Vipers Win Another

The Tlaxtlan Vipers consolidated their position at the top of table last night with a 2-0 victory over McMurty's Mighty Mooters.

Odds on favourites to win, the Vipers still had to content with the McMurty's Concession Stand that has become such a fixture in the Mooters' bag of tricks. This week, in addition to usual delicious fare for which the McMurty Master Chief is renowned, there was also a range of Lustrian delicacies - boiled fish heads, fried beetles, and a slug and seaweed stew - all designed to distract a hungry team of Lizards. The Halflings also infiltrated the Vipers warm-up session to introduce some Bad Habits into the Lizards' game.

The Halflings won toss and elected to receive. As the ball was kicked down field, the delicious smells of the Lizards' favourite foods wafted across the field, making it particularly hard for them to concentrate on the game. The Halflings grabbed the ball and began their drive with a Short Pass and a dash up the sidelines. The Vipers defence quickly converged and the ball was knocked loose when Bungo Heathertoes failed to Dodge past the Vipers defenders. The ball was scooped up by Eztli who took off up field and he ran all the way into the End Zone for a TD. The restart saw some poor handling by the Halflings deep in their own half but this was more than compensated by Twiggy Shakebranch's king hit on Ixtli-Alt that knock the Kroxigor off the pitch.

The second half began with the (slightly diminished) smell of delicious food still filling the stadium- but only eight Mooters able to take the field. Throughout the match the Halflings showed a great reluctance to come back into the game after being KO'd. Xipatli grabbed the ball from the kick-off and he rushed down field. The skies above his head were soon filled with Halflings launched by the Treemen try to stop the Vipers drive. Although Xipatli eluded this aerial assault - his dash for the End Zone came undone when he unsuccessfully tried to Blitz his way through to the End Zone. A scramble for the loose ball soon developed with Halflings continuing to dive-bomb area around the ball - Mextlu falling victim to one fat Halfling who fell directly on top of him. But, despite their best efforts, the Mooters could not stop Eztli from eventually picking up the ball and carrying it into the End Zone.

The restart saw only four Mooters take to the field as all the KOs decided to stay indoors (and, no doubt, sample some of that Lustrian cuisine). So it was time to attempt everyone's favourite play - the One-Turn-Halfling-Toss-TD. It began well with a clean pick-up and hand-off to Griffo Clubfoot, who was thrown down field where he made a perfect landing - next to a Saurus! Unfortunately he failed to Dodge his way clear for the TD.

Thanks to Jeff for the game - always a great opponent and Halflings are such a fun team. The Biff was, not surprisingly, very one sided. However, the Lizards accounted for less than half the casualties suffered by the Mooters - four fell to the Vipers, four were "self-inflicted" and one casualty was caused by the crowd!

Dave

(aka Axebreaker)