#game02:04

[thefoxholecourtgames-blog]

GAME 04: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. BLACKWELL JACKRABBITS

PRE-GAME

It’s the Foxes’ second home game of the season, meaning that they have to make it through a full day of classes before the evening’s game. With Halloween so close, Palmetto is even more orange-covered than usual, and the campus seems ready for a home game to kick off what should be a riotous weekend—especially considering their team, so far, has been a winning one. 

The Foxes arrive at the court an hour before first serve, and in their familiar locker room they don their home uniforms, done in the same bright orange of the walls of the Foxhole Court with white lettering. Once dressed, they convene in the lounge to talk strategy, and the mood in the room is one of slightly tense focus: the Jackrabbits will be the toughest opponent they’ve faced yet this season, and none of them want to lose.

On the court, the stands are packed with orange, the Vixens taking to their pre-game performance with exuberance: they, too, are glad to be in front of a friendly crowd, and the crowd seems happy to cheer for them as they wait for the game to start. 

Half an hour before first serve, the Foxes are allowed onto the court for a brief warm-up. They line up in order of position—Strikers, then Dealers, then Backliners, then Goalkeepers, with Grant and Claudia in the front as Captain and Vice-Captain.

During the warm-up, Teddy finds a familiar face in the crowd—and an unfamiliar one. It’s his mother, who he’d met in person for the first time this summer; and his step-father, who he hasn’t yet met. It’s a surprise to see them both, and Teddy barely gets a moment to come over and say hello over the sound of the screaming crowd before he’s swept back up into the Foxes’ warm-up routine. 

Once warm-ups are done, Grant and the Tornadoes’ captain meet at center court for the coin toss that will determine who gets first serve. The Foxes win, and the starting players enter the court for the start of the game while the rest of the Foxes take their spots on the bench—including Paxton who, after having to be led off the court by Abby last game, isn’t dressed to play tonight. 

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins

Dealer: Claudia Jewell

Strikers: Kent Cheong, Brayden Sykes

Backliners: Colin Jessup, Lilith Price (Sub: Glory Hoskins)

The Foxes starting lineup enters the court for the start of play, taking their positions: strikers on the inside of half court line, dealers and backliners on the first court line. 

Back on the court in her natural position as dealer after filling in as a backliner against the Tornadoes, Claudia takes her place at the first-court line for her serve. The buzzer sounds to signal the start of play, and Claudia serves the ball up the court, the players all breaking from their positions at once. 

Though not surprising for anyone who knows him, the start of Kent’s season has been explosive, in both good and bad ways: the number of goals he’s scored is rivaled by the number of cards he’s received, including two yellows in the Foxes’ game against the Tornadoes that saw him ejected from the game. 

Kent starts this game in much the same fashion: after receiving Claudia’s serve, he finds himself checked into the wall by one of the Jackrabbits backliners just second afterwards—it’s a hard hit that has his helmeted head knocking against the Plexiglass and the fans wincing in the stands, and though he shakes it off to continue play, the Jackrabbits have taken possession. 

After a couple disappointing practices, the Foxes’ coaching staff shuffled around their striker pairs, and Brayden finds himself with a new partner on the court—and, after the hit the Jackrabbits laid on Kent, facing down two Jackrabbits backliners at once. He darts in to try and knock and the ball free from the Jackrabbits’ racquet, but the brief struggle ends with his racquet on the ground rather than the backliner’s, and the Jackrabbits continue to press up the court. 

She may be stepping onto the court for his first Class I game, but nervous might not be the exact right word to describe Lilith. She knows that she’ll have eyes on her, and she’s determined to keep them there, to give them something to look at. 

Her partner on the court is Colin, who has had an uneven start to his season, possibly due in part to the lack of a stable partner on the backline. Once again, he finds an unknown quantity in Lilith, and it leaves holes in the Foxes’ defense, putting the Jackrabbits a step ahead as they split the Foxes’ defense down the middle, giving them a path to the Fox goal. 

The Foxes’ last line of defense is Grant who, all season, has head the pressure on him of trying to Captain the team to the Championships once again—to win in his last season. When the Jackrabbits striker takes the shot, he’s able to get his racquet on it—but it deflects into the goal instead of out, just barely on the right side of the lines that mark the Fox goal. 

With the Jackrabbits the first to put up a point, the Foxes on the court are tense, and when the Jackrabbits serve to restart play, they hit them hard: Colin takes the Jackrabbits striker receiving the serve out, and carves a path to the half-court line to pass the ball off to Claudia, who moves it up the court. 

The Foxes push into the Jackrabbits zone, until the Fox strikers and the Jackrabbits backliners are bunched up in front of the Jackrabbits goal. Kent takes some hard knocks: stick checks that catch his fingers underneath his armored gloves, elbows that knock into his cheek just underneath his helmet’s visor, all of this going unnoticed in the throng of bodies.

But Kent sticks it out, getting the ball in his net and firing a shot even though he’s on the ground a moment afterward, a Jackrabbits player seizing on his momentary distraction to knock him off balance—but it doesn’t make a difference, because the goal lights up red behind the Jackrabbits goalkeeper, putting the score 1-1. 

With the players on the court bunched up so tightly, a shoving match breaks out after the Fox goal. Unable to get back to his feet, Kent gets the worst of it, but Brayden and Claudia are in the thick of it as well—and, with a mind to prove herself to her new team, Lilith joins in, and is the first one to escalate from shoving to hitting. 

It takes all the referees streaming onto the court to break it up and, when they do, they hand out yellow cards to each of the Jackrabbits backliners for their role in instigating the melee—but a red card to Lilith for being the one to escalate it. 

After starting her career as a Fox with a bang, Lilith exits the court through the doors, passing Glory on her way in—who has also already gotten one red card in her short tenure with the Foxes, and for whom just making it through the half without getting kicked out would be an improvement. 

Claudia serves, and Glory is the quickest off her mark, barreling into the Jackrabbits striker as they fight for possession. Glory comes away with it successfully, and heaves the ball up to half-court to Claudia, who’s stopped in her tracks by the Jackrabbits dealer, turning the ball back towards the Foxes’ side of the court. 

Colin and Glory are forced to drop back together in front of Grant in goal, gritting their teeth as they try to push the Jackrabbits back. The quicker of the two strikers feints around Colin for a shot on goal that Grant deftly deflects—and as Glory and the other striker both dart in to try and scoop up the rebound, Glory’s stick, purposefully or not, comes down across the striker’s shoulder. 

Glory comes away with possession triumphantly, hoping that the illegal stick check might go unnoticed in the breakneck pace of play—but she has no such luck, and the referees are opening the doors and stopping play, the Jackrabbits striker clutching his shoulder to really sell the hit. 

Glory bites her tongue hard when she’s given a yellow card, and even harder when the Jackrabbits striker shakes out his arm and declares himself fit to remain on the court. But she doesn’t have much time to stew, because play is restarted from where it was halted—much too close to the Fox goal for comfort, and with the Jackrabbits in possession. 

It happens quickly: so close to the Fox goal, Glory and Colin don’t have much time or room to respond before the Jackrabbits are upon them and Grant, and the Jackrabbits are able to slip a goal past Grant, whose sightlines are blocked by the number of players in front of him. It isn’t a goal that’s going to make any of the highlight reels, but it gets the job done: the Jackrabbits are up by one. 

The Jackrabbits serve to restart play and, with time on the clock running out, the Foxes don’t get another chance to score. Instead, play stays in their own zone, with a determined Grant denying the Jackrabbits another chance to score, preventing them from widening their point margin as time runs out. 

The buzzer sounds to signal the end of the half, and the Jackrabbits have managed to secure a narrow lead: 2-1.

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to their locker room for half time, where being behind in points makes for a quiet, tense atmosphere. Forty-five minutes is plenty of time to turn the tide of a game, Wymack reminds them, if they stay focused and work as a team, then they can win it in front of their home crowd. The mood back on the court is a little rowdier: while the Foxes may not like a close score, it’s more interesting for the crowds gathered in the stands, and as they cheer the Vixens through their half-time routine, they don’t seem too worried that the Foxes won’t be able to take back the lead. After fifteen minutes, both teams are called back to the court, and they take their positions for the restart of play.

SECOND HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Cameron Trask (Sub: Cecil James)

Dealer: Teddy Ryker (Sub: Adam Radford)

Strikers: Arlo Booth, Logan Trask (Sub: Akira Sato)

Backliners: Casey Hendrix, Jacob Feldman

The players enter the court and take their places for the start of play. Jackrabbits dealer serves, and the game is on once again, with the Jackrabbits pushing up against the Foxes’ defense. 

Jake is looking for a much better performance than last time, and with Casey as his defensive partner once again, they’re tested early. Not wanting to fall short again, when play creeps closer to the Foxes’ goal, he decides to play dirty: using his body to block the referees’ view, he goes for a Jackrabbits striker’s wrists with his stick—it goes unnoticed by anyone besides the scowling Jackrabbit, who’s left behind as Jake scoops up the ball and runs up the court.

But a tricky play at the half-court line gives the Jackrabbits another opportunity: two Jackrabbits strikers against Jake as Casey finds himself behind the play at the half court line and unable to get back in time as the Jackrabbits fake out both Jake and Cameron for another point, extending their lead early in the half. 

The Jackrabbits serve to restart play, and make another push. Jake and Casey dig in, doing all they can to hold the Jackrabbits back—but a heavy hit at the court wall takes Casey down and sends the ball rolling free, with the Jackrabbits much closer to it than Jake.    

With the Foxes behind, Cameron hasn’t wanted to risk leaving the goal. But as she sees the play unfolding in front of her, she decides to take a chance, coming out from behind the painted lines of her goalkeepers box to try and head the Jackrabbits off—but as she gets to the ball one of the Jackrabbits gets to her, and both players go down in a heap. 

The Jackrabbit striker gets to his feet quickly—but Cameron stays down. The Foxes on the bench are on their feet as the referees stop play, getting in between the Foxes and the Jackrabbits before a scrum can break out. 

The fact that Cameron needs help getting back to her feet is maybe the only thing that saves Logan from starting a fight then and there despite the referees interference, as he helps her to the court doors and to Abby. When he turns back, he deliberately avoids Wymack’s intent gaze, which is doing all that it can to telepathically communicate to him not to do anything stupid.

The Jackrabbits striker is given a red card, and the Foxes are awarded a penalty shot, which Logan volunteers—though it’s more like demands—to take. He takes his position halfway between the away goal and the far-court line, and his shot is so fast it’s like almost no time at all passed between him winding up and the sound the shot makes as it hits the back of the Jackrabbits goal.

Players take their positions for the restart of play, with Cecil in goal replacing Cameron. With Logan’s penalty shot, they’re only down by one, but with his sister in the locker room being evaluated by Abby, tying up the score isn’t quite the first thing on his mind. As Arlo passes him on the way to his spot, he grips him on the shoulder, telling him to kick the Jackrabbits’ asses by scoring—and not by, you know, actually kicking their asses. 

Teddy serves, and play resumes again. Logan ends up with the ball in his racquet. Instead of passing to Arlo when he gets both of the Jackrabbits backliner in his path, he doubles down and tries to push his way through, a struggle that quickly turns into something more like a fight. 

Ready for something just like this, Arlo is there as quickly as he can to pull Logan back, Casey jumping up from the half-court line to help. Their quick intervention might save Logan a red card when the referees stop play, but it can’t keep him from getting a yellow. Not willing to risk it—when a red card would mean a penalty shot and a chance for the Jackrabbits to widen their lead, would mean that Logan would be out against the Jackals—Wymack pulls him, sending Akira on his stead, and also sending Adam on for Teddy. 

The Jackrabbits serve to restart play, still ahead by a point. But they’re kept from extending their lead any further when Casey is able to divest one of their strikers of both the ball and their racquet, heaving the ball up the court for the strikers.

In practice, Akira has been training with a heavy racquet, hoping the added force will be the edge needed to make his shot even more potent, and this is the game he’s debuting it in. But under game-night pressure, the drag of a heavier racquet seems more noticeable, his��aim and his timing just slightly off, making it more difficult for him and Arlo to make their passes connect, an offensive rush just a little bit more difficult to make happen. 

After yet another misfire, Arlo puts some extra speed in his step to try and make up for it, battling with the Jackrabbits backliner for the ball. He comes up victorious, and when ten steps aren’t enough to put him within scoring distance, he passes to himself off of the court wall rather than to Akira, and at the end of those ten steps puts a shot on goal that lands home—giving the Foxes their first point of the half, tying the score.

They don’t get to enjoy it for long: Adam serves for the Foxes, but the Jackrabbits are faster off their marks, beating out the Fox strikers to the serve, turning the momentum of play so quickly that Casey and Jake can’t close ranks in front of the goal fast enough—and, just like that, the Jackrabbits slip a shot past Cecil, pulling into the lead again. 

The Jackrabbits serve, and the mood among the Foxes is one of frustration, frustration that might edge a little too close to desperation. When the Jackrabbits push up the court again, Jake keeps playing dirty: jostling his striker mark with his elbows and the butt of his stick more than is technically legal when neither of them have possession, keeping it up when he keeps getting away with it. 

It gives Casey the space to clear the ball out the Fox zone for Adam—who despite having been a Fox since the start the season, still doesn’t feel much like a Fox. On him, the Foxes’ frustration is something else: less for the team and more at the team and his own situation. But when he snaps, the difference doesn’t matter: from the outside, all Exy fights look the same: racquets on the ground and players shoving each other, other players being pulled in. 

When the referees break it up, Adam takes his yellow card stoically—he knows that he’s stuck with the Foxes, a last chance he doesn’t want to screw up, and so he takes his position for the Jackrabbits’ serve with little protest, and the game goes on. 

The Jackrabbits serve, but Casey is able to turn them back, taking out a striker with a heavy hit and heaving the ball up the court. And then, it seems like the Foxes get a lucky break: after struggling to generate offense, Akira takes a shot that seems to land just inside the upper corner of the goal, lighting the goal up red.

But the Foxes’ celebration is cut short when it’s announced that the Jackrabbits are challenging the goal: in Exy, goals have to land entirely within the goal lines to count, and the Jackrabbits want the referees to review what the sensors might not have been able to pick up: that the ball was touching the line, and therefore invalid—and, after tense minutes of debate, is exactly what they conclude. Akira’s point is taken off of the scoreboard, and the Jackrabbits are in the lead once again.    

The Foxes are given possession and Adam serves again to restart play. Mounting frustration makes play even messier, and the Jackrabbits take advantage as much as they can. But the Foxes aren’t the only ones that are frustrated—the Jackrabbits have gotten sick of dealing with Jake’s dirty play during the half, and the next time his elbow digs in under one of the striker’s chest armor, they take matters into their own hands since the referees won’t. 

As on-edge as his teammates, Jake rises to the bait, yet another shoving match breaking out on the court, too quickly for any of the players on the court to stop before the referees do. In the end, it’s a wash: a yellow card for both players, and play reset to the half court line with the Foxes in possession. 

Adam serves and, as the minutes left in the game count down into the single digits, it becomes less of an Exy game and more of a game of catch: the Jackrabbits are no longer generating any offense, buckling down to defend their lead instead of fighting to extend it. Again and again, they clear the ball down the court; and again and again, the Foxes are forced to sprint for it. It’s an especially frustrating end to a frustrating half, and it eats up what precious time the Foxes have remaining.

Time runs out, and the score remains locked where it’s been for most of the half: 4-3, and the Foxes lose for the first time this season. 

POST-GAME

Losing is never a good feeling—and it’s one the Foxes haven’t had to confront yet this season. It’s even worse to lose in front of a home crowd, most of which stuck around through the entire game, willing them to turn it around—and the score was so close, maybe if just one thing had gone differently, they would have been able to. 

With the tension on the court palpable after a frustrating game, a number of yellow cards that could have easily turned into worse fights and red cards, Wymack ushers the Foxes through the customary handshake line as quickly as possible, eager to get his team back behind the closed doors of their locker room where they can air their frustration in peace. 

One loss isn’t enough to throw the Foxes’ season off course: they’ve got three wins under their belts and two games left to play—but those two games are against their two most difficult opponents, and their chances of making it into the Championships will drop sharply if they lose another one. 

They all know it, and so Wymack doesn’t waste his breath on platitudes, just tells the Foxes that he expects them back in practice on Monday with their heads on straight, that he expects them to leave this game behind them after tonight and focus on what’s more important: winning the next one. When he’s done, he sends Lilith and Grant to the foyer to speak with the press, while the rest of the Foxes retreat into their respective locker rooms to shower and change out.

It’s quiet, overall, as the Foxes gather in the lounge to wait for the rest of their teammates to finish—after wins, the locker room is full of making plans for after the game, and there’s nothing to celebrate tonight. Once Grant and Lilith are finished with press duty, they leave the court, spreading themselves out among their teammates car and fighting their way through the crowded streets of Palmetto back to Fox Tower—ready to lick their wounds however they may choose.    

ADMIN NOTE: Thanks for sticking with me—sorry they can’t always be winners! As a reminder, you’re welcome to set threads during any of the periods listed above—(pre-game, expanding on the events of the game itself, halftime, post-game)—and I can’t wait to see what you come up with! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or feedback.

Because I don’t want to let the occasion pass without in-game fanfare, look out for a Halloween event, which will be dropping....sometime before Halloween, I haven’t decided exactly when. 

Other than that, our next game will be an away game against the Breckenridge Jackals, and is scheduled for November 10. I may be taking another look at our schedule for the rest of the regular season, since this game got pushed back, and if I decide to make any adjustments, I’ll be sure to let you all know!

[grnsame]

dsadsa

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[thefoxholecourtgames-blog]

GAME 04: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. BLACKWELL JACKRABBITS

Three games, three victories—two in regulation, and one in overtime. It’s the last one that gives people pause: while the Foxes went into their last game against the JD Campbell Tornadoes the outright favorites, they only just managed to secure a victory—expecting something out of the Foxes besides disappointment may not be a mistake anyone is willing to make again. 

Especially considering that, from here on out, the Foxes face a difficult path to the Championships. Their next few opponents are the highest ranked teams in their district, starting with the Blackwell University Jackrabbits. 

From the Southeastern District, four teams will go on to the Spring Championships. The Ravens and the Breckenridge Jackals have their Championship berths practically carved in stone—the other ones have to be fought for, and last season it was the Jackrabbits and the Foxes vying for third and fourth place. 

The Foxes won that battle: taking third place in their district, and beating the Jackrabbits soundly in their matchup—but the Foxes also soundly beat the Tornadoes last season. If the Foxes struggled to beat the much lower-ranked Tornadoes this season, then who knows what might happen when they meet the Jackrabbits again. 

And the Foxes and the Jackrabbits have a lot in common: they both made it to the Championships last season and, unlike the other Southeastern District teams, they were eliminated early, they didn’t make it out of their respective brackets and into the semi-finals. Coming into this season, and into this game, both teams are looking to prove the exact same thing—they don’t just want to beat each other, but their own past performance. 

And now, with the season entering its second half, every game seems that much more important: every win could be enough to secure their place in the Championships; and every loss might be enough to knock them out of it. 

After the game against the Tornadoes, some say that the Foxes are struggling—if they are, it’s at the exact wrong time, because the stakes have only gotten higher, and the playing field more difficult. 

ADMIN NOTE: Hello Foxes, it’s that time again! For those of you who haven’t been a part of this process before, here’s a quick rundown: the results of the game against the Jackrabbits will be posted on Friday night, and players have until then to submit (to this blog) requests for their character—though sooner is better than later, so I have as much time as possible to work in your submissions! If you don’t submit anything, you’ll still be included in the game, but what happens will be up to my discretion.

For a more in-depth overview of the games process, and guidelines for formulating your submissions, be sure to check out the Game Guide.

I’m also looking for characters to volunteer for press duty. Two characters per game will be assigned to press duty, and will be expected to do a thread or a self-para of their characters answering questions from the press. If no one volunteers, characters will be randomly assigned.

Let me know if you have any questions, and Go Foxes!