Vipers Out of Contention

The Tlaxtlan Vipers' missed their last chance to make finals last night when they were defeated by the Cruor Conventio 2-1

The game was almost a metaphor for the last half of the Vipers season - some bad luck combined with some poor Coaching decisions ran smack-bang into high quality opposition - leaving the lizards on the bottom half of the score card!

The Dark Elves won the toss and quickly advanced runners down both flanks. The Conventio refused to allow themselves to be deterred by the glaring sunlight and Evender Despair led his team in an aggressive passing game throughout the match. Despair's first pass found Lucian Bileclaw - but the Dark Elf Blitzer failed to dodge clear of the defenders. The loose ball was caught by Itztica who raced down field where a simple hand-off would have put the Vipers across the line - but the ball was dropped by Xipatli (double 1). The Dark Elves regained the ball and Evender Despair launched another pass that was caught by Messive Holocaust who carried it to the very edge of the End Zone. Some desperate defence by the Vipers knocked Holocaust to the ground - but the loose ball scattered into the hands of Leticia Nightsworn who dashed through Lizard defence to score the opening TD.

An unruly crowd started throwing debris on the pitch at the restart resulting in Nezahualcoyotl being carried off the pitch badly hurt before the ball hit the ground. Worse was to follow as the Vipers not only failed in their attempt to pick-up the ball but also lost their Kroxigor, Ixtli-Atl, who had his collar bone smashed (and career ended) in a big hit from Lucian Bileclaw (the Vipers Apothecary attempts to heal the injury nearly killed the big lizard). Nevertheless, Vipers, eventually got the ball off the ground and showed what they can do when they don't fail hand-offs and dodges - with Itztica racing over the line to level the score.

The second half began with more basic ball-handling errors by the Vipers - as the initial attempts to pick up the ball failed - and when they finally succeed - Xipatli dropped yet another hand-off. The ball was quickly scooped by the Dark Elves and a quick pass and a hand-off (the Conventio players mocking the lizardmen in the ease with which they performed all these actions) moved the ball almost the length of the field in the blink of an eye. Leticia Nightsworn declined to take the first opportunity to score as the Dark Elves staged a mini-stall. But she soon crossed the line for her second point of the day.

The restart saw the Vipers coaching staff lose the plot completely - no doubt, after last week, they were so busy counting the number of opponents on the field that they forgot to take note of their own diminished numbers. Skinks raced down-field to put themselves into positions to score right on the siren BUT no one remained in the backfield to actually pick-up the ball!! The embarrassment of this development was somewhat mitigated by the fact that all the Skinks within scoring distance where knocked down or surrounded by Dark Elves.

Thanks to Michael for the game - and the best luck in the finals.

The Vipers also bid farewell to their long suffering Kroxigor, who has elected to take early retirement after permanently damaging his shoulder. His was a career of unfulfilled promises (stuck on 15 SPPs since Rd 13), coupled with appalling personal injuries - sustaining a Smashed Collar Bone (-1 ST), Smashed Ankle (-1 MV) and a Damaged Back (Niggling) during the course of the season .

(Team poster still in the works)

Dave

(aka Axebreaker)