The Nintendo Football League - 2009

[Triforcemaster3]

Opening the 2nd half, Bern moved the ball decently, but struggled in the red zone. That's when Ike decided to make a gutsy decision to go for it on fourth down. Tethealla blitzed up the middle on the 4th-and-2 play, but Ike escaped the pocket and ran for a 10-yard gain and a first down. The very next play, Ike found Lyn in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass to put them up 20-14.

Colette worked quickly to rally her team, and told Emil to assert himself in the pocket. He did that on the first play, as he found Colette for a 17-yard gain. He then did something that completely fooled the Bern defense. He handed off to Tenebrae, who then flipped it backward to Emil. It was a flea flicker! But the intended receiver was even more of a shock. Lloyd was streaking down the middle of the field wide open! He hadn't even seen a pass from Emil in the first half, and probably due to their personal feud, had only seen two passes all season. But on this play he was the target, and the play had unfolded perfectly. Emil launched the pass. It was a bit off target, but Lloyd was so wide open that he was able to adjust and bring it in, and run for 20 more yards after the catch before getting tackled at the Bern 6-yard line. Two plays later Tenebrae had his 2nd touchdown of the night, a 2 yard touchdown run on a pitch to the left. Thanks to some trickery, Tethealla was back up 21-20.

Although he hadn't scored on the play, the long pass fired up Lloyd, who sought to fire up his defense. He took his spot at middle linebacker and nailed Nils in the backfield on first down. He then tackled him again on second down before deflecting a pass on third down to force Bern to punt. Tethealla got the ball back, and proceeded to move again. Lloyd made another catch from the tight end spot, a 12-yard catch for a first down. By now, the Bern defense had begun to adjust to his presence, opening up other opportunities. Emil decided to go back to the run, handing to Tenebrae, who ran for 7 yards, then 4 to cross midfield for another first down. On the next play Emil found Marta for a 7 yard gain. They were close to scoring again. But Tenebrae, who had played so beautifully up to this point, was stripped by Hawkeye on an inside rush, and the ball was recovered by Nils. The turnover gave the ball back to Bern at the Bern 37.

The turnover would be painful, as Bern ran the ball methodically down the field in short to intermediate chunks, occassionally mixing in the pass. The drive was capped off by a 3-yard touchdown run by Hector with 9:41 remaining in the game. Which such a short amount of time remaining, Bern elected to go for the two-point conversion. Ike's pass attempt was batted down by Zelos, and the try failed, making the score 26-21.

Tethealla went 3-and-out on the next drive as Emil was sacked on third down. Bern looked to put the game away, but their rushing attack, so effective on the previous drive, went astray as Raine, Zelos, and some of the bigger Tethealla players wreaked havoc on the inside. Ike's pass on third down was incomplete, and Bern was forced to punt it right back. With 5:50 remaining, Tethealla needed a touchdown. Emil came out and threw immediately to Colette for a 12-yard gain. Tenebrae then ran the next two plays, but was 2 yards shy of a first down. Emil helped that by finding Lloyd over the middle for a 6 yard gain and a first down. The next two passes were incomplete. Facing third and 10, Emil hit Tenebrae on a screen, but he was tackled 3 yards short. 4th and 3 at the Tethealla 49, and the game was on the line. Emil dropped back, and didn't see anybody open. He stepped up, then noticed that the middle of the field was open. He took off running, something he rarely did, and beat Hector and Amelia to the first down line. Then came a big play, as Emil faked a throw deep right to Lloyd, then threw left to Colette down the sideline. She went for 33 yards, down to the Bern 14. With 2:00 left, Emil handed off to Tenebrae, who ran for 4 yards. He then found Lloyd for 5 tough yards in the right flat. On 3rd-and-1, Emil sneaked for the first down, but they were stopped short. It was 4th-and-1 at the Bern 5 with :14 left. Colette called timeout.

In the huddle, Colette drew up the play. Emil lined up in shotgun. Lloyd lined up to the left of Emil with Colette and Marta wide left. Lloyd motioned over to the right, to the tight end spot. Then Marta went in motion to the right. While she was running, Emil took the snap. He took two steps and looked for Marta running toward the right corner of the end zone. But she was covered, and the blitz was coming. With only one chance left, Emil turned back left and threw it up, in the area where he knew Lloyd would be. Lloyd ran up between two Bern defenders, jumped, and pulled down the ball for the touchdown! The crowd went wild as they cheered in seeming disbelief. Colette, Raine, and Zelos swamped Lloyd, while Colette and Marta ran over and jumped on Emil. Their crazy celebrating drew a 15-yard penalty, but that was gravy. Tethealla would convert the 2-point conversion to go up 29-26.

Zelos tackled the kick-returner for Bern, and following a desperate hail mary that was intercepted, Tethealla had won, 29-26. The crowd continued to stand and cheer long after the game had gone final. For Emil and Lloyd, it was a sign that maybe they could overcome their personal differences to do great things. For Tethealla, it was a sign that they were a team to be reckoned with.

[Triforcemaster3]

Monday night football - Gerudo Valley (3-1) at Kokiri Forest (3-1)

It was a rivalry that needed no introduction. It was two sides that absolutely deplored one another. Although the players on both sides felt the mutual hatred, it all came down to the captains at the top. It was Ganondorf's team against Link's team. The former was 3-1, having come in with just one blemish coming at the hands of Goldenrod City, 7-0 in week 1. The gerudos had been riding high ever since an emotional 40-34 overtime victory over Hyrule Castle in week 3, a game that ended on a 72-yard walk-off touchdown pass from Ganondorf to Nabooru. Kokiri Forest was also 3-1, having been defeated by that very Hyrule Castle team, 27-23 in week 4. Now 1st place in the division was on the line, and Emerald Field, nestled within the normally quiet hamlet of Kokiri Forest, would be the site of one of the most contentious rivalries in the league.

Gerudo Valley won the toss, and elected to receive. This meant that Ganondorf would take the field on offense first, and he entered the field underneath a loud chorus of boos. Link took his spot at middle linebacker. He knew that Gerudo Valley had some speedy running backs, and were big up front. He was especially concerned about Nabooru, the hyrulian sage of spirit and the one player on the gerudo squad that he was friends with. They would have to be physical in the trenches in order to win. Darunia, their big nose tackle, got inside and tackled Nabooru in the backfield on first down. She moved outside and broke a 13-yard run on 2nd down for a first down. On first down, Link blitzed. It was perfect timing, and nobody even came out to block him as Ganondorf dropped back to pass. Link led out a scream as he clobbered the gerudo king, dropping him for a sack as the Kokiri crowd went absolutely crazy. Nabooru got some of the yards back on 2nd down, but on 3rd and 12, Ganondorf's pass toward Koume fell incomplete, and they had to punt.

Link had a strong offense at his disposal. He had the speedy Mido at running back, two extremely strong receiving threats in Quill and Komali, and had a big offensive line consisting of Auru, Renado, and Darunia. The line was arguably the strength of the team, and could manhandle the lines of many other teams. Link called his own number on first down, and ran a draw play up the middle for 8 yards. Mido then got the first down on the next play. Link ran it again himself on first down, and again got 8 yards. Mido ran straight up the gut for the first. Then Link decided to go for a fake, and faked a qb run and then reset to throw deep for Quill, but the pass was broken up by Kotake. After another incompletion, Link found good fortune on 3rd down, as he tossed a fastball to Komali for a 19-yard gain and a first down. Two more running plays by Mido, and then they faced 3rd and 2. Link decided to run it himself, but was stopped shy by about half a yard. The crowd urged the Kokiris to go for it, and Link agreed. Standard protocol, so he had heard, was for teams to kick the field goal on 4th down, but given the situation and the team they were opposing, he felt the need to send a message, that the Kokiris were not going to be pushed around. On 4th-and-inches Link pushed forward behind Darunia and Renado, and got the first down. On the next play, he went for it all, another long pass to Quill. This time, Quill was able to get into good position against Kotake, and the gerudo witch tugged him down as the ball got there, which drew a pass interference flag. That set up 1st-and-goal at the 1, and on that play, Link faked a handoff to Mido, then rolled out right and threw to a wide open Darunia, who had released out from his right guard spot to catch the touchdown. Kokiri Forest led 7-0.

For the rest of the first half, the crowd roared relentlessly as the Kokiri defense harrassed the Gerudo offense. Darunia, Renado, and the strong hogmollies up front were pressuring Ganondorf on nearly every play, and Nabooru was finding it hard to gain yards on the ground. Making matters worse, the receivers Koume and Kotake weren't getting open at all against Quill and Komali. The Gerudo offense sputtered, and they punted again and again. Unfortunately, the Kokiri offense wasn't great for most of the half either. Link and Mido were having trouble running the football. They were doing some positive things in the passing game, but not enough to get into scoring range. Late in the first half, the Gerudos finally started to gain some momentum, but it was short lived. After Nabooru caught a screen pass to move her team across midfield for the first time, Ganondorf and Nabooru had a miscommunication on a handoff, and the ball was fumbled. It was recovered by Darunia at the Gerudo 44. Kokiri Forest took over the ball with 2:40 left in the half. After 2 ineffective rushing plays, Link called timeout. He noticed that the Gerudos were not even bothering to guard Saria, the third receiver, when she was on the field. This was perhaps out of ego, thinking the short, little Sage of Forest was incapable of hurting them. Link decided to show them they were wrong, and called his best friend's number on a fake reverse roll-out pass to the right. Link faked the handoff to Mido, then faked to Quill, who ran around to the right. Link then took off to avoid the rush and followed Quill. With everybody expecting either a Link run or a throw to Quill, the Gerudo defense reacted. Nobody even so much as kept their eyes on Saria, who had leaked from the right slot over to the left. With Kitri and Agahnim now starting to bear down on him, Link stopped to set his feet, and lobbed the ball in Saria's direction. The whole stadium stood up and started cheering as they saw Saria wide open. She made the catch at the Gerudo 20, then ran the rest of the way, untouched, into the end zone. Wild cheers erupted once again, as Link ran down to congratulate Saria on her first career touchdown. It worked perfectly, as she didn't even get her jersey dirty, let alone get hit!

For the gerudos, it was a humiliating end to a rather listless half as they entered the locker room down 14-0. Link knew they would be angry, and come out like a swarm of angry wasps in the second half. They would have a fight on their hands.

Edit: I was unable to complete the whole story of this game, but Kokiri Forest was able to hold onto their lead throughout the second half and eventually won the game 24-10, a game that wasn't even as close as the score would indicate, as Gerudo Valley scored a garbage touchdown with 1:33 left. The win moved Hyrule Castle to 4-1, and dropped Gerudo Valley to 3-2.

[Triforcemaster3]

Nintendo Football League Week 6 games & results:

Mushroom Kingdom at Kokiri Forest
Valley of Bowser at Clock Town
Yoshi's Island at Hyrule Castle
Subcon at Gerudo Valley
Dream Land at Slateport City
Marble Zone at Saffron City
Skyworld at Pallet Town
Disneyworld at Goldenrod City
Bern at Raccoon City
Onett at Tokyo Rose
Spira at Corneria - Monday night fan-fic game
Tethealla at Venom - Sunday night fan-fic game
Mute City at Drowning Pool
Zebes at Timber Island
ACDC Town at Kongo Jungle
Wars World at Isle o Hags