We Conceded Points
The title is there just rile up those in other groups looking at a tremendous Dragonflies team continuing where it left off in WB39.
The Dragonflies continue the winning streak that extends all the way until that ill-fated knockout matchup versus Drawkland in World Bowl 39. Since then, the team has won the 4 group games at this edition, as well as a handful of knockout games in the double elimination format. Something else that has held through for all that time, is the sheer dominance of the defence: that said, Kohnhead have finally found a way to breach that. Not once, but twice. Two field goals in all, a 22-yarder and a 29-yarder. That still means that no team has made it into our endzone in 9 games: again, the four games so far at the current tournament as well as both finals versus the Free Republics, the Drawkish semifinal, and two shutouts versus Newmanistan and Cassadaigua earlier in those playoffs. Ironically it's that other iron-clad defensive team, Taeshan, who have last managed to score on our defence. So, on a 10-game win streak, the team is... not exactly riding the hot hand into the sunset. Not only was offensive coordinator Hardman forced to deal with the retirement of long-time starter Reeman, he even went so far as to bench Plasman after the quarterback couldn't lead the team to glory. The staff instead went for Plan B, which was already finalised in case something like this happpened, involving Arerira and a run-first offence.
Plasman started in the first two games and led his offence to one offensive score across two games, being outscored by both other units on the team. Ahead of the Nagore game - which was seen as a bit of an exhibition game ahead of the clashes with Kohnhead, and more importantly, the #1 offence of Saint Kanye, Hardman implemented a new look with Arerira running a lot of option plays: keep it yourself, hand it off to Thorebourne or Galway, or even hand it off to fullback Wilson, or an end around to either a tight end (typically Tharadhen, sometimes Suthmeer) or a wide receiver (Head and Whitlock). If all else fails, you should still have an open target further upfield: either one of the named recievers and tight ends, or one of the X-receivers - the real heavyweights in most offences - Junga, Welsh, or Junstarin. With Arerira, nearly every skill position player will get snaps, aiming to spread the ball around, on the ground, through the air, and getting tackled inbounds as much as possible to keep that clock running. Take a lead, rely on the defence, and get that game clock to triple zeroes.
Nagore turned out to be the perfect team to run this against: they had their defence kitted out perfectly for a Plasman-style West Coast look, but throughout the game subbed out their small, agile defenders for harder hitters. And it worked. Not only did the defence face just 9 drives througout the game (instead of 16 and 15 in the games prior), they gave up just 5 first downs all day. On the other hand, Arerira used his 10 drives perfectly for 22 points in total. That's two touchdowns and three field goals - with Bennett missing one conversion. The offence recorded 502 yards, 280 of those rushing. And it wasn't just the running backs feasting on the defence, either. Thorebourne had a 41-yard run for longest of the day to finish on 118, sure, and Galway added 49 yards by himself, but Arerira, Wilson, Tharadhen, and Whitlock all rushed for over 20 yards. Tharadhen did so on a single end-around, and Whitlock took two touches (adding no receptions today). The Aerellen Explosions quarterback was moderately successful through the air, attempting 29 throws, completing just 14 (one area where Plasman was certainly better), for 222 yards - exploiting a stacked box and a near-empty secondary almost every time. When in doubt, hand it off, basically. Welsh had a 70-yard catch, evading one tackle and simply outsprinting the other defenders for a touchdown as the highlight of the day.
Don't forget that Nagore prematurely ended three of their drives on turnovers, too. Guildeforde recovered a fumble at the opponent 48 to set up a short field. The other two came on Ko-orenite territory: an interception in the endzone to end the second quarter, and another pick at the 30 yard line (returned to Nagore's 46).
When it all couldn't go any better, the defence was finally breached by Kohnhead in the fourth game of the group stage. Arerira continues to lead the offence with some success, but throwing two interceptions certainly didn't help. It was to the secondary's credit that the opponents couldn't get into the endzone, though they came close. Key penalties set them back from 10 and goal to 20, 25 and goal, but otherwise it was all on the linebackers.
At 4-0, the Dragonflies now play the third-ranked team of the group, Saint Kanye. Just losing out to Abanhfleft relegates them to that spot on head to head, but don't ignore the fact that Saint Kanye are (by far) the most scoring team in this World Bowl so far. Where we put 22 on Nagore, they beat them by 20 scoring 37 points. They scored 20 in a 40-20 loss to Abanhfleft. Luckily they don't seem to be in the same form as at the start of this tournament, when they rolled Buffalostan off the field 44-0 days after destroying Kohnhead 40-10. Our defence is warned. Arerira is warned. This is the biggest test so far, and a win here should not only see our win-loss record go to an incredible 5-0, but also fights off two direct rivals for the knockouts on head to head records.
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