadiumme.