Warrior General Games

THE BLICA BULLETIN / "Blica are downed by Thunder"

The first day of the new West Europe AA #3 season saw an action packed match for the St Michael Blicas. Following last years 3-13 season hopes were high entering this season with the addition of new star SS tandem Bullfighton Acid & Clive Picot as well as other numerous returning stars. St Michael's kickoff weekend showdown saw them play the Berlin Thunder, a team who successfully defeated the Blicas on opening day last season 51-6 and went on to record a very respectable 10-6 record. Despite this the St Michael camp knew that this seasons match would be a much tighter affair.
After a Berlin FG from kicker Tobias Schotte midway through the first quarter the following drive saw the Blica's take a somewhat surprising lead. An impecable 6 minute drive lead by Eric MartinsQB culminated in a 4 Yard TD toss to Don't Hate Me, who managed to beat Diego Schotte off the line of scrimmage for an easy 6 points.
The second quarter saw the Blica's struggle to build on thier 7-3 lead as the Thunder defense started to come into the game. After great play by the Blica Defense in managing to hold the early progress of the Berlin offense to a solitary FG, it was the St Michael offense who made the mistake that could arguably have tilted the game in favour of Berlin.
An attempted swing pass to the right saw Barry Sanders in isolation against the Thunder Defense and the gang tackle knocked the ball lose from the normally safe handed RB. Phil Helmuth recovered the ball which meant great field position for the outstanding Diego Tardelli. Surely enough the short field was too much for the Blica defense lead by Afro Samuraii to overcome as Touchdown Train hit paydirt from 5 yards after the 2 minute warning.
Disaster nearly struck again for St Michael as the first play following the kick off saw another fumble, this time it was Dillon Mckay dropping the rock after a huge hit from Backup Spieler. Fortunately, stout defense once agin saw Tobias Schotte narrowly miss a 36 yard field goal meaning the score at half time remained 13-7 to Berlin.
The third quarter saw the Blica return to the field with a point to prove. A quick stop of Berlin saw the St Michael offense with the ball trying to make amends to their earlier mistakes. A perfectly crafted 71 Yard drive, characterized by MartinsQB completing 9 of 11 passes to numerous targets meant that the strugggling Thunder Defense were helpless as Eric Martins barged over from the Fullback position. The score was now 14-13 in favour of St Michael and a real battle was occuring at Thunder Stadium. The follwing drive however saw Berlin bounce right back into the lead after Diego Tardelli once again lead the Thunder offense, the 11 play drive climaxing in Tardelli's first TD pass of the season, a tight spiral to Jack "Whiskey" Daniels, despite being under heavy pressure of the blitz from Bill Brickwall.
The final quarter saw a even more action as both teams tried desparetely to get their first wins of the season. An early FG by Gazoo Gramatica put St Michael within 3 at 20-17 with 13:21 left on the clock. On Berlins next drive a bone crunching hit saw Clive Picot insert himself as a fan favourite to the Blica faithful, forcing a fumble from touchdown train; recovered by the ever present Afro Samurai that gave The Blica's a great chance at taking the lead. However the offense stalled and St MIchael were forced to punt to Berlin, and in particular; Tardelli.
The mercurial quaterback connected 6 times on the next drive with arguably the player of the game Steffen Schotte, who finished the game with 19 receptions and 160 Yards. Touchdown Train then took advantage, scoring his second TD of the game from 17 yards out to stretch the lead to 27-17.
The final Blicas drive saw the the St Michael offense throw everything they have at the Thunder Defense, but an interception by Mike Schotte in the endzone on an attempted pass by MartinsQB to Keith Fischer effectively ended the game with the Thunder taking a narrow 27-17 victory.
The player of the game award could go to any of the Thunder trio of Tardelli, Train or Steffen Schotte. Not to be overlooked, the Berlin defense's star player Mike Schotte gets a mention for his 12 tackles and game saving interception. The Blicas standout player of the match was undoubtably Afro Samurai. His play during key sitautions saw him finish the game with 8 tackles, 5 pass defended as well as a fumble recovery. Hopes are high that this sterling play from Afro will continue throughout the season. Honourable mentions also go out to Clive Picot, Don't Hate Me and MartinsQB. Despite this loss spirits still remain high in the St Michael camp as they hope to rebound next week against the Glasgow Manglers and their star DE Jared Sackett who also tasted defeat today against the Stirling Crusaders. Whatever happens, entertainment is certainly assured from the Blica as Glasgow try to avenge the close victory inflicted upon them by St Michael last season.

Written by Herouk87

Nice..

ISSUE 2

THE BLICA BULLETIN - Blica surge to victory against Manglers

written by Herouk87

St Michaels- The excitement around Mile High Blica was palpable today as the St Michael Blicas played their first home match of the season against a very determined Glasgow Manglers team. Last year the Manglers narrowly missed out on a playoff berth and will be determined this year to correct this. The Blica's on the other hand experienced a somewhat shaky year last season but showed some early encouraging signs against the Berlin Thunder last week. As the capacity crowd of around 13000 fans exited the stadium today, they could all say that they got their moneys worth from both teams.

Tre Dirnt got the game under way for Glasgow and St Michael quickly tried to establish themselves in the contest. A solid opening drive from the Blica offense stalled just outside of FG range and punted the ball away. This brought on the Mangler offense, led by Hawaiian Punch making only his 9th start for the team who quickly went to work. After a short punt by Shawn Armstrong, the ball was fumbled on the return by Bary Sanders and recovered by Lester Tatum on the Blica 40 yard line. Advantage Glasgow. The short field combined with a key conversion on 3rd & 9 from Punch to star WR Frigging Fast led to the Manglers taking a 3-0 lead on a Dirnt FG.

The pass heavy Blica offense once again took the field and quickly fired back with the go-ahead touchdown. Eric MartinsQB passed down the field, peppering his receivers with a wide range of passes before hitting Don't Hate Me for their second connection of the season, almost a carbon copy of his first scored last week against Berlin.

This was the event that commenced the frantic second quarter which saw numerous turnovers complimented by touchdowns. The Manglers next drive was cut short 4 plays into it as the Blica defense converged on Bo Allen to cause the fumble which was recovered by Bill Brickwall, giving St Michael a great chance to take the initiative early in the game. In a typical Blica's drive, MartinsQB took healthy chunks of yards on every pass as the St Michaels offense marched towards the red zone. Despite a scare when Dillon Mckay fumbled under a huge hit from DT Mana Wannakillya, St Michael retained possession and took a commanding lead when MartinsQB connected for a second TD of the game. This time it was The WideOut beating rockem hard on the right-hand flank.

Once again on their next drive Glasgow struggled to hang on to the football. The once again impressive Afro Samuraii causing the fumble this time, however a very alert Bo Allen recovered, perhaps making amends for his earlier error. In what seemed to be the pattern for the day, the Glasgow offense could not sustain any real threat an unlock the superb Blica defense, who showed a vast improvement on last weeks display. St Michael got the ball with 4 minutes remaining and once again started to move the chains. This time the manglers defense stood firm as St Michael had to settle for a 30 yard FG from kicker Gazoo Gramatica. the score at the half, 17-3 to a very impressive St Michael Blicas.

Coming out of the tunnel after half time the Glasgow defense knew that they must improve on both sides of the ball if they were to leave with the W. The inspirational words from defensive captain Limb Reaper seemed to have some effect as on the Blica's first drive of the half, Glasgow made a decisive breakthrough. Defensive standout Jared Sackett made an incredible play at the line of scrimmage as he jumped up and managed to absorb the bullet thrown by MartinsQB. Unfortunately for Glasgow, their offense still couldn't find a way through St Michael as they had to punt from their own half once more.

The signs of a comeback were very apparent in the second half as continued tough Mangler defense turned the ball over for a third time, this time it was Darren Russell laying the hit on Bary Sanders for his second fumble of the game and third of the year.

The 4th quarter was all set up for a dramatic comeback from the resurgent Glasgow team. However, this unfortunately never seemed to materialise. When the Punch did seem to kick start his offense on a 9 play surge down the field, it was abruptly halted by the fantastic Blica defense. A slight overthrown over the middle to Nuckin Futs was intercepted by Clive Picot who is showing signs that he could fill the gap in the secondary that was all to apparent last season for St Michael.

Picot's interception effectively killed any realistic chances that Glasgow had, and after two failed fourth down conversions it saw the men from St Michael take the spoils with a hard fought 17-3 victory.

The undoubted player of the match was Martins QB. His pinpoint accuracy throughout saw him finish the game with 235 Yards passing on 29-38 attempts and 2 TD's. His main target was The Wideout who pulled in 12 receptions for 126 yards and a crucial TD. An honourable mention goes to the defenses of both teams, who seemed to be frequently in control of the game, especially in the second half.

After today's result St Michael are now at a respectable 1-1 with Glasgow on a slightly disappointing 0-2. St Michael will look to build on this victory next week as they visit the Spaniard Quebrantagüesos, who topped the division last year with a 15-1 record and will look to repeat this with their overall strength in depth and the play of standouts such as Tyrone Byrd and Barriga Sanders. It will be a tough match-up for St Michael, but their camp will believe that if they can get their run game established early, the may be able to pull off the upset.

Magnificent..

Being the D cordinator for Glasgow, I have to agree very accurate and generous at the same time. We knew what you were going to do, we prepared for it and you still did it. It was like novacaine. That offense moved at will, we made a few plays to keep it close. You have a great team, congratulations, hope to see you down the line.

Yes; Like wise major. I really can't take all the credit of coordinating the entire "storm", I have a great team of players who actively help scout and openly discuss tactics. It makes things that much better/easier when your team is active.

It was a well executed game, both sides of the ball for each team.