World Bowl XLIV (44) - Everything Thread

[New Gesem]

The Gesemite Constitution

Preamble
We as the patriarchs and leaders of the people of the valley of the Gesem River, gathered in the City of Alexandria, do ordain and establish this constitution for the Commonwealth of New Gesem, that our children might live free, prosperous, and unmolested by influences foreign or malign.

Article I: Bill of Rights
The following rights shall extend to all people residing in the valley of the Gesem River, and any law or compact abridging them be null and void:

First, the right of entering into contract with any person capable of understanding the terms in their entirety
Second, the right to freely traverse the navigable portions of the Gesem River and its tributaries
Third, the right to keep and bear arms
Fourth, the right to dwell and remain in the family home, purchased in good faith, irrespective of liens, debts, and torts

Article II: Elections
Section 1
A general election shall be held annually on the first day of spring. At a minimum, the following issues shall be on every ballot:

No less than one-fifth of the “at-large” seats in the Assembly
No less than one-fifth of each city’s allotment of Assembly members
No less than one seat in the Executive
All taxes applied to a given jurisdiction

Section 2
No person shall participate in a general election who has not reached the age of twenty-one years; resided in the valley of the Gesem River for at least five consecutive years prior to election day; and who does not own a detached house suitable for dwelling, either solely or jointly with a spouse.

Section 3
No tax shall apply to any person residing in the valley of the Gesem River that applies not to the whole, with the exception of those taxes imposed by the governments of Alexandria, Alexandroupolis, Constantinople, Rosetta, and Thebes, upon those dwelling within those cities' boundaries.

Article III: The Executive
Section I
There shall be elected an executive, not to exceed five members, to convene in the City of Alexandria and perform the duties of government as follows:

To represent the Commonwealth and the people of the valley of the Gesem River to the outside world
To serve as joint commanders-in-chief of the military
To veto any legislation passed by the Assembly that is deemed contrary to the will of the people
To review all decisions of the Courts and, by unanimous vote only, pardon those it believes wrongly convicted
To design and construct, with the advice and consent of the Assembly, the bureaucratic apparatus necessary to ensure the efficient conduct of the Commonwealth’s business

Section II
The members of the executive shall be elected for five-year terms, staggered such that one seat is contested in every general election

Section III
No action shall be taken by the Executive or on its behalf except by a majority vote with at least three “yea” votes.

In wartime, a single member of the Executive may be appointed sole Commander-in-Chief by unanimous approval of the Executive and a two-thirds vote of the Assembly.

When a member of the Executive is unable to attend to his or her duties, he or she may appoint a proxy to serve for no more than ninety days, subject to unanimous approval of the Executive and a two-thirds vote of the Assembly.

Section IV
Members of the Executive shall serve their full five-year term, except in the following cases:

When they die or resign voluntarily for reasons of health or conscience
When they are impeached by a unanimous Executive and two-thirds majority of the Assembly
When they are unable to perform their duties for a period exceeding eighty-nine days

In each case, the Assembly shall convene and elect by plurality an interim member of the Executive to serve until a general election can be called. An interim member may perform all duties of the Executive, but may only vote in the event of a tie of the remaining members.

Article IV: The Assembly
Section 1
There shall be convened in the City of Alexandria an Assembly not to exceed one hundred members, apportioned as follows:

Five each shall be elected by the cities of Alexandria, Alexandroupolis, Constantinople, Rosetta, and Thebes. The time, place, and manner of these elections is at the discretion of the governments of those cities.
Seventy-five shall be elected “at-large”, by proportional representation, to represent the remainder of the people of the valley of the Gesem River.

Section 2
The Assembly shall solely hold the power to pass laws, declare war, and approve government officials appointed by the Executive. In each case, it shall do so by simple majority of fifty-one votes, save for those cases outlined in Articles III and V which require a two-thirds majority.

Article V: The Courts
Section 1
There shall be convened a High Court of no fewer than three, but as many justices as the Executive cares to nominate. High Court justices shall serve for life once appointed and confirmed by the Assembly. The number of justices may be expanded at the discretion of the Executive; however, the nominations of justices to fill new seats is subject to two-thirds approval of the Assembly.

Section 2
The High Court may choose to hear cases in whole, or may separate into panels of not less than three justices to hear multiple cases simultaneously. The Executive may nominate lower courts as part of the plan of government, subject to the approval of the Assembly, in which case the High Court shall retain appellate jurisdiction. Additionally, the High Court shall retain appellate jurisdiction over the civic courts of Alexandria, Alexandroupolis, Consantinople, Rosetta, and Thebes.

[South Newlandia]

Day six cutoff for Groups A-D. Reminder that tomorrow is another scheduled off-day, before Groups A-D move on to play their final group stage games in Ranoria. Also, Music.


Teams in blue are guranteed a spot in the Round of 16, while teams in red are out of the running for the knockouts.

Group A

Anthor 27–13 Lisander
South Americanastan 17–23 Ranoria

P Group A              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Ranoria                6   5  1  165 114 +51    0.833
2 Anthor                 6   4  2  147 157 −10    0.667
3 South Americanastan    6   2  4  127 127   0    0.333
4 Lisander               6   1  5   88 129 −41    0.167

Group B

TJUN-ia 44–13 HUElavia
Rocky Canada 20–3 Theofficialjapan

P Group B              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 TJUN-ia                6   5  1  160 111 +49    0.833
2 HUElavia               6   4  2  153 107 +46    0.667
3 Rocky Canada           6   3  3  133 124  +9    0.500
4 Theofficialjapan       6   0  6   65 169 −104   0.000

Group C

Kriegiersien 38–0 Gyatso-kai
Drawkland 44–10 StrayaRoos

P Group C              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Kriegiersien           6   4  2  146 116 +30    0.667
2 Drawkland              6   4  2  169  80 +89    0.667
3 Gyatso-kai             6   3  3  127 172 −45    0.500
4 StrayaRoos             6   1  5  125 199 −74    0.167

Group D

Ko-oren 19–7 New Gesem
Greater Cebu 10–3 Bendicon

P Group D              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Ko-oren                6   5  1  130  50 +80    0.833
2 New Gesem              6   4  2  178 110 +68    0.667
3 Bendicon               6   2  4  106 158 −52    0.333
4 Greater Cebu           6   1  5   71 167 −96    0.167

[Chromatika]

World Bowl 44 - Matchday 5

Team            1Q  2Q  3Q  4Q  |  Tot  
Chromatika       9  28   6  10  |   53
Mon Sold        17   6  10   0  |   33

1Q
14:10 MSD TD - Albino Coste 22 yard run (Jesse Gouvela Kick)
10:50 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 49 yard Field Goal
08:02 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 41 yard Field Goal
07:22 MSD TD - Albino Coste 41 yard run (Jesse Gouvela Kick)
04:01 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 50 yard Field Goal
01:11 MSD FG - Jesse Gouvela 33 yard Field Goal

2Q
13:29 MSD FG - Jesse Gouvela 29 yard Field Goal
11:58 MSD FG - Jesse Gouvela 48 yard Field Goal
08:03 CMT TD - Alessandra Mio 66 yard pass from Sarai Gwenderyn (Dwayne Markseon Kick)
07:42 CMT TD - Niles Gwivern 32 yard pass from Sarai Gwenderyn (Dwayne Markseon Kick)
06:14 CMT TD - Victoria Mio 41 yard interception return (Dwayne Markseon Kick)
05:01 CMT TD - Sarai Gwenderyn 11 yard run (Dwayne Markseon Kick)

3Q
12:11 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 50 yard Field Goal
09:33 MSD TD - Albino Coste 21 yard run (Jesse Gouvela Kick)
05:28 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 41 yard Field Goal
01:48 MSD FG - Jesse Gouvela 43 yard Field Goal

4Q
07:54 CMT TD - Lana Rhodes 18 yard run (Dwayne Markseon Kick)
02:39 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 38 yard Field Goal

Venue: Henza Center, D'rea, Capital District, Chromatika

When asked why the Iron Legion have a chance at winning the World Bowl, point to the three-minute stretch of play in the second quarter where they scored four touchdowns in a span of three minutes. First, Alessandra Mio caught a bomb from Sarai Gwenderyn, something that the two have been doing very often throughout this World Bowl. Then, a fumble on the ensuing kickoff - knocked out by Jere Rinaldi, who also loves playing special teams - led to Niles Gwivern getting a nice out pass. They then forced a third-and-eleven, where Victoria Mio jumped the route to score a defensive touchdown. After another three-and-out where Chromatika stopped two passes, Sarai Gwenderyn herself led a drive where she carried the ball in herself to stop the twenty-eight point run.

It is the second straight fifty-three point scoring spree for the Iron Legion, who's been really coming around. Now, they'll have a chance against United Adaikes before heading to South Newlandia for the last three games before the playoffs, having all but secured that. Going from 21 points to 29 to 30 to back to back 53 means that the offense is starting to roll - and hopefully, it'll continue to run hot.

[Ranoria]

Cutoff for the Ranorian Half!

Group E

Abanhfleft 17–23 Bongo Johnson
Kavanis 33–40 Banija

P Group E                     Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Banija                        6   5  1  258 148 +110    0.833
2 Bongo Johnson                 6   3  3  120 144 −24    0.500
3 Abanhfleft                    6   2  4  134 188 −54    0.333
4 Kavanis                       6   2  4  169 201 −32    0.333

Group F

Venmere 27–30 Delaclava
Kyhun 13–44 Sarzonia

P Group F                     Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Sarzonia                      6   5  1  133  46 +87    0.833
2 Delaclava                     6   5  1  165  70 +95    0.833
3 Venmere                       6   2  4  113 106  +7    0.333
4 Kyhun                         6   0  6   26 215 −189    0.000

Group G

United Adaikes 7–17 Chromatika
Mon Sold 36–31 Kohnhead

P Group G                     Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Chromatika                    6   5  1  203 117 +86    0.833
2 Mon Sold                      6   4  2  167 177 −10    0.667
3 Kohnhead                      6   3  3  198 168 +30    0.500
4 United Adaikes                6   0  6   66 172 −106    0.000

Group H

State of Imperial Russia 10–24 Quebec and Shingoryeo
Saint Kanye 63–16 South Newlandia

P Group H                     Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Saint Kanye                   6   4  2  182  98 +84    0.667
2 Quebec and Shingoryeo         6   4  2  138 124 +14    0.667
3 South Newlandia               6   4  2  162 167  −5    0.667
4 State of Imperial Russia      6   0  6   79 172 −93    0.000

[Saint Kanye]

Two more weeks, two different results. The St. Kanye Surge reasserted their dominance over the team from the State of Imperial Russia in World Bowl XLIV, beating them 26-10 on the road, only to fall 20-6 a week later to the Quebec and Shingoryeo Grim Reapers who were looking to avenge their Matchday 2 loss to them.

Those two results dragged the Yeezies down to 3-2, with the South Newlandia Elephants being the new leaders of Group H at 4-1. "This simply won't do," said Surge head coach Jeff Delphine. "We're ranked higher than everyone else in the group, so people are looking for us to top it, and so we must strive to do so. We can't let ourselves get upset any more than we already have, especially not by such large margins."

---

1Q STK Sherman 60 run (Rasputin kick) STK 7-0
Noah Sherman started off the scoring with a huge run that saw him break several tackles and jog backwards, unopposed, to the end zone.

1Q SIR WR2 20 pass from QB1 (K kick) Tie 7-7
A few plays later, the Imperial Russian quarterback connected with their secondary receiver to tie things up at one touchdown apiece.

2Q STK field goal Rasputin 34 STK 10-7
2Q STK Fredericks 28 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 17-7
The Surge then scored ten unanswered points in the second quarter, first a field goal by the ever-accurate James Rasputin and then a splendid catch by rookie Deshawn Fredericks off a quick throw by R.J. Linetti.

3Q SIR field goal K 30 STK 17-10
The home team cut the lead back to seven as their kicker sank an FG in the third period.

4Q STK Dobler 55 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 24-10
On third and 17, Linetti hooked up with Bruce Dobler, his primary receiver, who made the left-handed catch for a first down and didn't stop running from there.

4Q STK Safety, Carver tackled RB1 in end zone STK 26-10
The SIR were faced with a long field due to a bad kickoff return, and only went backwards due to the Surge blitz taking down their quarterback and running back. Simon Carver dragged the latter down at the end zone, causing a safety and giving us the final score of the game.

---

2Q QUE Dion-Maranda 23 pass from Lautner (Kweon DS kick) QUE 7-0
2Q QUE Nam-Haji 37 fumble return (Kweon DS kick) QUE 14-0
After a snoozefest of a first quarter that saw the Surge and Reapers just trade punts, the scoring came alive in the second, with the latter recording a passing TD from Ian Lautner to Charles Dion-Maranda, and then a return by Hamza Nam-Haji on a ball coughed up by Linetti after he was nailed by Vontaze Ahn.

3Q QUE Gallant 12 pass from Lautner (Kick failed) QUE 20-0
The Reapers made it twenty-nil as Philippe-Noel Gallant made the catch in the red zone, but had their extra point attempt sail to the left.

4Q STK Linetti 47 run (Two-point conversion failed) QUE 20-6
Linetti prevented his squad from going scoreless, and he did so in a big way with a scramble that went for almost fifty yards. He decided to go for two, but his pass was batted down before the ball could reach Dobler.

---

The Surge need to face the Elephants at home before the third leg of the World Bowl group stages kicks off; after the home and away series, all matches in their group will take place in Ranoria. "It will be interesting to see how things play out with no home field advantage to speak of," spoke St. Kanye's offensive coordinator Dan Shelby. "Or maybe there still will be one for us, in a way, since a lot of fans come out to see us play even if we play abroad."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MD | Opponent                     | Rank | Uniform       | Score   | Record | Place |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1  | State of Imperial Russia     | UR   | Purple/Purple | W 25- 0 |  1-0   |  1st  |
| 2  | Quebec and Shingoryeo        | 27   | Purple/Black  | W 53-17 |  2-0   |  1st  |
| 3  | @South Newlandia             | 12   | White/Purple  | L  9-35 |  2-1   |  1st  |
|    | BREAK                        |      |               |         |        |       |
| 4  | @State of Imperial Russia    | UR   | White/White   | W 26-10 |  3-1   |  1st  |
| 5  | @Quebec and Shingoryeo       | 27   | White/Purple  | L  6-20 |  3-2   |  2nd  |
| 6  | South Newlandia              | 12   | Purple/Purple |         |        |       |
|    | BREAK                        |      |               |         |        |       |
| 7  | State of Imperial Russia (N) | UR   | Purple/Black  |         |        |       |
| 8  | Quebec and Shingoryeo (N)    | 27   | Purple/Purple |         |        |       |
| 9  | South Newlandia (N)          | 12   | White/White   |         |        |       |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(OOC: Matchday 6 recap to come later, as I started writing this before the cutoff.)

[Mon Sold]

Mon Sports!

Domestic and International Sports Wire from the Grand Duchy!

Can The Giant Be Slain?

By: Hannelore Hintzen
KOHNHEAD CITY, Kohnhead - None can pass judgement upon the Strikers. For a team who lacks a depth of historical experience and whose organization was essentially thrown together over the course of a weekend on the impromptu urging of grassroot fans, the fact that they have achieved anything at all in the World Bowl is astonishing and well beyond what any reasonable fan could have wanted. Yet, here we are with the Strikers holding their own and holding fast despite some brutal losses against the Chromatika Iron Legion. In fact, their only two losses have come from this brutally efficient team. Both the Brains of Kohnhead and United Adaikes Scorpions have been defeated with varying degrees of success, which leaves only Chromatika to overcome. The Strikers game last week showed severe deficiencies in the team's ability to cope with the Iron Legions aggressive offense, which lead to a rather resounding defeat. Experts across the Grand Duchy and beyond have begun to wonder -- even with all the promise the team has shown are they even capable of overcoming Chromatika. While there are still plenty of games ahead and its quite possible that the Strikers will be defeated multiple times and not even proceed to the Round of 16, prospects right now seem above average. So then what can be done to level the playing field against the Iron Legion?

The Strikers head coach, Nereo Dykstra, has openly stated that the team needs to focus more extensively on improving the performance of its defensive teams to at least against the offense a chance. Last week this was seen when Mon Sold was able to achieve a rather remarkable 33 points. Had the defensive teams performed a little better there is a chance that a couple of touchdowns and/or field goals could've been denied which, if nothing else, would've brought the disparity closer. Championships have been one by a single point and there is an old saying that defense wins championships. Now, this whole thing is rather curious since Dykstra personally recruited Defensive Coordinator Severin Jonckers straight out of retirement for this role. Jonckers has been seen on the sidelines repeated frustrated with the performance of the defense and has made numerous shuffles to bring in substitutes off the bench to mix things up. Its questionable whether this approach has actually yielded any results as it doesn't allow the defense to build the vital cohesion necessary to help improve their performance has they're constantly bombarded by untested substitutes. This theory has been challenged by Alfons Rodriquez, former defensive coordinator of the Ostunash Bitters, who had a long rivalry with Jonckers. Recently, when questioned about Jonckers performance he stated: "...this isn't unlike him [Jonckers]. A lot of people think he acts like the rest of the professional managers -- you know, the ones who have degrees in this stuff. Like myself, he comes from the very earliest days of organized grid iron. There was no book theory, no years of experience to pull from ... you literally had to just roll the dice and see what stuck. I think that's what he's doing right now. Swapping players out to find out who the diamonds in the rough are and be ready to utilize them when it really matters down the road."

Though the recent match against Kohnhead, which saw the team triumphant by a mere 5 points, has also brought some questions about the offensive coordinator -- Kunibert Janzen. Like Jonckers, Janzen was a hand pick from Dysktra, both worked together some years back. The game was never completely in the Strikers favors with the offense floundering and the defense having to make up for this lack of success by shutting down key drives that would otherwise have seen their fortunes flipped. Janzen has constructed the offense almost entirely around Albino Coste, whose numerous touchdowns have led the team to small wins but wins nonetheless. But the armchair coaches of the grid iron community have begun to grumble in their online forums about the lack of complexity in the Janzen's strategy. Since its seems to ride entirely on whether Coste can make the clench plays. This obviously has the negative impact of helping the opposing team simply hone in on the one player they know it going to have to ball. Chromatika seemed well positioned in the last game, and even the Brains have begun to pick up on the monotonous strategy, by focusing on Coste alone. While Janzen has left some room by utilizing Orellana and occasionally Bohn and Alo there is a real risk that the entire offense can be shut down if a team like the Iron Legion or Brains manage to perfect a strategy that completely tangles Coste. There has been no word from Janzen on whether these criticism have even reached him.

[Drawkland]

CORPSGUY725'S BLOG

World Bowl XLIV Middle Three Games
Leading The Group, Now Onto Ranoria

The inconsistency from the first three games has continued on to the last half of the home/away matches. Again we took a loss, this time by a single point, followed by two wins to bring our record to 4-2 at this point. It looks pretty bad right now, but we have some upside which I will touch on later. For now, let me recap games 4-6 of this group stage.

Away at Kriegiersien

Still reeling after the StrayaRoos loss, and entering the middle tilt of a three-week road trip, it was going to be a tough match for Drawkland regardless. It wasn't really surprising once we got hindsight and looked back over the StrayaRoos game footage, but it seemed like Dustin Beck had gotten injured earlier in the game. He slipped awkwardly on a sack early in the StrayaRoos game thanks to the sloppy playing surface, and apparently tweaked his left ankle. It appears now that Beck's footwork in the pocket was off. His fear of running the ball and further aggravating the injury also limited his skillset in that game, just enough to make the difference.

Beck and the coaching staff decided to downplay and not announce the injury, expecting it to be rehabilitated by the time the next match came around. Unfortunately for us in this game against Kriegiersien, it seemed that Beck's injury hadn't gotten better at all. Still, he had it taped and went out to start the game against Aturim Deephides Stonecutter School, still representing their home nation.

Kriegiersien also had a sort of "secret weapon," one that wasn't a usual student of the school. Dudagog is the name of the guy, and he's an orc alongside the dwarven rest of the team. His role in the first few games was limited, mostly due to the dislike of his teammates preventing him from getting playing time. Whenever he did get the ball, though, he was fearsome. Sitting at 1-2, and getting their home game against the favorite, they apparently reluctantly decided to let Dudagog do his thing.

If there's one good takeaway from this game, it's that the Grid Corps defense is quickly becoming the star of the show. Much like the run in World Bowl XLI, the defensive unit was firing on all cylinders, propping up the team whether or not the offense was producing. In this match, they pulled a nearly repeat performance of their staunch front against Kriegiersien last time. The tireless Leo Cross had three sacks on the day, and was one of the key pieces keeping the ball out of Dudagog's hands by getting to the passer before they could throw.

Meanwhile, the Grid Corps offense took the gifts of great field position, turnovers, and point advantage given to them by their defense. Instead of turning these gifts into points and another win, they stalled and seemed to once again be off-kilter. Remember when I said Beck's apparent injury was still taking its toll? It was a lot more noticeable in this game. Beck only took a couple short runs in this game, preferring to mostly pass from the pocket. Now, Beck's mobile ability has been tampered down a bit more often lately, due to his age, but he's still one of the most fearsome moving QBs in the world. To see him basically locked in the pocket was almost painful to witness.

The first half of the game ended 6-6 going into the locker rooms. Kriegiersien had managed to drive into field goal range thrice, and Tungdil Bigfoot went 2/3 in the first half to give his team six. Drawkland had been spotty all half, hallmarked with several missed passes from Beck and Jack Hoy being mostly limited in the run game by the stocky dwarf defense. The only Drawkian score in the half came from Jeffrey Mitchell of all people. The fullback plunged through the line on 3rd and Goal midway through the second quarter to put Drawkland on the board, but the two-point conversion play out of the wildcat formation didn't pan out.

The second half made it seem like Drawkland was going to run away with the game. The defense had continued to clamp down, limiting Dudagog and the rest of the Kriegiersien team to few yards. In the first drive of the third quarter, the Grid Corps offense came out and scored another touchdown. Beck hit Kenneth Hewitt on a 50/50 deep throw to the end zone, and Hewitt came down with six points. The two-pointer, this time a pass sailed out of the back of the end zone, failed again. At least now Drawkland had the 6-12 lead.

For the majority of the half, Drawkland held this lead. The defense did their job, but unfortunately the offense continued to flounder and couldn't get any more points on the board to open up the lead. With only a few minutes left in the game, Kriegiersien got the ball with likely their only chance to score before the game ended. Instead of doing the smart thing and keeping up the defense which had mostly suffocated the Stonecutter School all game, they went into a softer prevent defense to just prevent the deep ball.

Dudadog scoffed at such a pitiful defensive front. The orcish tight end had three straight catches and rolled right up the field in the drive, since he finally had some more space to catch in the middle of the field. It felt like half the defense was required to bring him down each play. Suddenly, Kriegiersien was rolling. The Corps defense clamped down on Dudagog the next play, only for Thromodrid Oregrip to toss the ball to the barely-covered Grokrol Wyvernfinger on the outside, who would zoom up the sideline and bring Kriegiersien to the end zone. With the time waning, Oregrip would again get the ball to Dudagog, and he would muscle his way into the end zone to make the tying touchdown.

With the home crowd cheering, Tungdil Bigfoot would boot the PAT through to put Kriegiersien up a point with only a minute left in the game. The Grid Corps offense couldn't manage to get the one-minute drill going to get into field goal range, and we'd head to the last leg of our road trip with a serious lack of momentum. Kriegiersien, however, had gotten back to .500 and were looking to ride the tide of Dudagog to greater heights.

Away at Gyatso-Kai

It was clear by now that Dustin Beck's injury was severely limiting the effectiveness of the Corps offense. Both Beck and his domestic fans were really wanting to avoid making the injury worse. Head coach Glenn Romano and manager Vincent Lovell spoke with Beck and decided it would be better for the Corps to go without him for at least to see if the injury would heal up enough. The risk was clearly not producing enough of a reward to justify starting Beck for the final road game, against Gyatso-Kai.

Caspian Casson, one of the new members to the Grid Corps, would be making his first start at the World Bowl level. If you remember, his playing debut on the national team came in the second half of the blowout against Kriegiersien in Week 1, where he had performed decently and kept the blowout going without messing up the game.

The first drive of the game also featured the game's first touchdown. Tachibana Huang of Gyatso-Kai managed to break off a shocking 40-yard touchdown run against a Corps front that had poorly executed a blitz. The Corps would respond in the next drive with a touchdown of their own, as Jack Hoy did most of the work to bring Drawkland to the red zone. Once they were there, Casson hit Quinn Conrad on a seam route that split the zone defense. Conrad would score, though we'd miss the two-pointer.

After the first drive shock play had put the defense on its heels, the second drive featured a return to normalcy. The staunch Drawkian front returned, and Gyatso-Kai experienced a much tougher time trying to move the ball. The offense would actually take advantage of it this time, with Jack Hoy scoring his first rushing touchdown since the second quarter of the home game against Gyatso-Kai a few weeks prior. He carried the rock for a majority of the plays from scrimmage that drive, but he would execute a solid halfback pass to Carson Andreas on the two-point conversion play to bring the score to 7-14.

The offense would fail to capitalize on a couple good possessions later in the half, but we would add to our lead in the waning seconds of the second quarter. Casson had managed to guide the Corps offense to midfield, but a brutal sack caused him to sprain his wrist. With time running out, Casson would manage to get the offense back to the line to spike the ball, before gingerly carrying himself off the field. Times seemed to be dire, but the next man up policy was invoked. Nick Parks, the hero of Sadeg State's NSCF 23 championship run, would make his national team debut.

Parks wouldn't have to throw a pass in the second half, just handing the ball off to Hoy who would make up for lost yardage and get the Corps in range for a field goal just before the half expired. David Merit nailed the kick, and Drawkland held a 7-17 lead going into halftime.

With Parks being caught off guard with his inclusion in the game, he obviously was not very prepared to be in charge of the offense. Hoy did his best, but the defense was starting to key hard on the run game to force Parks to make plays in the air. Besides a decent drive in the fourth quarter where he would pilot the Corps into field goal range for another Merit score, Parks was limited in both passing and running.

Thankfully, though, the defense continued to do their job as they had all Bowl so far, and shut Gyatso-Kai down. They would score a couple field goals, one in each of the final quarters, but they were kept out of the red zone for three entire quarters of the game. The Corps would escape by the skin of their teeth, a 13-20 win to finally put us over .500 again.

Home closer vs StrayaRoos

Now with some actually good momentum on our side and a final home game before heading to Ranoria for the final stretch, morale was high going into this game. StrayaRoos had embarrassed us in the first leg, and it was time for some revenge. The Taipans had turned into the Koalas over the last few weeks, with their lone win being their upset against us in the rain in Week 3. Best of all for us: Dustin Beck had fully recovered from his ankle injury, with the three weeks of rest being enough to get him back into top shape.

With that in mind, and now a game of some film to really dig into, Coach Romano would not be caught off guard. The defense had a better man scheme running, and the front seven blitzed heavily to put pressure on StrayaRoos QB Aaron Brady. Brady would be sacked six times in the game, with every member of the starting defensive line getting one on their stat sheet. Cross managed two sacks on the game, and linebacker Travis Holt got one as well. With the run game also well-tempered, the only touchdown StrayaRoos scored came on a punt return from Kai Pout. Their only other score was a field goal thanks to a couple chunk plays to get them downfield, early in the game.

Meanwhile, our offense was just happy to have a return to normalcy. We scored a flurry of points early, getting two touchdowns and two field goals in the first two quarters. Jack Hoy would score on the ground for the first touchdown (and again for the two), followed by two Merit field goals, and a pass from Beck to Abram Navis right before halftime. Even with a few points given up, the 20-10 scoreline at halftime seemed to hint that a good second half was on the menu.

Merit would score another field goal on the first drive of the third quarter for Drawkland. We would add three more touchdowns before the final whistle, while the defense continued to shut down Brady and the soft Koala offense. The biggest defensive highlight was when Leo Cross obliterated Brady on a sack deep in Straya territory, and the ball clearly popped free from Brady's hands. The ball bounced right back to Cross as he got back off the ground, and he would snag it to return a fumble six. Being the second quarter, Merit came and nailed the PAT. The final two touchdowns came from Beck, one being a refreshing touchdown run to prove his ankle was at full strength. The other was a pass to Hoy on a flat route, who would spin past a defender to put the finishing touches on the blowout 44-10 win.

Heading to Ranoria Early

Despite a couple clunkers, Drawkland had four wins and had beaten every team in the group at least once. Still, 4-2 is not a very good record when you compare it to the rest of the field in this World Bowl. There are currently seven teams sitting at 5-1 and no remaining undefeated squads, and Drawkland's third-best point differential in the competition means we're the eighth best team in the tournament. That sounds pretty mediocre, and then you remember that we're technically the #8 team in the rankings right now.

You could then say this is business as usual, but look a little bit closer. Besides our record having two losses, you remember that they were both razor-thin margins in difficult conditions, with both being by one score and one of them being just a single last-minute point. Not to mention we're still first in our group, and compared to the other teams on our side of the tournament, we have the best point differential. A lot can change in three games, but if our performance holds steady from here, and the other group leaders lose a couple more games, we easily shoot up to a top seed.

The biggest thing to mention is how outstanding the Drawkian defense has been so far. With a mere 80 total points allowed over 6 games, this makes Drawkland the fourth-best defense in the tournament at this point. That's a mere 13ish points per game. Even with our offense encountering some injury and inconsistency issues, when your defense is allowing less than two touchdowns a game, you always have a great chance to win. Just ask those bastards in Ko-oren.

Now, the final three games of the group stage will be neutral site rematches against our groupmates, held in Ranoria (where our side of the playoffs will be held as well). Being that we've beaten all our groupmates at least once, and the fact that our only losses came when the opponent had home-field advantage, this could potentially be a really easy set of wins to set us up for a good playoff run. It could also be a series of crapshoots in cold weather that make it difficult to build any momentum going into the knockouts.

Our three games will be held in some of the biggest venues Ranoria has to offer, thankfully. Usually Drawkland has to deal with awkwardly small venues in foreign nations, restricting the amount of fans that can travel to support the Corps. For once, the hosts of a tournament realized the kind of hype and money Drawkian travelling fans can bring to their events, and Ranoria will surely reap the benefits.

We'll be playing in the mother of all Ranorian venues, the Karmin-Falce Superdome, to face Kriegiersien. The Adelhard Dynamics Dome will play host to our chance to sweep Gyatso-Kai, and Specter Industries Stadium will be the site of our final group stage game against StrayaRoos. These are great draws, and will hopefully establish a presence for some Drawkian fans in this big venues that will likely host later playoff games.

Barring a bizarre collapse to end the group stage, Drawkland will be making the playoffs with ease in Ranoria, and playing a few games on their soil before the playoffs will surely help us down the line ... although every other playoff team will be getting that advantage. The playoffs will be split into two brackets based on which host nation we're playing our final group stage games, so we won't have to worth about any teams on the South Newlandian side until a potential final or (God forbid) 3rd place game.

This means we won't have to worry about a resurging Banija, whoever comes out victorious in the Sarzonia/Delaclava blood rivalry, Chromatika, or whoever comes out of the Group H fracas alive. Thankfully the Ranorian side of the bracket has fewer solid teams, but there's still a potential minefield to deal with. Ko-oren has been our playoff boogeyman for many cycles, while a furious TJUN-ia team is desperate to finally get one over the Drawkians. Finally, the #1 ranked, defending champion, hosting and home field advantage Ranoria Krauts are sitting firmly in Group A, with their eyes on the prize of a threepeat.

With both our highs and lows on display over the first two thirds of the group stage, this final stanza will prove to be very important in determining how the Grid Corps will fare in the playoffs. If we build on our previous big blowouts to sweep the rest of the group, we could find a good rhythm and confidence going into the playoffs. My personal interest will be invested in this Corps defense that is looking more and more impressive as the weeks go on. Is this unit sustainable? Can they go head-to-head with the likes of Ko-oren? Can they shut down Ranoria? I have my doubts, but I'm still excited to see where this team goes.

It's so strange. Optimism is something I haven't felt about this team in a long time. Fully prepared for this to blow up in my face though. corpsguy725 out

[Kriegiersien]

The Tim Krieg Times
(former The Timey Times)
not government subsidized

Football is not coming home, not coming home, not coming home (for a while).
The travel to Ranoria and South Newlandia begins. The way to the play offs is one step further. Kriegiersien is for some reason first in the group.

World Bowl XLIV


Kriegiersien 38–0 Gyatso-kai

P Group C              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Kriegiersien           6   4  2  146 116 +30    0.667
2 Drawkland              6   4  2  169  80 +89    0.667
3 Gyatso-kai             6   3  3  127 172 −45    0.500
4 StrayaRoos             6   1  5  125 199 −74    0.167

Three matches on neutral ground remaining to reach the Round of 16. Beating Gyatso-kai a second time should do the trick and the last match be the decisive game.

“Sadly we weren’t able to give them injuries that will maintain until our next match, but we are optimistic that we can bloddy crush them a second time for good”, said defense coach Torit Bonebraker grinning, while a press spokesman of the Kriegiersien Association tried to stop him talking.

But first Drawkland and StrayaRoos are standing in the way. While the Taipan Koalas should be beaten, Powerhouse Drawkland is now fully aware of what is coming and will probably be ready to counter.

[Venmere]

VNAFT DROPS THRILLER TO DELACLAVA

Delaclava	30
Venmere	27

Team:	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	F
Delaclava:	10	7	6	7	30
Venmere:	7	3	10	7	27

Venmere lost a tight game to Delaclava to drop to 2-4 in tournament play. The largest lead by either team was seven points, which came when Delaclava went up 17-7 early in the second quarter. Devon Halsell threw for 314 yards and three scores, but it wasn't enough to carry the team to a win. The team got little production from Dan Hubbard, who rushed for just 25 yards on 14 carries. The team still had a chance to win but David Price missed a 45-yard field goal with 2:33 to play, which sealed the loss. Venmere will look to get back to .500 in their next two games.

[Sarzonia]

The first two thirds of World Bowl qualifying came to an anticlimactic finish for the Sarzonian national gridball team as they wrapped up group stage play with a 44-13 away triumph over a hapless Kyhun that extended Sarzonia's win streak to five matches.

The final away match for the Stars followed their home finale back at Joe Gibbs Stadium in Woodstock, which was a 23-3 victory over Venmere that allowed Sarzonia to keep pace with archrivals and Cyanea neighbours Delaclava. The Phoenixes may have garnered more attention for their showy result with a 65-3 win over Kyhun, but some observers noted Delaclava's apparent intention to run up the score against Kyhun was an effort to shake the memory of Sarzonia limiting the otherwise high-flying Phoenixes offence to three points at Dave Wilson Stadium.

For the first time in the six-match group stage thus far, Sarzonia's offence took centre stage under the watchful eye of manager Gavin Davis and newly hired offensive consultant James Arthur. Sarzonia's 44 points, even though they came against one of just four winless sides in the entire World Bowl group stage, was by far the most points Sarzonia has scored. However, defensive coordinator Tyler Paige was fuming about his unit conceding 13 points to Kyhun after they came into their home finale having a total of 13 points.

"We made some bad plays and we had some blown coverages," Paige said. "We need to maintain our focus better no matter who our opponents are." Paige may have had good reason to excuse his team's lapse in concentration. Kyhun's 0-6 record guarantees their trip to South Newlandia with the other Group F sides will be a mere formality until they book their trip right back. At 2-4, Venmere are also eliminated, as they've been swept by both Delaclava and Sarzonia in their first two meetings. The only drama left in Group F will be which of the two archrivals will win the group and which one will advance as the runners up, as the Stars and Phoenixes get set to kick off the rubber match of their series.

The Phoenixes opened World Bowl qualifying with a comfortable 24-7 win over the Stars at Sullivan Stadium whilst the Stars returned the favour with a 13-3 triumph at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock. For Davis, the third meeting promises to include "a few more wrinkles."

"They've already seen pretty much everything we can throw at them," he said. "We've likely seen pretty much everything they're about. We're going to have to play some of our best gridball yet to beat those guys. It's awfully hard to play a team like that three times in a qualifying stage without being familiar with their personnel and their tendencies." The Stars will not include kicker Matt Vargas, as he has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain of his right knee. Woodstock University kicker Matt Andersen will handle place kicking and kickoff duties.

"He's a good kicker," Davis said. "He's made some huge clutch kicks against the likes of Northern Moravica and Sadeg State. I know those aren't at the pro level, but he was huge on pressure kicks and we have every confidence he has the mentality we need for a kicker."

When asked if he was optimistic the Stars would be able to defeat the Phoenixes, Davis said he had every confidence in his team, but added the Phoenixes were going to be a difficult matchup.

"We know them well, but they know us well," he said. "We didn't add [Arthur] in time to really change everything we want to do."

[Delaclava]

The team had returned to Catherina after a narrow 30-27 victory over Venmere, sorely in need of some additional reps before they headed off to South Newlandia for the rest of the competition. It was a strange feature that after just a few games, the tournament would be over the next time they returned to Delaclava, but they had to make sure they were ready to go if they wanted to come home with a trophy.

Taurus Wright showed up at the charter plane just as the sun was coming up, the first one at the plane. He knew he was way early, but his thoughts had already been racing for hours and he'd rather be outside in the crisp air than stuck at home.

Soon enough, Justin Vandaele, Jimmy Demeyer, and Eric Vesey, the Farland Jackals teammates, showed up together, they all greeted Taurus and chatted a bit before falling silent. Even as more team members filtered up, it was early and nobody was in too much of a talkative mood.

Eventually, Taurus spotted his Crushers teammates, Robbie Hahn and Raul Martinez, walk up. Taurus moseyed over to them. "Raul, what's up," he said, extending a fist that Raul bumped.

"Man, it's too early for this shit," Raul said, laughing ruefully.

"No kidding," Taurus replied. "This is how we do it whenever we're going somewhere far for the later rounds. You'll get used to it."

"Huh, we'll see," Raul acknowledged. He was playing his first World Bowl and was very much fighting for his spot - albeit successfully so far.

"Robbie, how you doing there?" Taurus asked.

Robbie didn't reply, staring vacantly with wide eyes at the sunrise. Raul smacked him on the shoulder. "What?" Robbie asked innocently.

"What's with him?" Taurus asked.

"Shrooms," Raul said with a shrug.

"With a smidge of molly," Robbie butted in, holding his thumb and forefinger close together before staring intently at his hand. "Molly's the waitress I took home from the bar last night. Nah, you know that's not true," he added, winking at Taurus.

Taurus looked back at him. "On a plane, man? Really?" He chuckled. "Well, have fun with that."

Robbie leaned in and put his hands on Taurus' shoulders. "Oh. I will." He clapped Taurus on the shoulder before walking away.

Taurus shook his head at Robbie's back. At least Robbie was actually getting to come on this trip.

---

The flight to Elephant Valley was relatively uneventful. Robbie may have been a bit too goofy and flirty, but he only tried to leave the plane once and didn't have to be taken down by air marshals, so overall a win. All that was left in a long day was to clear customs and take the train to Ratzupalfu. None of their games were played there, but the organizers had spread their three games on the different coasts, and Ratzupalfu was a good central location to set up camp.

Taurus thought it'd be smart to stick with Robbie in case the customs check didn't go well - and that was immediately a smart decision when Taurus told Robbie to get out his passport and Robbie asked frantically, "How do you know about the passports to the other side?"

They approached a friendly agent - it was clear from his smile that this was a well-paid man. He took the passport and asked, "Name?"

Robbie thought for a moment, then began, "Lord—"

"Nope." Taurus cut him off. "Your real name."

"Robespierre Hahn."

"Wait, Robbie's not short for—" Taurus didn't want to make this any more difficult. "Never mind, not important."

The agent looked at Robbie quizzically. "Reason for entry?"

"To spread the word, of course!"

The agent, very patiently, tried again. "Business or pleasure?"

"Well that's a personal question, but you seem like a nice guy, so why not? Business, but it's pleasure because I love my job. It's a beautiful thing, Edmund."

"My name is Alex," the agent replied. "Do you have anything to declare?"

Robbie straightened up, as if preparing to make a speech, but Taurus punched him and interjected, "He has some recreational drugs in his luggage."

"Right," Alex replied. He looked around but leaning in to Robbie and saying more quietly. "Sir, I hope you enjoy your time here, but might I recommend that you enter one of our rehabilitation facilities before you continue on?"

Robbie playfully feigned shock. "Me? Naaaah..."

"Addiction is nothing to be ashamed of, and I can arrange for you to go somewhere now."

Robbie smiled and put his hands on Alex's face. "Edmund, you are a beautiful man, and maybe in another life, this could have played out differently, but sadly... I cannot go anywhere with you. I must continue on my mission."

Alex removed Robbie's hands and put them down. "Are you sure that—"

"Look, I think we've all had enough of this, right?" Taurus butted in, really needing this conversation to be other. "Is he good?"

Alex, more sternly, replied, "You're free to go. If you have drugs, they are for your use only, you may not sell or give them anyone. Have a good trip and please consider changing you mind." He turned back to Taurus. "Name?"

"Taurus Wright."

"Reason for entry?"

"Making sure this man-child doesn't wander off and get lost. And the football tournament."

"Anything to declare?"

"Nope."

"Alright, be safe, both of you," Alex replied, before saying one last time to Taurus, "You know, I can call—"

"Yup, got it, we're leaving," Taurus replied, leading Robbie out of the line. "Alright bud, we're going to go sleep this off..."

[Ranoria]

@VickHamiltonReporter Breaking: The Dietrich Dynamos have released Deondre "Diamond" Rhine. The 2x MVP quarterback caused significant discord in the locker room and was no longer compatible with the team environment and per source was catalyst behind the team's losing superstar wideout Alessandra Mio and All-World TE Johnny Farmer. #RumorMill #Blockbuster #RFL #DiamondRhine

@DiamondRhine Oh sheesh thanks for letting me know. Best know they're gonna regret that.

Rematch With South Americanastan Another Slugfest, Krauts Offense Continues To Slump


Wideout Isaak Rodriguez has been explosive if streaky for the Krauts this season

It's no secret that after a hot start, Ranoria's offense has hit a pothole. After blasting off 86 points in their first two outings, the Krauts scraped through a 16-14 win against the Bears and have only exceeded 23 points once - a loss to Anthor.

"We'll figure it out," assured John Garrett, who's won two titles in three seasons as the starter for this team, "We're playing against world-class competition, we can't blow everyone out.

Yeah? Tell that to the Serpent Eagles offense, led by Garrett's Richardson successor in Ifeatu Chineze. After losing their opener, they've exploded, and are leading the tournament with 43 points per game. Ice Chineze has been dealing to a crop of superstar tier wideouts on an offense that can win games by sheer force of talent at the skill positions. The Ranorian offense, meanwhile, is averaging less than 20 per game since their hot start.

It's tough to find where to point the finger. Like any explosive offense, Ranoria relies on big chunk plays to eat up yardage and score on that type of snap as opposed to a more methodical approach. And as with any offense operating like that, occasionally that inconsistency leads to cold streaks that can last several games. If there's anyone we can trust to make adjustments and get things back on track though, it's Garrett and this coaching staff.

"We're not worried," cautioned head man Raul Nieler, "But we do have adjustments to make. We'll make them, and we'll right the ship."

Fortunately, the low output has been enough to start 2-0 against South Americanistan. Our defense has stepped up big time in those contests despite an incredibly novel offensive system they run that confuses the hell out of even the most seasoned defensive coordinators. Angelo Gordon was vital in this one, securing a fourth-down strip sack to clinch the victory in the fourth quarter. Despite being regulated to a backup role, Gordon is still a legend and a demon off the edge. Playing just thirty to forty percent of the team's defensive snaps keeps him fresh, and makes him a nightmare in the fourth quarter. Kearse and Fairbanks have been stalwart as well. They've made rookie mistakes, but the starters are getting a fast-track education that should eliminate any sort of "rookie wall" they run into in the Ranorian Football League.

---

QB John Garrett: 168/254, 1,903 yards, 14 TD, 2 INT, 5 carries, 28 yards
QB Valliente Wagner-Young: 3/3, 29 yards

HB Vice Jackson III: 93 carries, 426 yards, 6 TD, 16 receptions, 99 yards
HB Apollo Esther: 47 carries, 228 yards, 1 TD, 4 receptions, 19 yards
HB Eric van Geel: 12 carries, 51 yards, 16 receptions, 117 yards

TE Johnny Farmer: 41 receptions, 473 yards, 6 TD
TE Vasily Schmidt: 16 receptions, 153 yards, 1 TD
WR Khalil Hauptmann: 40 receptions, 562 yards, 4 TD
WR Jeremiah Flether: 25 receptions, 301 yards, 2 TD
WR Isaak Rodriguez: 11 receptions, 205 yards, 1 TD

ILB Ross Monarch: 36 tackles, .5 sacks, 5 TFL
OLB Sean Morgan-Horne: 35 tackles, 1INT, 1 PBU
OLB Django Reeves: 35 tackles, 2.5 sack, 4 TFL

DE Gideon Kearse: 33 tackles, 5 sacks, 7 TFL, 3 PBU
DE Abram Fairbanks: 27 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 3 TFL, 3 PBU
DE Albus Vergol: 9 tackles, 1.5 sack
DE Angelo Gordon: 10 tackles, 4 sacks
DT Gudbrand Taurus: 11 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 TFL
DT Spencer Crutchfield: 8 tackles, , .5 sacks, 3 TFL

CB Darnell Sleight: 31 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PBU
CB Jabyess Hawkins: 35 tackles, 2 INT, 1 PBU
FS Alexander Ackermann: 34 tackles, 1 INT
SS Judas Wolfson: 46 tackles, 4 TFL, 2 INT

[Chromatika]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
High Schools in Chromatik High School Gridiron - Origins Behind the Unique Mascots, Part 6

Capital District East
Revolution Conference
Flames of the Revolution High Scohol Tears - One of a few high schools to be named directly from the Rainbow Revolution, the Tears are named after all the tears shed by everyone who had suffered from the Chromatik Party. There was so much debate about what the on-field representation would be, and they decided on a person who will be clad in full white during home games and full black on away games to represent those cultures in which life and death are represented by either color.
East Omnio High School Geomancers - In fantasy, a geomancer is usually someone who gets knowledge from an unknown source. East Omnio High School specializes in some far-off sciences and mystical arts like divination, astrology, and the like. Why bother when the future is academics and science, you may ask? Not all of Chromatika thinks so - not when there are things like extraplanar angels, ways to stop time, and the like. No, there is some good in studying this kind of thing - and nobody can convince them otherwise.
Vitoron School of Charge Robots - VSoC is in the forefront of robotics in Chromatika, getting the students the knowledge needed for both the computing side as well as the hardware side of cutting edge technology. They also specialize in physics, chemistry, and pretty much every other physical science. The actual mascot is a robot that can turn into three different modes - a four-wheeled vehicle, a two-legged walker, and a flying helicopter. Dubbed "Tyron", that machine is something else.
Alnio Academy of the Arts Spectrum - Named as such because a lot of art is about how the human eye views light, which is on a spectrum of wavelengths. They don't have an official mascot on the field, instead having a special science projector that will show light in all of its wavelengths to be flashed onto a corner of the field every time they score. They hire four science/film club students to be at every game to operate the projector and take care of moving it to different venues.
West Omnio High School Spectral Monks - A monk in this sense is a person that's decided to spend a lot of time learning something. The fact that it's spectral has to do with the fact that West Omnio High School has a very distinctive paranormal investigation club. Though not an actual class, the existence of the Paranormal Activities club of West Omnio gives the school some notoriety, having been the source of many a disputed urban legend.
Alnio High School Fireworks - "Be explosive. Be loud. Be brilliant". A simple three-part motto, Alnio High School wants to be a high school that stands out on the map. With a very vibrant campus, some prominent alumnus and the distinction of having one of the best high school level marching bands in the country, the label of Firework fits.

Grandmaster Conference
Wirr Tsi School for the Gifted Masterminds - The School for the Gifted are for certified students with above average IQ only. A sinister way of viewing this is that of a Mastermind, and the school chose the moniker to garner some respect. Thankfully, not many of WTSG alumni have become villains, but if some were to do so, that'd be dangerous - there are rumors that every single graduate of this school end up on a watchlist by the Chromatik secret police.
Gurshan High School Drills - Yes, that same drill that's used in industry. Taking inspiration from the Omnio Tech Football Team, Gurshan High School stuck with the name of Drills - for the ability to get to the root of the problem or the goal of whatever the expedition is as well as the ability to remove any obstacle on the way. It's a bit inspiring, if not a little crude - and who doesn't want to see a person wearing a drill costume?
Aya K. Jackson High School Runners - The word "Runner" here does not mean a person that is actually running. In the days of the Chromatik Party, Runners were couriers who dealt in classified information. At the onset of the Rainbow Revolution, one of the very first missions of the Shadow Writers was to turn the Runners to the side of the people - and when they won that battle, they won the war for information. This pays homage to that - with the on-field representative wearing the historical gear of a codebreaker as well.

---

World Bowl 44 - Matchday 6

Team            1Q  2Q  3Q  4Q  |  Tot  
United Adaikes   7   0   0   0  |    7
Chromatika       0  10   7   0  |   17

1Q
08:11 UAD TD - Michele Vasquez 33 yard pass from Austin Garner (Isaiah Rigby Kick)

2Q
11:52 CMT FG - Dwayne Markseon 47 yard Field Goal
02:31 CMT TD - Rowena Hastroff 29 yard run (Dwayne Markseon Kick)

3Q
05:48 CMT TD - Alessandra Mio 52 yard pass from Sarai Gwenderyn (Dwayne Markseon Kick)

4Q
None.

Venue: Scorpions Stadium, Upper Sportstown, Steskia, Thraproy, United Adaikes

In a campaign, there will be some ugly wins. In a game where Sarai Gwenderyn didn't have the best of goings - only completing 20 of 35 for 191 yards and a score - the Chromatik defense stepped up, Rowena Hastroff got 114 yards on the ground, and the Iron Legion moved to five wins in a row after Kohnhead. The Brains and the Iron Legion will play each other for the third time in South Newlandia to see who take sthe rubber.

---

Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice
Part 6: The Scorecard

Three months before the World Bowl
Chromatik City Field, Chromia, Capital District, Chromatka

Name               XP   25L   25C   25R   30L   30C   30R   35L   35C   35R   40L   40C   40C   40R    42     45    48    50   52    54    56    57
Sara McAllister   5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O
Michelle Breille  5/5     O     O     O     O     X     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     -     -
James Dior        5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     -     -
Jang Bo-Ah        5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     -      
Shirley Woo       5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X     -     -
Dwayne Markseon   5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X
Lauren Schiavonne 5/5     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O     X

Jang Bo-Ah, Dwayne Markseon, and Lauren Schiavonne will participate in the second round of the tryouts, while Sara McAllister Drumov showed that if it wasn't for that condition of hers, shoe would be the Iron Legion's #1 kicker in a heartbeat.

[TJUN-ia]

After a tight final road game highlighted both our strengths and weaknesses, the Jaguars of TJUN-ia were certainly feeling a bit...interesting, to say the least. On the one hand, we were 5-1 and looking pretty strong in our quest to try and reach a World Bowl Final 4...but have we really been convincing in these past few games? Both Rocky Canada and Theofficaljapan has given us trouble at times in this campaign and while we've gone 4-0 against the debutants, Gus McKerrin knew that any flaws this team had could be opened up with no mercy in the Playoffs to come. So, they need to make sure that they get into the best position possible heading into the playoffs and with the remaining 3 games on an unpredictable neutral site environment, the pressure was certainly on to try and get the result in the only environment we can control - home.

Round 2 with HUElavia would be the final home game, at the Field of Dreams in The Gardens of New Washington, the order of business was to claim revenge and the group lead heading into the Ranorian Final Third. HUElavia had been imperious in this group but a 1-point loss at home to Rocky Canada meant that only PD separated us entering this contest, and the victor assured to lead the group in Winterfell. This time, however, HUElavia was entering our den and our domain - and this team would make sure that they didn't leave without some scars. Raphael Schneiderman was still a brilliant coach and his team was still brilliant as such, they managed to score 13 points - two TDs from Maurício Pinto Machado, both via WR Najeeb al-Zaman, and 1/2 PATs from Lutz Schulz. But tonight belonged to only 1 team and Jake Griffin would have the best game of this campaign thus far, with 44 points overall. That involved 5 TDs scored on his part, twice to Hubert Valois and once each to Jack Davidson, Vinny Mac and Chris Davidson, while Chi ON-Ma went 5/5 on PATs and even got a FG too. Then in Q4 out came the reserves, the first time this season this has happened, and Allister Ghoulson would turn provider for Victor Que-et-Vous while Clayton McGee missed his PAT attempt. Still, 44-13 was a pretty convincing result and one this team desperately needed in order to assure that the #3 was viewed as a #3 team.

Now, we head out to Ranoris top of this group but with 3 games still to play. The Neutral Site can always bring a bit of chaos and as such, we need to make sure we don't get complacent about our current position. Rocky Canada will be up first for this final time, this time at Royalty Field in Rouyoutte. See you out in Winterfell. GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group B)
MD1: @Rocky Canada (UR) W 27-16 (2nd/1-0)
MD2: vs Theofficaljapan (UR) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 29-19 (2nd/2-0)
MD3: @HUElavia (17) L 10-29 (2nd/2-1/+2PD)
-------------------------Break-------------------------
MD4: vs Rocky Canada (UR) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 36-31 (2nd/3-1)
MD5: @Theofficaljapan (UR) W 14-3 (2nd/4-1)
MD6: vs HUElavia (17) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 44-13 (1st/5-1/+49PD)
-------------------------Break-------------------------
MD7: vs Rocky Canada (UR) - Royalty Field, Rouyoutte, Ranoria
MD8: vs Theofficaljapan (UR) - Karmin-Falce Superdome, Ranoria City,Ranoria
MD9: vs HUElavia (17) - Mount Reinhold Stadium, Eglise, Ranoria

[Sarzonia]

Woodstock Daily Mail

Breaking News

Stallworth kicked off team

From Staff Reports

SOUTH NEWLANDIA -- Sarzonian national gridball team manager Gavin Davis has expelled starting quarterback Cameron Stallworth from the team after he was accused of taking drugs with members of the Delaclav team in the hours after Sarzonia's team landed in South Newlandia.

Stallworth did not show up for an 11 p.m. bed check the night before the match against Delaclava and Davis began to search the team hotel with other members of the coaching and support staff. Stallworth eventually staggered into the hotel at 0230 hours, slurring his words, drawing Davis's immediate suspicion. The team trainer examined Stallworth and found he'd been using drugs. The signal caller admitted he'd attended a party with several Delaclav players and used drugs including cocaine.

"Stallworth violated team policies against using hard drugs," a visibly angered Davis said at a press conference announcing Stallworth's expulsion from the team. "The missed bed check was one thing, but to use drugs when they are a clear violation of team policy is something we flat out cannot accept."

Stallworth was not available for comment. A source familiar with the goings-on of the team reported that Stallworth was on his way to a drug treatment facility in Nicksia.

Running back Ty'Relle Clinton expressed disappointment in Stallworth.

"He's supposed to be one of the leaders of this team," Clinton said. "It's one thing to socialise with players on the other team. We do that a lot with Delaclav players. But Cam knew the rules against using drugs, and he broke them."

Wide receiver Steve Swain agreed.

"We all signed a contract knowing the rules we're expected to follow," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the [Incorporated Gridball Federation] voided his contract."

Offensive consultant James Arthur said he hoped Stallworth gets treatment.

"At this point, I'm concerned about his health, physical, mental, emotional, you name it," Arthur said. "None of the substances he used or was around are illegal in Sarzonia, but he violated a team rule and he suffered the consequences."

Davis said Mike Barnett will start for Sarzonia against Delaclava and added that he and Arthur were already adjusting their tactics to take Barnett's skill set into account.

"We know Mike doesn't have that big arm that Cam or even Sam [Rosen, the former starting quarterback] had," Davis said. "We're going to have to be more creative to generate the kind of explosive plays we were able to get in the past." Barnett is also much less mobile than Stallworth, and Arthur expressed concern about Barnett's pocket presence.

"Mike hasn't been in matches and facing a pass rush," Arthur said. "We're going to have to work on him to make sure he can side step the pass rush and maybe move around in the pocket."

[Ranoria]

World Bowl 44: Quarterback Rankings Part 2: Elite, But Without All The Hardware
by Vick Hamilton

Hello there and welcome to the 2^nd of 3 editions of our World Bowl 44 Quarterback Rankings! We should note that this is an entirely biased outlook, but regardless is the defining list of who's the best among all quarterbacks. Now, we will only be including World Bowl starters, so fan favorites like Amazu Chibuzo, Diamond Rhine, or Simon Gacek aren't going to be included here. For the start, we're don't really have much separation between any of these three, so please be aware that we're splitting hairs at best.

4: Ifeatu "Ice" Chineze, Banija Serpent Eagles

Who else? Like the first group, we have an absolutely top-notch crew here without a ton of separation between them, but Chineze has been unreal through this World Bowl. We can't put him above those top three due to a lack of, well, championships, but the passer who led Richardson to their greatest heights in NSCF play is looking to do the same for his country on the professional stage with the best offense - by far - through six games in World Bowl 44.

5: R.J. Linetti, Saint Kanye Surge

This guy can do it all. He's the unquestioned captain of his offense and is only two World Bowls removed from silver at this level. The Surge - currently 4-2 in the toughest group the tournament has to offer - are in good hands. Best part about him may be his legs. While most would associate Linetti with tearing opposing defensive backfields to ribbons, it's easy to forget that he's a polished athlete between all the highlight reel throws.

6: Sarai Gwenderyn, Chromatika Iron Legion

Gwenderyn only falls this far in our list due to youth. While she's got plenty of accolades in Ranoria (2029 Offensive Rookie of the Year, 2030 Footballer of the Year and 2030 RFL champion), like with Chineze, she has a lack of hardware on the World Bowl stage. Gwenderyn's athleticism at the position is second to none, to the point that she can take on the duty of a running back and a passer if duty calls, and her arm's among the best in the world. While the Iron Legion haven't reached the pinnacle of the sport yet (lost in the semifinals to Saint Kanye in World Bowl 42 and to Drawkland in World Bowl 43), they, like Delaclava, are a half-step away from seizing the gold. With Sarai, who recently won an RFL championship, under center, it won't be long.

Tune in next week to for us to round out the top 10 (along with our honorable mentions)!

[South Newlandia]

Day seven cutoff for Groups A-D! Welcome to Ranoria! Cutoff Music.


Teams in blue are guranteed a spot in the Round of 16, while teams in red are out of the running for the knockouts.

Group A

South Americanastan 15–9 Anthor
Lisander 30–24 Ranoria

P Group A              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Ranoria                7   5  2  189 144 +45    0.714
2 Anthor                 7   4  3  156 172 −16    0.571
3 South Americanastan    7   3  4  142 136  +6    0.429
4 Lisander               7   2  5  118 153 −35    0.286

Group B

Rocky Canada 14–16 TJUN-ia
HUElavia 33–20 Theofficialjapan

P Group B              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 TJUN-ia                7   6  1  176 125 +51    0.857
2 HUElavia               7   5  2  186 127 +59    0.714
3 Rocky Canada           7   3  4  147 140  +7    0.429
4 Theofficialjapan       7   0  7   85 202 −117   0.000

Group C

Drawkland 44–24 Kriegiersien
Gyatso-kai 37–16 StrayaRoos

P Group C              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Drawkland              7   5  2  213 104 +109   0.714
2 Kriegiersien           7   4  3  170 160 +10    0.571
3 Gyatso-kai             7   4  3  164 188 −24    0.571
4 StrayaRoos             7   1  6  141 236 −95    0.143

Group D

Greater Cebu 17–28 Ko-oren
New Gesem 22–10 Bendicon

P Group D              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD    Win % 
1 Ko-oren                7   6  1  158  67 +91    0.857
2 New Gesem              7   5  2  200 120 +80    0.714
3 Bendicon               7   2  5  116 180 −64    0.286
4 Greater Cebu           7   1  6   88 195 −107   0.143

[Banija]

OOC Note: Quote from Kavanis HC given to me and written by Kavanis

37 year old Banijan MLB Isaiah Bryce, with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Banija up, 37-33

"HELL FUCKING YEAH CHINEZE!" Isaiah Bryce had leapt up, like the rest of his teammates, as they all started hugging each other. Ifeatu Chineze had done it again. The Banijan QB who was absolutely tearing apart defenses in Group E at the World Bowl had his back against the wall, and once again, he had delivered. The 37 yard strike to Lamin Kah, right out of the 2 minute warning, had it all, and Bryce was celebrating on the sideline. The Banijans had silenced the previously raucous home crowd, with Chineze sealing the fourth quarter comeback. The Serpent Eagles had just taken the lead for the first time all night, and with this little time left, they were going for 2. With under 2 minutes left, there was no difference, really, between a 4 and a 5 point lead- so the Banijans would try to make it a 6 point lead. At least put a little bit of pressure on a Kavanis PAT, if they got there.

"Hey! Bryce!" The coach yelled from the sideline. "You're in!"

"Wha- Ok, coach!" Bryce grabbed his helmet and jogged into the game. "Am I getting the football?"

"No!" The coach yelled back. "GO! You're a decoy." And Bryce jogged into the game. Late in Banija's home victory over Kavanis, Isaiah Bryce had caught a touchdown pass on the goal line- so the Offensive Coordinator was hoping that it'd draw a guy out of the box who would cover Isaiah Bryce, so Sello could pound it between the tackles for the 2 point conversion. The decoy thing did work. Isaiah Bryce lofted towards the corner, and this time around, a Kavanis linebacker actually followed him. But it didn't matter- Kavanis DT Ka’ron Coleman busted through the line of scrimmage and tackled Sello right at the line, to stop the two pointer. Bryce jogged out of the game, shrugging.

Then, after the special teams play, he jogged back onto the field to play middle linebacker. "I know, you're over yoru official snap count." Head Coach Thomas Hall told him. "But we need to win this game. It's our last true road game- we've got to show the world what we're made of, even against a solid squad like Kavanis. Get out there and make a play." Isaiah Bryce jogged back onto the field.

"X Fortress! X Fortress!" Isaiah Bryce yelled as the Kavanis offense lined up. One of Banija's many code words- simply calling out the formation. 4 WRs and a RB for Kavanis. Bryce ran up to the line of scrimmage as Joe Buchanan was giving his cadence. Bryce was going to show blitz while backing off into a zone, while Onindo Agot actually blitzed, although he was showing coverage.

"HIKE!" Buchanan yelled. Bryce backed up as the Kavanis O-Line missed Agot, who had a straight path to the QB. Buchanan tried to throw the ball over the middle as he got hit by the free rusher, but Marong got a hand to the football at the line of scrimmage.

"MINE!" Bryce yelled, as he saw the football pop high into the air. Bryce took two steps forward, leapt into the air, and grabbed the football out of the air for the interception. He was immediately brought down by the Kavanis center. "HELL YEAH BABY!" Bryce yelled when he came up with the football. A hell of a play, for a super veteran linebacker who was playing on a limited snap count. At this age, at this position- still making game-breaking plays. As he ran to the sideline, he chest bumped the head coach, Thomas Hall, who hugged him. "Five and one coach!" Bryce yelled. After high-fiving more than a few of his teammates, while getting water on the sideline, he looked into the face of a random Kavanis fan, who had spent a lot of the game heckling the Banijan team. "Hey brother- I'll see you in Elephant Valley!"

---

Serpent Eagles win late stage thriller 40-33 as path to the top seed for the Knockout Stages opens up


Banijan WR Lamin Kah high steps into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with two minutes to go

EAST HAMBURGH, NEARLY NEW AMSTERDAM, KAVANIS- At this football game, there were politicians. Or maybe, the more accurate thing to say is that there was a football game at a political rally. In front of the main two Presidential candidates in Kavanis, the Serpent Eagles faced off against the Kumquats in a game that would help entrench positions within Group E at the World Bowl. The teams were headed in opposite directions. After a close, opening road loss at the hands of Bongo Johnson, the Banijans have more than recovered in this World Bowl. The Serpent Eagles, entering this contest, were winners of four in a row, with a high-flying, unstoppable offense. Their scoring output the first five weeks of this tournament? 33, 30, 54, 33, and hanging a stunning 68 just last week on Abanhfleft, in our final home game.

The Kumquats were trending in the opposite direction. They were stunning all sorts of World Bowl people across the first two weeks, with their surprisingly high powered offense lighting up scoreboards at a rate absolutely nobody expected. Scoring 54 and 43, respectively, to get off to a 2-0 start, was not how anybody wrote this group- and suddenly, their Week 3 contest against Banija was a battle for first place. That battle was won by the Serpent Eagles, who, like we said, have continued to put a stranglehold on the group. Kavanis, of course, has trended backwards since then. Maybe their early success was the result of home cooking? A lot easier to put up those points at home. After having some film, those road rematches were disastrous. A 35-7 loss to Abanhfleft, followed by a 36-7 loss against Bongo Johnson, moved them down to 2-3. More importantly, it meant, that rather than competing with Banija at the top of the group, they were competing with Abanhfleft and Bongo Johnson at the bottom of the group.

With that recent slide on their road trip, they wanted their final home game of the tournament to be a strong one. A Kavanis win would probably burst the group wide open again. A potential 4-2 Banija, ahead of a pair of 3-3 teams? This would be the tightest group at the tournament. But Banija knew what was at stake- if they got to 5-1, that might be game, set, match on the group with just three games to go. But Kavanis decided to be aggressive from the get go. Their coach knew that they needed to turn things around, seeing as the offense had been massively underperforming in their last two games. From the opening drive of the game, you could see their aggressiveness on full display. Going for it on 4th and 4 on the opening drive of the game, at the Banijan 32- in field goal range? A tactic that worked, as Buchanan lofted a brilliant ball to his tight end, Amanté Booker, who wasn't brought down until he rumbled to the 9 yard line. Two plays later, Joe Buchanan scrambled 7 yards for the opening touchdown of the game.

And they decided to stay aggressive, going for 2 after the opening score of the ballgame. "“I wanted to be aggressive so we could try to take every point we could." Said Josh Davidson, the Kavanis Head Coach. "Our offense has really ground to a halt the last two games and I knew what a lift we’d get if we converted on a 2PC. And after that, maybe it went to my head a bit.” The Serpent Eagles sold out for the play action, and Buchanan lofted a pass to a WIDE open tight end, Amanté Booker, for the 2 point conversion. Just like that, the Serpent Eagles down 8-0. The Kumquats defense, with an engaged crowd, came to play, forcing three and outs on the first two possessions for Banija, including ending Banija's second possession with a sack. Kavanis kept getting big plays. A 35 yard punt return by Jakobe Caldwell started Kavanis in plus territory, and the drive ended with one first down and a 47 yard field goal by their kicker. Suddenly, it was 11-0.

The crowd going crazy, the Banijans needed to get SOMETHING going. That's when our OC reached into his own bag of tricks, running a double reverse with Kalu Alazar on the end of it. Just for 8 yards, but enough to stretch the defense. And then, a few plays later, it would be Kuenda Sello just smashing the hole. On a 2nd and 4 from the Kavanis 48, Sello got the handoff, expected to run off the right tackle. But he did that and a lot more. With right tackle Jelani Emeka and Tight End Rada Menasse sealing the edge, Kuenda Sello burst through the hole, getting to the second level untouched. He then applied an ankle-breaking juke move to Kaydron Elliott, who simply was left grasping at air as Sello was off to the races. He's not a dude who is going to be caught in a foot race, and he dove into the end zone for a touchdown. Score now 11-7, and Banija firmly back in it.

Kavanis responded with a long, methodical, drive. The Banijan run defense could not get off the field on this drive. Four times, the Kumquats had 3rd and 3 or less on this drive. All four times, they decided to run Andres Horton. And all four times, they had runs of 5 yards or more for a first down. 16 plays, 72 yards, and over six minutes off the clock. Andres Horton dove over the top of the pile from a yard out on first and goal, landing in the end zone for a Kumquats score. This time, they opted to take the PAT, and the score was 18-7. "It was that point, where they responded from Sello's sucker punch with a physical, domineering drive of their own, that we knew this was going to be one hell of a contest." Thomas Hall told reporters. "They've got a good team, a mentally tough team, and with the home crowd behind them- well, they can do anything." Of course, there was still plenty of scoring left in the 2nd quarter.

Later in the quarter, Ifeatu Chineze and co. had a 2 play, 72 yard touchdown drive. A long pass down the sideline to Lafi Senghore, who had thought he had ran all the way into the end zone. However, his right foot had stepped out of bounds at the 22 yard line, and therefore, despite the 50 yard gain, no TD yet. But Ifeatu Chineze is not a man who gets denied for this long- especially at this tournament, where he's been red-scorching hot. The very next play, he hit the KCU alumnus, Kalu Alazar, on a 22 yard strike on a post route, in the middle of the end zone. Single high safety bit to go towards Jelan on the outside, and no inside help. 18-14 Kavanis. But even Kavanis would have one more left in 'em. Inside the two minute warning, they had a drive that had crossed midfield with just 16 seconds left. You'd think, with a timeout left, they'd try to play the middle of the field to get into field goal range? Nope. Davidson continued his aggressive play-calling. Deep in routes for his outside WRs, but Uterius Barnett was lined up in the slot, opposite Ayax Kowtame. Barnett left Kowtame in the dust with a double move, and was running all by himself down the sideline. Kowtame caught the ball at the 10 yard line and high stepped into the end zone for the touchdown. 25-14 to Kavanis at the half.

"Kavanis had played an excellent half of football, especially on offense." Thomas Hall told reporters at halftime. "We gotta clean up a lot of things on defense, or else it's gonna be a long night." Despite Kavanis having the momentum, Banija had the ultimate X-factor- Chinweuba Jelan. While Jelan had a nearly silent first half(1 catch for 7 yards), all he needs is a moment, right? He's that electric. And he showed us why on the opening kickoff. A brilliant stiff arm applied at the 25 yard line had him off to the races, and he leaped over a diving Kavanis kicker as he ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Suddenly, 25-21, and the momentum swung towards the Serpent Eagles. Later in the 3rd quarter, the Banijans had a solid drive down the field, with a chance to take the lead. They got all the way down to the 5 yard line, and had a third and goal from there. A touchdown, of course, would give us our first lead of the afternoon. But it was not to be- Chineze missed Lamin Kah in the end zone, and Haroon Ali intercepted his pass in the back of the end zone. Golden opportunity to take the lead, gone. Towards the end of the quarter, we had another solid drive- not into the red zone, but close enough for a 44 yard field goal. That meant the two teams entered the fourth quarter in a one point game, where Kavanis led, 25-24.

The difference in the game, at that point, was Davidson's two point conversion. Looking like a genius, eh? After the Banijan field goal, the Kumquats had started to put together a decent drive. Getting inside the Banijan 30, a chance to build upon their lead. But that wasn't mean to be- as the Banijan defense came up big. Moses Luwum was huge, punching the ball out at the Banijan 24 yard line, where Koman Tabor landed on the football. Unfortunately, that would not be enough. While the Banijans got a couple of first downs, we eventually had to punt. And after a few big plays, with just under 8 minutes left, Andres Horton took a HB toss 24 yards to the house. 31-24. Then, came the question for Davidson- take the point to make it an 8 point game, or go for two, and make it a 2 possession game? "It's a tough decision, but analytically, it's the right call." Said a Banijan TV commentator. "The benefits of a 9 point lead, at that stage of the game, were just too many." And once again, not only was Davidson's aggressive decision-making rewarded, but perfectly executed. They ran a speed option to the left, and they sealed the edge enough to allow Buchanan to walk into the end zone, untouched, for two points.

Under 8 minutes left, and the Serpent Eagles were down, 33-24. "Situations like these- that's why you love having Ice Chineze on your team." Thomas Hall. "He's done it all, seen it all. Nothing rattles him. Down two scores in the fourth? He just goes into focus mode." And that he did. He was out there throwing the football like darts, and playing well in clutch situations. One such? 6 minutes left, 4th and 8 for Banija at the Banijan 43 yard line. Running out of possessions, Hall knows that he has no choice but to go for it. Pressure came in, and Chineze rolled right, extended the play. He threw a perfect lazer into Kalu Alazar, who was running a comeback route, towards the ground, on the run. Alazar dove to catch it- getting 11 yards when they needed 8. It didn't surprise many when, about a minute later, he threw a 17 yard touchdown pass to Kuenda Sello on a wheel route. Sello, it should be said, made an elite reception out of the backfield. Catching a lofted pass right at the front pylon, ensuring his feet stayed in-bounds as a Kavanis linebacker behind him tried helplessly to knock it out of his hands.

And just like that, it was a one possesion game. 33-31, to Kavanis. Pressure building on the Kumquats. Andres Horton immediately has a 15 yard run, up the middle, for a first down. Then, the Banijan defense steps up. Third and 4, they pitch it out to Andres Horton, who seems to have the edge. But who sheds his blocker and makes the tackle? None other than star cornerback, Koman Tabor. We force the punt, and everyone seems to know what is coming. Ice Chineze making every throw, and then, it's a 37 yarder to Lamin Kah, right at the stroke of the 2 minute warning, to give Banija our first lead of the night, by a score of 37-33. While Chineze was sacked on the ensuing two point conversion, they still led by 4. And then, although the Kumquats still had a chance to win it, it would be the Serpent Eagles who would call game.

A disguised blitz by Agot forced Buchanan to throw the ball early, and Essa Marong tipped it high into the air. It was picked off by a diving Isaiah Bryce, who had basically won the game for the Banijans. Since Kavanis still had one timeout at that point, Banija still kicked a field goal with under 10 seconds left, but that was basically it. The Kumquats desperate attempt at laterals did not work, and Banija survived, with a 40-33 win. "That was one hell of a win by our boys today." Thomas Hall told reporters. "Everybody stepped up, in the biggest moments, when necessary. Jelan was quiet today- but he had that massive kick return to start the second half. Chineze made every single throw. Our Offensive Line gave him huge pockets in the crucial moments. We've got a gutsy quarterback, who can play with the best of them. ANd today, with our backs against the wall- he came out and won us the game. We'll go as far as he takes us, and he's shown us- he can take us pretty damn far."

A hell of a comeback win for Banija, which improves the Serpent Eagles to 5-1. More importantly, it means the magic number for Banija is one. One more win in any of their last three games, and the team will win Group E outright. And Banija, currently, sit as the presumptive top seed for the knockout stages, although there's still a lot of gridiron to be played. "I'm not worried about records, I'm not all that concerned about the standings." Said Ifeatu Chineze, the team's QB. "It's all about winning for me." And racking up the stats, as well. Banija's got 258 points over 6 games- scoring points at a staggering pace of 43 per game. We'll see if the pace can be kept up as the group stage moves to South Newlandia.

Banija's first game will be at the 15,000 seater Elephant Field, in Elephant Valley, against Bongo Johnson. "This is a team that beat us in Week 1." Ice Chineze told reporters. "Seeing a team for a third time, has its own set of challenges. We're gonna change things up, show everyone a little bit more, and do what we can to light up the scoreboards in Elephant Valley like we have through the group stages so far."

Other News
- Loyola-Istria's Athletic Department has confirmed that they have now interviewed at least three candidates for the vacant head coaching position, for their college football team. In addition to alumnus and RFL-championship winning head coach Dennis Zervos, they have also interviewed Felswyr State OC Naia Curentino, Current Offensive Coordinator Bethlehem Nangobi, and

Banija @ Kavanis Game Summary- Turnovers and Scores

Game played at Marco Mueller Memorial Stadium in East Hamburgh, Nearly New Amsterdam, Kavanis

First Quarter
11:30 KAV TD- Kavanis QB Joe Buchanan 7 yard TD run. Joe Buchanan completes pass to TE Amanté Booker for a SUCCESSFUL 2 point conversion. (8-0 Kavanis)
02:57 KAV FG- Kavanis K Dominic Hughes kicks 47 yard field goal. (11-0 Kavanis)
00:03 BNJ TD- Banijan HB Kuenda Sello 48 yard TD run. PAT is good (11-7 Kavanis)

Second Quarter
08:34 KAV TD- Kavanis HB Andres Horton 1 yard TD run. PAT is good (18-7 Kavanis)
04:13 BNJ TD- Banijan QB Ifeatu Chineze 22 yard TOUCHDOWN pass to WR Kalu Alazar. PAT is good (18-14 Kavanis)
00:10 KAV TD- Kavanis QB Joe Buchanan 45 yard TOUCHDOWN pass to WR Uterius Barnett. PAT is good (25-14 Kavanis)

Third Quarter
14:49 BNJ TD- Banijan KR Chinweuba Jelan returns opening kickoff 99 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. PAT is good (25-21 Kavanis)
06:55 BNJ INT- Banijan QB Ifeatu Chineze pass at the 5 yard line on third and goal is INTERCEPTED by Kavanis CB Haroon Ali in the end zone, who kneels down in the end zone for a touchback. (25-21 Kavanis)
01:34 BNJ FG- Banijan K Komani Achaje hits 44 yard field goal. (25-24 Kavanis)

Fourth Quarter
13:55 KAV FUM- Kavanis HB Andres Horton is tackled by Banijan OLB Moses Luwum and FUMBLES, recovered by Banijan CB Koman Tabor at the Banijan 24. (25-24 Kavanis)
07:55 KAV TD- Kavanis HB Andres Horton 24 yard TD run. Kavanis QB Joe Buchanan keeps the ball on the option and runs into the end zone, untouched, for the 2 point conversion. (33-24 Kavanis)
05:11 BNJ TD- Banijan QB Ifeatu Chineze 17 yard TOUCHDOWN pass to HB Kuenda Sello. PAT is good (33-31 Kavanis)
02:00 BNJ TD- Banijan QB Ifeatu Chineze 37 yard TOUCHDOWN pass to WR Lamin Kah. 2 point conversion fails (37-33 Banija)
01:49 KAV INT- Kavanis QB Joe Buchanan pass is tipped at the line of scrimmage by Banijan DT Essa Marong, and INTERCEPTED by Banijan MLB Isaiah Bryce, who is tackled at the Kavanis 27 yard line. (37-33 Banija)
00:08 BNJ FG- Banijan K Komani Achaje hits 50 yard field goal (40-33 Banija)

Banija WINS 40-33

Offensive Statistical Leaders
Banija
Passing
BNJ- QB Ifeatu Chineze. 25/38, 323 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception.

Rushing
BNJ- RB Kuenda Sello. 22 carries, 144 yards, 1 touchdown.
BNJ- RB Christopher Isto. 4 carries, 14 yards.
BNJ- QB Ifeatu Chineze. 1 carry, 3 yards.

Receiving
BNJ- WR Lamin Kah. 6 catches, 85 yards, 1 touchdown.
BNJ- WR Kalu Alazar. 9 catches, 133 yards, 1 touchdown.
BNJ- WR Lafi Senghore. 3 catches, 40 yards.
BNJ- WR Chinweuba Jelan. 1 catch, 7 yards. (One kick return touchdown)
BNJ- RB Kuenda Sello. 4 catches, 52 yards, 1 touchdown.
BNJ- WR Berechiah Ramogi. 1 catch, 4 yards.
BNJ- TE Zedekiah Akoth. 1 catch, 2 yards.

[South Newlandia]

-- BREAKING -- Raymond Foster, mayor of Ratzupalfu, speaks out about rumoured parties involving Sarzonian and Delaclav players -- BREAKING --

In an officially published notice, Foster points out the decriminalisation of hard drugs in South Newlandia is not an endorsement of dangerous drugs, and not an invitation to take them in the country. “Visitors to South Newlandia are expected to conduct themselves appropriately; and should these rumours be confirmed, some players of those World Bowl teams may be investigated for disturbing the peace.” As of right now, there are substantiated reports that Delaclav players may have held a party also involving Sarzonian Quarterback Stallworth, who has since left the team, and also involving various types of hard drugs. However, these reports are not, as of yet, confirmed. Foster added that a police investigation was going on.

“Should these reports be true, it paints a disappointing picture of players of both teams. There are ways to conduct yourself when visiting a country, and a drug-fuelled party deep into the night is certainly not it”, Foster added, “and police – and I - might not take so kindly should we see this behaviour be repeated.” Lastly, he extended an invitation to any players that may have been involved to seek treatment for any addictions to hard drugs they may have developed, free of charge. “South Newlandia is one of the finest places to seek medical treatment, and we’re more than happy to help players make the decision for their mental and physical health, before or after the tournament. Addiction is nothing to be ashamed of. Some of the other stuff that supposedly took place would be, but addiction is a disease.”

Should you want to seek help for an addiction to hard drugs, please dial 321. Help is out there for you. (This message has been brought to you by the South Newlandian Ministry of Health)

[New Gesem]

New Gesem 9  7  3  3  22
Bendicion 0  7  0  3  10

A strong win for the Gesemites to clinch the World Bowl playoffs. Bendicion stumbled out the gate as Timothy Breggins was bottled up on the three-yard line by Waldo Roy, serving as a gunner on the Pilgrims' kickoff team. On the subsequent play, Cody Zimmerman broke through the offensive line to sack Kurozov for a safety and the first points of the game. New Gesem ran the resulting safety punt back for a touchdown, and Bendicion found themselves down nine points before their game even had a chance to start.

Indigo's men remained staunch, however, answering with a tidy drive early in the second half to bring the game to within one score; unfortunately, the Pilgrims had an answer of their own, a three-play, sixty-five-yard touchdown drive to erase the parity between the teams. New Gesem slowed dramatically in the second half as the Bendicion defense got into a rhythm, but still managed to score two field goals to the visiting team's one.

Times A-Changin’, pt 5
The Gesemite Football League was founded in 1918 with four member teams and despite a rocky start, by 1940 it was a profitable league and had expanded to eight teams, from Damascus in the east to Alexandria in the west. The founding of the Gesemite Basketball Association in 1949 detracted from the league’s status as the only professional sports organization in New Gesem, but four years later, the National Football Alliance would become the GFL’s first real challenger.

The NFA was an innovative league founded with the backing of several up-and-coming fraternities, most notably the Gibbons, a group of mainly nouveau-riche young men who’d made their fortunes in the burgeoning television and film industries. The NFA’s close association with the Gibbons stood in stark contrast to the GFL, whose unaffiliated status started as a historical fluke, but by this time had grown into a central tenet of the league’s identity. It concentrated in newer cities like Damascus and Eriksberg and in the sprawling suburbs of major cities such as Constantinople and Alexandria to capture the attention of the new Gesemite middle class which dwelt there, in contrast to the starkly urban identity of the GFL.

Under the Gibbons’ leadership, the NFA was a slick, all-inclusive media product. Where GFL teams jealously guarded game recordings and only allowed select media into the stadium, the NFA embraced the media, establishing the first nationwide television broadcasting network to show games from one end of New Gesem to the other. Furthermore the league sold its own media products; highlight reels, books of statistics, and player cards, a new innovation at the time, were all sold from NFA-branded newsstands across the country.

This rapid expansion was made possible by strong returns on the Gibbons’ fraternal investing portfolio, which included numerous movie and television studios as well as some of New Gesem’s major publishing houses and record labels. The movie industry, however, was the primary source of the Gibbons’ income, and it expanded rapidly in the first half of the 1950s, from 251 in 1949 to 563 in 1954, driven in large part by the construction of dozens of drive-in theaters. However, the growth was not sustainable, and the subsequent crash of the Gesemite movie industry would ultimately bring the Gibbons down and the NFA with them.

When the NFA declared bankruptcy in 1960, it was the first sports league in Gesemite history to do so. The GFL absorbed the NFA wholesale, more than doubling its number of teams overnight and inheriting the NFA’s media enterprise at a steep discount. This would prove to be a saving grace in the history of the older league, as it enabled the league to adapt to an era of increased television viewership and competition from collegiate football and the ever-expanding GBA.

The next episode of competition which the GFL would face came from an unlikely source; New Gesem’s northern neighbor, the Royal Kingdom of Quebec and Shingoryeo. The development of football in Quebec had been separate from but in tandem with its development in New Gesem, but unlike basketball, where Quebecois players were a major part of the GBA’s lifeblood since its inception, there had never been any crossover. This separation would end in dramatic fashion in December 1993 (New Gesem calendar), when the QFL announced it would expand into New Gesem with four teams.

The West Bhaigad Coal Miners, East Alexandria Steamers, Busiris Pirates, and Griffinsburg Giants all began play in the QFL in 1994, forming a “southern” division. The teams were beleaguered from the beginning, owing in large part to the lack of infrastructure development in New Gesem making travel to and from games a challenge, as well as some of the same financing difficulties the Gibbons had run into forty years prior. Local partners in all four cities were found to have exaggerated their ability to secure funding, leaving their Quebecois partners to foot their respective teams’ entire operating budgets. All four teams folded by the end of the 1996 season.

[South Americanastan]

Anthor @ South Americanastan
4th Quarter, 0:32 Left
Anthor 9-9 SAS

"We have a tie game in front late here. The Bears looking to get down the field with a quick two minute drill with only 1 timeout left."

"It'll be tough, defenses from both sides have been tough as nails so far."

"Indeed they have. One helluva day for the South Americanastan defense, first game in which they haven't allowed a touchdown so far."

"80 yards to go after the touchback and may as well tack on 40 more with how this game has been going so far."

The South Americanastanian offense lines up in the I-formation as Jimmy Echavaria places his hands firmly under the ass of Gary Plack, and scans the Anthorian defense. His cleats dig into the ground as he barks out the snap count.

"HUT! HUT!"

Echavaria drops back, before quickly stepping up in the pocket as both defensive ends go around the outside. With a clean pocket and an even cleaner view of the field, he throws a dart to Tanner Wesco, who runs 5 yards up the field before stepping out of bounds.

"And that's a good 7-yard gain for the Bears. 2nd and 3 at their own 27, now. 23 seconds left on the clock."

Echavaria calls for the snap again, and quickly throws it to Jan Halmion immediately after receiving the ball out of the shotgun. Halmion is tackled, but manages to fall out of bounds. 0:18 left.

"Another quick pass and that will put them with a 1st and 10 at their own 34. I wonder why they don't go for the deep ball here."

"I think they're concerned about throwing an interception here. Any turnover seals the win for Anthor."

Again, Echavaria throws a short pass. This time to Tom Malhop, who opts to attempt to run up the field rather than go out of bounds. He gains an extra 8 yards before being decked by Finley Morey, causing Jack Wall to spike his playbook to the ground in frustration.

"FUCK!"

The playbook sends turf pellets flying into the air. Thanks to Malhop's vicinity to the Bears' sideline, Wall is able to yell at him without taking him off the field as South Americanastan takes their second timeout.

"MALHOP! YOU IDIOT! WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WOULD YOU RUN UP THE FIELD WITH 20 FUCKING SECONDS LEFT!?"

Malhop rejoins the huddle while Wall pauses to collect his thoughts. 0:09 left.

"South Americanastan, from the 47 yard line now. 1 timeout left and they'll need some luck to grab this one."

Echavaria drops back, cleats digging into the ground with each step in the 5-step drop. He scans the field, looking for an open receiver, before throwing a dart towards Quinn Larson, which is batted away by Frank Hammond.

0:05 left and this will probably be South Americanastan's final play."

"Just send it up and pray at this point."

Jimmy Echavaria takes a deep breath as he prepares to snap the ball. With 20 seconds left on the play clock, Jack Wall's voice rings through his headset.

"C'mon, Jimmy. One throw for the rest of your life, c'mon. You've got this."

Rare words of encouragement from the stone-faced coach.

Echavaria snaps the ball and snaps into his drop back, only 1 step out of the shotgun formation. He steps forwards, continuing to rapidly scan the field and wait for an opening. Meanwhile, one of the Anthorian defensive tackles busts through Pat Orlen, and Echavaria quickly reacts by moving to the left and bumping his hip out, avoiding the tackle and sending him to the ground. He sprints to his left, as the defensive end peels off in pursuit. Time expires as Echavaria continues desperately sprinting as the end closes in.

Echavaria places his right arm on the end's head in a stiff arm, and jumps into the air, right hand still placed firmly on the end's helmet, almost as if using him for extra elevation. His left arm snaps forward and heaves the ball high and deep towards A.T White. Time seems to slow as the ball sails and Echavaria mutters a Hail Mary to himself. He lands and stumbles backwards before falling on his back, unable to get a clear view of the play.

"A.T WHITE! UP AND OVER THE DEFENDER AS TIME EXPIRES AND THAT WILL BE A TOUCHDOWN! THE BEARS' LONGEST PASS OF THE YEAR COMES IN STUNNING FASHION TO UPSET ANTHOR A SECOND TIME! WHAT A GAME AND THAT'LL BREAK THE LOSING STREAK!"

"WHAT A PLAY BY ECHAVARIA! TINKER TO EVERS THERE, THROW ON A WIRE ALL THE WAY DOWN!"

[TJUN-ia]

After a home and away series which wasn't convincing but still fruitful, the Jaguars of TJUN-ia entered Ranoria still high off a massive win over HUElavia in New Washington that gave the Jaguars control of the group heading into the final 3 games in Winterfell. It certainly hasn't been convincing at times, but that big win showed that every win counts in a tournament such as this and Gus McKerrin were free to change the tactics a bit. Instead of going for points, they would go for wins - starting at Royalty Field in Rouyoutte against Rocky Canada for the final time.

This game would be the first that TSOC has mandated pink armbands to be worn, in order to show our support for our friends in Cassadaigua who want to return to this sport and others. The mandate will also be in effect for the football team for the 2nd half of their campaign, as well as the remaining races in the NSSCRA Season and the upcoming WCoH - all sports the Dagans used to take part in. The TSOC hope that this visual sign of protest can show our Dagan friends that we miss them and we hope for their return to events such as the WB whenever they are ready.

Now onto the gridiron and this one was certainly tighter than many were expecting, most likely due to the chaos a neutral sight can bring to a football game. Rocky Canada would control the first half with Sydney Garrett getting 14 points via a throw to Theo LaVoie, a nice run into the endzone himself and two PATs from the kicker (whoever that is). Obviously, that was not good at all and so, we used the 2nd half to bring back that deficit come what may...and we certainly made it close. Jake Griffin found Jack Davidson for TD1, Chi On-Ma his the PAT to make it 71-4, the Griffin found Chris Davidson but Chi missed the PAT, so it was 14-13 but then, with only 10 seconds to go, Griffin threw a hail mary to Hubert Valois that ended up as enough for Chi to make the walk-off FG to win the game 16-14 and confirm TJUN-ia's spot in the Playoffs. It wasn't easy at all, but the job was done.

Two more games left and with Playoff progression now guaranteed, the aim now is to try and secure a good playoff seeding for the battles to come. The Karmin-Falce Superdome in Ranoria City will host game #8 and our final meeting with a winless Theofficaljapan. GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group B)
MD1: @Rocky Canada (UR) W 27-16 (2nd/1-0)
MD2: vs Theofficaljapan (UR) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 29-19 (2nd/2-0)
MD3: @HUElavia (17) L 10-29 (2nd/2-1/+2PD)
-------------------------Break-------------------------
MD4: vs Rocky Canada (UR) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 36-31 (2nd/3-1)
MD5: @Theofficaljapan (UR) W 14-3 (2nd/4-1)
MD6: vs HUElavia (17) - Field of Dreams in The Gardens, New Washington W 44-13 (1st/5-1/+49PD)
-------------------------Break-------------------------
MD7: vs Rocky Canada (UR) - Royalty Field, Rouyoutte, Ranoria W 16-14 (1st/6-1/Playoffs Confirmed)
MD8: vs Theofficaljapan (UR) - Karmin-Falce Superdome, Ranoria City, Ranoria
MD9: vs HUElavia (17) - Mount Reinhold Stadium, Eglise, Ranoria

[Saint Kanye]

World Bowl 44. Matchday 3. Elephant Field, Elephant Valley. The home team South Newlandia Elephants crushed the visiting St. Kanye Surge 35 to 9 in one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by far. Surge quarterback R.J. Linetti collapsed from heat stroke midway through the second quarter of the match, with his side already trailing 21-3. "Gosh. It really got that bad?" Linetti said upon being discharged from the hospital that day. "That can't stand. We'll need to get back at them the next time we meet, which thankfully will be at home."

Fast forward to four weeks later. World Bowl 44, Matchday 6. Pencurve Electronics Field, Kardashia. The home team St. Kanye Surge zapped the visiting South Newlandia Elephants 63 to 16 in one of the most satisfying revenge matches of the tournament by far. Linetti completed 36 of 40 passes for 491 yards and five touchdowns (QBR 157.4, a new personal tournament high) while also rushing for 113 yards and one touchdown. Elephant signal caller Robert Stein, who recorded two passing TDs in the two teams' first meeting, didn't throw any today, completing only 18 of his 42 attempts and getting picked off thrice.

"Yup, looks like we did get back at them," Linetti said at the end of this game. "Now it all hinges on whether we can take this series against them in four weeks' time. Hopefully we can keep the form we showed today for the two games in between as well." All 80,085 seats at the Surge's home turf were filled, not to mention the hundreds watching on giant screens outside.

---

1Q STK Johns 95 kick return (Rasputin kick) STK 7-0
It didn't take long for the Surge to score, as Taylor Johns returned the opening kickoff to the house for six (seven with the extra point from James Rasputin, who made all nine of his attempts today).

1Q SNL Read 17 run (Kick failed) STK 7-6
The Elephants tried to equalize, but the Abdul Corbett XP after the Giovanni Read run bounced off the uprights and out.

1Q STK Moore 40 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 14-6
St. Kanye's next drive ended in a punt, but the SNL drive after that ended in a pick. Aidan O'Connor was able to take the ball to midfield, after which Noah Sherman moved the chains with a ten-yard run, and then Patrick Moore went the distance upon receiving the draw pass from Linetti.

2Q STK Bradman 62 interception return (Rasputin kick) STK 21-6
As the famed Surge blitz came closing on him, Stein went for a quick throw, only for safety Gary Bradman to grab the ball in midair and haul ass toward the other end zone. Rasputin's PAT bounced off the uprights like Corbett's did earlier, but the difference was that it fell in.

2Q STK Sherman 22 run (Rasputin kick) STK 28-6
The visitors marched all the way to the red zone on the succeeding drive. A run by Read got them from the 20 to the 12, after which Stein targeted Rachelle Klein in the end zone, hoping to bring it back to a one-possession game. Klein soared over Mason Schwartz and caught the ball with both hands.... but it was out of bounds, and therefore incomplete. Stein decided to try the ground approach once more, handing off to Read on the next play, only for Matt Dawson to force a fumble on him. The Surge recovered and eventually scored on a Sherman run up the middle.

2Q STK Dobler 71 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 35-6
After three turnovers on their last three drives, the Elephants fortunately didn't commit one on their next, but they still went three and out. A good punt sent the Surge starting their drive at their own 15, but it didn't matter, as Linetti rushed for fourteen yards and then hooked up with Bruce Dobler for the remaining 71.

3Q STK Dobler 25 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 42-6
Halftime was but a break from the onslaught, as the boys in purple and lime continued to fire on all cylinders against their yellow and green-clad opponents. Helped out by a pass interference penalty on Carolyn Bray, Dobler caught another TD to give him two (and Linetti three, thus far).

3Q SNL McGuire 87 kick return (Corbett kick) STK 42-13
However, the resulting kickoff ended in a score for SNL as Diego McGuire zigzagged past his defenders to take the ball to the house.

3Q STK Linetti 29 run (Rasputin kick) STK 49-13
Later in the quarter, Linetti would cap off yet another scoring drive on an incredible run that saw him dodge Kyle Dorn and make him tackle nothing but thin air.

4Q STK Jeffers 21 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 56-13
Make it four touchdowns on the air for Linetti, as tight end Hussein Jeffers joined the party during the fourth and final period.

4Q SNL field goal Corbett 36 STK 56-16
Corbett sank his only field goal attempt to cut his team's deficit to an even forty...

4Q STK Moore 53 pass from Linetti (Rasputin kick) STK 63-16
... but the Surge grew it back to forty-seven, as Moore also recorded two touchdowns for himself and gave Linetti his fifth.

---

Now that the home and away series are done, it's on to South Newlandia (not the previously reported Ranoria) for the three neutral ground games to end the group stages. "Hold up - how can it be called 'neutral ground' games when the Elephants have the chance to play at home?" questioned Dobler. "But regardless, we'll do our best, three more games out of nine is a long time and we could well see the playoff picture get shaken up." With the Quebec and Shingoryeo Grim Reapers defeating the State of Imperial Russia 24-10, it became a three-way tie in Group H. The Surge, Elephants and Reapers now all sport 4-2 records, whereas the Imperial Russians are still winless at 0-6. "Regardless, they [SIR] will be dangerous," said Yeezie head coach Jeff Delphine. "We refuse to play down to any opponent."

Linetti got some attention from Ranoria's RSNN sports website, naming him the fifth best quarterback of the current Bowl. "I'm glad that my achievements, and thus my hard work, are getting recognized," he said in an interview. "It only inspires me to do better and aim higher."

In other groups.....

- In Group A, the Anthor Voodoo continue to surprise, improving to 4-2 after a win against the Lisander Lynx (1-5), 27-13.
- In Group B, Rocky Canada (3-3) eliminated Theofficaljapan (0-6) from playoff contention, defeating them 20-3.
- In Group C, Kriegiersien (4-2) became the only team to shut out an opponent in this matchday, trashing the Gyatso-kai Boarcupines (3-3) by a score of 38-nil.
- In Group D, Greater Cebu (1-5) barged into the win column after surviving in a low-scoring affair, 10-3, against Bendicion (2-4).
- In Group E, Bongo Johnson (3-3) rose back to the five hundred mark after turning back Abanhfleft (2-4) by a 23-17 margin.
- In Group F, the Sarzonia Stars (5-1) are now on a five-game winning streak after dropping their opener. They dropped a forty bomb on Kyhun, 44-13 to be exact, and kept them winless at 0-6.
- In Group G, the Chromatika Iron Legion (5-1) also gave the United Adaikes Scorpions their sixth loss in as many outings, beating them 17-7.

---

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MD | Opponent                     | Rank | Uniform       | Score   | Record | Place |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1  | State of Imperial Russia     | UR   | Purple/Purple | W 25- 0 |  1-0   |  1st  |
| 2  | Quebec and Shingoryeo        | 27   | Purple/Black  | W 53-17 |  2-0   |  1st  |
| 3  | @South Newlandia             | 12   | White/Purple  | L  9-35 |  2-1   |  1st  |
|    | BREAK                        |      |               |         |        |       |
| 4  | @State of Imperial Russia    | UR   | White/White   | W 26-10 |  3-1   |  1st  |
| 5  | @Quebec and Shingoryeo       | 27   | White/Purple  | L  6-20 |  3-2   |  2nd  |
| 6  | South Newlandia              | 12   | Purple/Purple | W 63-16 |  4-2   |  1st  |
|    | BREAK                        |      |               |         |        |       |
| 7  | State of Imperial Russia (N) | UR   | Purple/Black  |         |        |       |
| 8  | Quebec and Shingoryeo (N)    | 27   | Purple/Purple |         |        |       |
| 9  | South Newlandia (N)          | 12   | White/White   |         |        |       |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

Avalon

PART 4 - 만조상해원경 (萬祖上解寃經)

The clouds were a zone between the man and the machine, and where the time passed fluidly and differently. Her body separated into two, with a duplicate back in the Palais Royale, The Queen was in middle of a flight. This form of travel, only the third time she had ever done so, seemed endless and wore everybody out, and it took a lot for the blonde-haired, elegantly-dressed woman in her robes to maintain her composure and focus as she approached Delte.

The Duty to be silent above it all, beyond most people's suspicions, Christine thought to herself, as she blasted through the clouds in a blaze. is the hardest of all jobs.

This flight was a matter of inevitability to her, and perhaps one that crossed paths between her duty and choice...

---

It was just between two of them, as a subject gave a neck bow to Christine, as he kissed her hand. Christine the Second, who had just been crowned as the monarch of this Anaian state, was still getting accustomed to the position. All her life she had been ready, even more so by the shortcomings of her father receiving little to no time as the Seja (Crown Prince) and not Sesohn (Third in line of succession as the eldest child of the monarch. Even then, however, all of the learning curve in ascending to the throne, followed by a royal wedding to her beloved Caspian of Cassadaigua in three months' time, was not easy to handle.

'It isn't as easy as it looks, just like what my father would have said,' said Christine, as she nodded to the subject, before sitting back on her chair.

'No, and the hubris of a man who thinks of it likely, one who dares dream of becoming a god without a sense of morals or servitude, can be costly for all,' answered the tall, thin dark-haired figure standing just over six-feet tall, as he continued standing. On an early April of the capitol, it was particularly easy to hear the birds who chirped and sung loudly in middle of the air. Just by the sounds you could have a rough sense of what time to have, and how the fruits of the orchard trees would taste on a given day. While the man, who was of decent background but not enough to warrant himself of frequent visits, did not know that, he was nonetheless delighted to have the conversation continue on a good note. Like how two good friends would.

'Well, it was only a year ago when you had vowed never to return to this country for her own sake....you had vowed to end this life and that Dongajul (dense tightrope made out of straw) of your own life for her.'

The friend, mere son of a diplomat and an islet princess, kept his head low, before nodding in agreement as Queen closed her mouth.

'I had thought so too, because I did not want her, who I had loved all this time, to be hurt by my very existence,' said Asher Lundrigan, holding back the emotional luggage that dragged his mind like an ankle chain. 'I am capable of hurting, and I do not regret one bit in letting her go because I couldn't promise her I could promise a future, one that's eternal and binding, for her. But it was her who was ready to dive into it all for someone who has lacks a redeeming quality of his own.' He said, before continuing to speak as he was being reminded of his father, The Honourable Robert Lundrigan, the recently-retired MP for far-left NPD after two decades of service with the Her Majesty's Quebecois Foreign Service. 'One can say that I am like like his own father.'

'Do not say that it's a bad thing,' said Christine in a stern manner, 'There is no such thing as a bloodline of heroes or traitors in this universe, and never did I ever insist that you speak about yourself or those you love in said manners.'

'It is not wrong, however. My father lacked seafaring talents of the Baron Bron-Yr-Aur and grandpa the Baron before his, so he chose to loot the coffers of the homeland.'

The Queen, whose travel to the ancestral homeland on the trip to the other side of the interrealm portal on the gap year between high school and St. Croix, had a different opinion. 'But he had done the right thing - the decision taken by your father and his colleagues on the other side of the portal to loot the coffers of Yoon Seok-Yeol, the Korean Yanukovich, and his cronies was right.' She continued speaking, 'Their disregard of the rules of the land and the law given to them, no matter how flawed said laws may have been at the time, left everybody horrified back home. That's why my late father approved it, and had taken close interest in Balmas Cabinet's project over the five year course it had ran from year 2021 to 2026, even as the cabinets changed and his successor got imprisoned.'

'But for what?' asked Asher, as he fixed his glasses once to question it. 'Looting from the coffers, no matter how valiant the cause may have been, is a problem in itself into the future. Would this not get in the way of the so-called future you speak of, especially if it cannot be secured?'

'Who had said that?' Christine asked. 'You cannot ignore the legacies of what your father had done as a Robin hood technocrat, no matter how ironic that had just sounded like, or even what you have done in this life so far. It's just that's what it means for duty to call home and the weight of it shall not be your burden.'

'For her it would not get in the way, no matter your hatred for actions of my own mistakes.' Asher said, noting that the prophecy had mentioned either/or, not both. 'But for me that would be a deterrent factor if you were speaking of it on my half..'

'But that was a matter from twenty two years ago,' Christine shook her head. 'To do nothing, and to let the ancestral homeland be looted by a group of poorly-intentioned bandits, is any worse than to do something and for what we view as good.' she answered. 'Our ancestors may have left six and a half centuries ago, but we have never let go of the homeland.'

'On that note,' enquired Asher, as he cleared his throat. 'I am good to see my friend once again.'

---

The figure started feeling the air lighten up as he flew, started breathing slower as she slowly awaited a moment to descend. In the early morning, the Deltean oceans produced mists just enough for her to hide it, and even if it would not have been possible for her to do so, she would have been able to turn herself into a transparent figure until the landing's near. Christine was the Grand Chief of the four religious pillars of the Quebecois state after all, and her abilities, brought together under one body and many wills, enabled her to do so.

I have made my own choice to go there, said she. To Delte.

[Ranoria]

Cutoff for the Ranorian Half!

Group E

Kavanis 32–0 Abanhfleft
Bongo Johnson 14–41 Banija

P Group E             Pld     W   L      PF     PA     PD    Win % 
Banija	               7      6   1	299	162	137	0.857
Abanhfleft 	       7      2   5	134	220	-86	0.285
Kavanis	               7      3   4	201	201	0	0.428
Bongo Johnson          7      3   4	134	185	-51	0.428

Group F

Kyhun 0–38 Venmere
Delaclava 19–10 Sarzonia

P Group E               Pld     W   L      PF     PA     PD    Win % 
Delaclava            	7       6   1	152	56	96	0.857
Sarzonia                7       5   2	175	89	86	0.714
Venmere            	7       3   4	151	106	45	0.428
Kyhun	                7       0   7	26	253	-227	0

Group G

Mon Sold 16–21 United Adaikes
Chromatika 41–20 Kohnhead

P Group E               Pld     W   L      PF     PA     PD    Win % 
Chromatika	        7       6   1	244	137	107	0.857
Mon Sold	        7       4   3	183	198	-15	0.571
Kohnhead                7       3   4	218	209	9	0.428
United Adaikes          7	1   6	87	188	-101	0.142

Group H

Saint Kanye 19–13 State of Imperial Russia
Quebec and Shingoryeo 28–30 South Newlandia

P Group E               Pld     W   L      PF     PA     PD    Win % 
Saint Kanye	         7      5   2	201	111	90	0.714
South Newlandia          7	5   2	192	195	-3	0.714
Quebec and Shingoryeo    7      4   3	166	154	12	0.571
State of Imperial Russia 7      0   7	92	191	-99	0