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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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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.

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!

#foxholegames #game02:04

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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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!

#foxholegames #game02:04

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 03: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. JD CAMPBELL TORNADOES

PRE-GAME

With the Exy season now in full swing, the Foxes’ second away game follows the same routine as their first: the Foxes and the Vixens miss most of their Friday classes, convening outside the court in the late morning to load themselves and their gear onto the buses in the late morning to begin the five-hour drive to Buies Creek, outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, and home of the JD Campbell Tornadoes.

They make it with a enough time to spare to check into their hotel, split themselves up among rooms, and enjoy a little downtime before they head over to the Tornadoes’ stadium, getting there an hour before first serve.

In the away team’s locker rooms, they don their much more subdued orange-on-white away uniforms, and then convene to discuss strategy. And, though Exy is unpredictable, the Foxes aren’t going into this game as the underdogs: they’re coming off of a strong victory against the Terrapins, are 2-0 so far this season, and they shut out the Tornadoes last year. For most of them, it’s a new feeling, being expected to do something other than lose.

And their fans have noticed: despite the distance, there are noticeable pockets of orange in the stands, giving the Vixens some friendly faces to focus their energy on as their rotate through their pre-game routines.

During the warm-up, Paxton sees their sister and her wife—whose wedding they attended over the summer—sitting in the front row of the stands. Surprised and dumbfounded by their presence, they break off from the Foxes when they’re beckoned over, but despite Emma’s entreaties that we just wanted to come to support you! they still feel unsettled and wrong-footed when they return to their teammates.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Cameron Trask

Dealer: Olivia Finch (Sub: Teddy Ryker)

Strikers: Kent Cheong, Logan Trask (Sub: Akira Sato)

Backliners: Claudia Jewell, Colin Jessup

The Foxes’ starting players line up at the court doors and file on, taking their places for first serve: starters on the inside of the half court line, backliners and dealer on the far-court line in front of the goalkeeper in the away in goal.

On the court is also Claudia, but not in her typical position as the Foxes’ starting dealer: with Glory sitting out due to a red card in the previous game against the Terrapins, the Foxes are dangerously weak on the backline, and so their Vice Captain will be taking on the role of backliner for the night. Standing in the middle of the far-court line for the Foxes’ serve, instead, is Olivia.

Holding the Foxes’ defensive line with Claudia is Colin, the bruising from the stick that came up underneath his helmet last game faded to a sickly green behind his protective face visor—that will hopefully do its job more effectively this game.

In goal to start for the Foxes is Cameron. Back on the court after being pulled—and berated—by Wymack last game, he’s put her down to play the entire half: a show of trust to make up for the previous week, where he was harsher to her than necessary.

Olivia serves and both the Foxes and the Tornadoes break from their positions for the start of the game: Logan sprints for the ball while Kent, helped by Olivia who rushes forward after the ball leaves her racquet, try to hold the Tornadoes backliners at bay so he can get to it.

It’s a neatly executed play, and one that ends with the Foxes in possession: though the Tornadoes goalkeeper turns away Logan’s first shot on goal, Olivia is there—determined to show that her play has, if anything, improved since leaving her Big Three team—beating out the Tornadoes dealer in a battle for the ball to keep the Foxes in control of play.

The Fox strikers push towards the home goal, causing a crush of players, both Foxes and Tornadoes, in front of the Tornadoes goalkeeper—which provide a screen for Logan, blocking the view of the goalkeeper and allowing him to sink his second attempt at a shot. The Foxes draw first blood in front of the Tornadoes’ home crowd, and as they retake their places for Olivia’s serve, they’re focused but feeling good, sure that there will be more to come.

Olivia serves to restart play and, as Logan and a Tornadoes backliner race for the ball, they get tangled up along the back wall, shoulders and sticks knocking together as they each try to come away with the possession—in the end, it’s the Tornadoes backliner that emerges victorious: a particularly vicious twist of his racquet sending Logan’s racquet flying out of his hands, the impact rattling up from his wrists to his shoulders.

Play moves up the court towards the Fox goal, where Colin and Claudia are tested for the first time. It’s a gradual creep up the court, a back-and-forth of possession and players, Claudia and Colin—who have had little time to build chemistry with each other, learn to read each other’s plays—unable to clear the ball up the court.

It puts the Tornadoes, eventually, within scoring distance and Cameron, still itching to redeem herself, makes a particularly difficult save: reversing her body’s momentum and diving in the opposite direction to clear the ball with a sweep of her racquet.

It’s enough to stop the Tornadoes from getting a point, but the ball doesn’t travel very far: when a Tornadoes player comes up with it, Colin, more than a little bit frustrated with his own defensive play, is there with a check that sends them both to ground before the ball can leave the striker’s racquet—and then Claudia is there to claim it, throwing it back up past the half court line.

But though the Foxes have regained possession, they don’t get to hold onto it long—but it’s not a turnover, it’s a stoppage in play: when Colin gets back to his feet, the striker he checked sends him back to the court floor with a yank to his ankle.

What happens next is a little too horizontal to be called a shoving match but, when the referees stream onto the court and Colin is able to struggle to his feet again, it is deemed enough for a yellow card for the Tornadoes striker: Colin’s check was a legal play, made when the striker was in possession of the ball; the Tornadoes striker’s, however, was not, because Colin wasn’t.

Wymack uses the stop in play to send on his subs: sending Teddy on for Olivia, and Akira on for Logan.

Play is restarted from where it was halted, on the Tornadoes’ side of the half-court line, with the Foxes in possession. Teddy, who left the game against the Terrapins’ after being winded by a racquet to the ribs, is back on the court, what remains of the bruising hidden under his chest armor—out of sight and, for Teddy, out of mind.

Teddy serves and throws himself into play: Kent is the one that comes up with the ball, but he can’t get too far with it before the Tornadoes backliners are on him. When they expect him to push forward, he falls back, pivoting in place and throwing the ball back to Teddy, who’s there to intercept it.

Kent uses the momentary release of pressure to put himself in a position he knows he can shoot from—and Teddy puts the ball in his racquet so that all he needs is a split-second wind up and release—the Tornadoes goalkeeper doesn’t seem to stand a chance, and the goal lights up red with the Foxes’ second point of the night.

Kent doesn’t bother being modest—he knows that shot was good. And that seems to rub the Tornadoes the wrong way. It starts with heated words exchanged on the half-court lines when the strikers line up for Teddy’s serve, but it doesn’t stop there. And though the Tornadoes are the first to drop their racquets and raise their fists, Kent isn’t far behind —he’s not going to take a hit laying down.

Colin and Claudia are the first to get themselves in there, trying to pull Kent back before he can earn himself a red card—and, when the referees stream onto the court and the fervor dies down, the card Kent gets isn’t red, it’s yellow, as is the Tornadoes striker’s. But that doesn’t sit right with Kent, who thinks that the Tornadoes should be penalized more for starting it—he was just sticking up for himself.

He started it isn’t an argument that tends to go over well with referees—nor does any argument at all—and when Kent doesn’t back down he earns himself another yellow card, ejecting him from the game. He’s fuming as he leaves the court, and with the half winding down, instead of sending on a completely fresh striker, Wymack sends Logan back on in his place—with a warning that he doesn’t want to see that stunt repeated, by Logan or anyone else on the court.

The referees award possession to the Tornadoes, and their dealer serves to restart play. Down by two and without a goal of their own, the Tornadoes have limited time in the half left to score: and they intend to make the most of it, to give themselves momentum going into the second half—the Foxes shut them out last season, and they don’t want to let them do it again.

The Tornadoes have a fresher line-up: with more players to spare, they’ve made more substitutions to their line. Colin and Claudia are especially tired, having been on the court all night. The Tornadoes intend to capitalize on that—but Cameron isn’t about to let them.

The Tornadoes reviewed the footage from the Foxes’ last game, saw how Cameron came hurtling out of the goal—they just didn’t think, seeing Wymack yell at her on the sidelines, she’d do it again. It’s practiced this time, strategic instead of angry: when there’s a loose ball near the goal with neither Colin or Claudia close behind, she darts out of the lines painted for her on the court floor to intercept it, beating the Tornadoes strikers to the punch and heaving down the court as hard as she can.

This time Akira is ready for it, because they practiced it: the ball lands neatly in the racquet, giving him an opportunity to make a break for the Tornadoes goal. Teddy keeps pace with Akira, ready to pass back to him when he runs out of steps, give him more room to work with to put himself in a scoring position—and he does score, putting the Foxes up three as the half runs out.

The buzzer sounds to signal the end of the half with the Foxes in the lead: 3-0.

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to their locker room for half time, where the Foxes are still riding the high of a strong first half. Wymack doesn’t even attempt to wrangle it, leaving them to it with nothing more than a reminder that there are still forty-five minutes left to go. The mood back on the court, however, is distinctly somber, Tornadoes fans disappointed and tense after a poor start for their team, a poor audience for the Vixens’ halftime performance. 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: Grant Rollins (Sub: Cecil James)

Dealer: Paxton Ridley (Sub: Adam Radford)

Strikers: Arlo Booth, Brayden Sykes (Subs: Marley Reid, Cadence Lowell)

Backliners: Casey Hendrix, Jacob Feldman

The starting players file through the court doors and take their positions—with a three goal lead and the Tornadoes not even on the board, the Foxes are going into the half with confidence, already tasting another win under their belts.

But Brayden is stepping onto the court with a warning: after the stunt he pulled during press duty after the game against the Terrapins, Wymack has made it clear that his good behavior during the Fall Banquet is the only reason he’s letting him play—and, should he do anything stupid on the court tonight, he won’t hesitate to bench him from the next game.

Paxton, however, is less confident than their teammates: their mind is somewhere else, still unsettled by their sister’s unexpected presence, no matter the strides they’ve made in repairing their relationship. But they’ve been holding on for the game so far—all they have to do is hold on for a little while longer. Trying to focus only on the court, they serve, and the half begins.

But Paxton isn’t the only anxious player on the court: this is Jacob’s first game since becoming a Fox, his first real game since high school, since his life was different and his future looked bright—he doesn’t want to mess it up.

He’s tested early: though Arlo—back on the court after a mediocre performance in the Foxes’ winning game against the Terrapins—seizes upon a gap in the Tornadoes’ defensive to get a shot on goal just over a minute into the half, the Tornadoes’ goalkeeper blocks it, and the Tornadoes are able to gain possession off of the deflection.

As the Tornadoes make their first push for the Fox goal, Jacob is tested—and he fails. It was a play he should have been able to read, but he falls for the striker’s feint and is too slow to correct it, letting the striker by for a shot that Grant can’t block quickly enough—putting the Tornadoes on the scoreboard for the first time all night.

Jacob is rattled: he knows he’s better than that—or, at least, he used to be. But, as they take their positions again for the Tornadoes’ serve, Casey takes a moment to talk to him, try and get his head back in the game: the half has just barely started, and there will be no subs for them—they have no choice but to keep playing, and to not give up.

The Tornadoes serve, and Paxton is quickly tangled up with several opposing players, trying to hold the Tornadoes at the half-court line. With an uncharacteristic yellow card in the last game, the Tornadoes think they have a weak link—and, still two goals behind, they’re willing to press it until it snaps in order to give themselves a fighting chance.

But this time, Pax doesn’t get angry: this time, they break down. At first, it gets lost in the action of play: the Foxes and the Tornadoes are focused on the game, the referees are looking for fights between players, not a battle between a player and themself—but after long moments of Pax standing stock-still on the court, tearing at the neck guard that’s pressing on their throat, some of the Foxes on the bench notice and cause enough of a fuss that the referees stop play.

Since Betsy doesn’t travel with the team, it falls to Abby to guide a still out-of-it Pax off the court and into the away locker rooms, where the absence of the overwhelming stimuli of a game will hopefully help settle them. On the court, Adam takes Pax’s place, but the referees don’t exactly know what to do, and decide after conferring with each other and the two coaches to restart play from where it was halted, in the Foxes’ zone just over the half-court line, with the Tornadoes in possession.

The Tornadoes dealer serves, and play resumes: The Tornadoes think that they’ve found a weakness in the Foxes’ defense, and they push it as much as they can, focusing their assault on Jacob’s side of the court.

Grant does his best to close the gap and bolster the Foxes’ defense, calling out plays to Jacob and Casey from his vantage point in goal. Working together, the three of them deny the Tornadoes some chances, but the sustained pressure, in the end, is too much: the Tornadoes score on a lucky rebound, firing a shot home too fast for Grant to recover from where he dove to block the first attempt.

The Tornadoes have almost closed the gap, whittling away at the Foxes’ lead and putting themselves within one of tying the game. The stands, which have been noticeably subdued since the first half, seem to perk up again as the Tornadoes hit their stride.

The Foxes, feeling under threat for the first time this game, don’t want to see their lead erased. The Tornadoes dealer serves, and this time the Foxes are faster off their mark, Brayden able to beat the Tornadoes to the ball. After passing to Arlo, Arlo gets another good chance at the Tornadoes goal—but their goaltender has been strong tonight, and he’s held off the scoreboard yet again.

Adam dives into the fray, struggling with the Tornadoes dealer and one of the strikers for possession along the seam between the Plexiglass wall and the court floor—but when one of the Tornadoes, in frustration, checks him with the shaft of their racquet face-first into the wall, the referees are quick to halt play.

Adam isn’t hurt, just angry, and so the Tornadoes get away with only a yellow card—despite the protests of the Foxes on the court. The Foxes are awarded possession, however, and Wymack uses the stop in play to make a few more substitutions to his line, sending Cecil on for Grant and Marley and Cadence on for Brayden and Arlo.

The players take their positions, and Adam serves to restart play. With new energy, the Tornadoes challenge the Foxes for possession off of their serve: a Tornadoes striker locks raquets with Cadence, and the two struggle against each other until the Tornadoes come up victorious, Cadence’s racquet wrenched right out of her hands.

The Tornadoes push up the court to challenge Cecil, who’s barely had time to settle into the goal, and manage to get a shot by him with a convincing feint, waiting Cecil out and then slamming the ball past him to light the Foxes’ goal up red.

And, almost unbelievably, the Tornadoes have managed to tie the score, closing what was once a three goal lead. For the Foxes, desperation makes for sloppy play: the Tornadoes serve, and the Foxes are too slow to intercept it. A strong serve puts the Tornadoes deep into the Foxes’ zone, where a tiring Casey and Jacob do their best to hold them at bay.

But what the Tornadoes have done well tonight is patience, wearing the Foxes down until they get an opportunity to score, and when they find a path to the goal they take it, using the Foxes as screens for their shot, preventing Cecil from being able to track it—another goal, putting the Tornadoes, unbelievably, in the lead, as their fans rise to their feet.

When the players take their positions again for the Tornadoes’ serve, the Foxes on the court are grim: a loss tonight would be beyond embarrassing, and even overtime would be less than they know they’re capable of—but, with time running out to secure a different outcome, overtime might be their only hope of eking out a victory.

Wymack calls a time out, and the players on the court gather around him and their assistant coaches at the court door, taking a moment to catch their breath and listening as they lay out a play of attack. When the Tornadoes serve again, the Foxes break from their positions with purpose: pushing through the fatigue that comes from playing a full half, Casey is there at the end of the serve to steal the ball right out of the net of the Tornadoes’ striker’s racquet, running it up the court for a handoff to Adam.

With Marley and Cadence on the court, their asset is their agility, and they weave their way up the court with a quick series of passes, the ball switching between their racquets with speed, doing all that they can to hopefully leave the Tornadoes a couple steps behind.

With time running out, they may only have one chance to make a shot—and it’s Marley who takes it, winding up at the end of her ten steps and putting as much power behind her raquet as she can—and, with her and all of the Foxes holding their breath, it just barely grazes the tip of the goalkeeper’s extended racquet, but it’s not enough to deflect it—it hits the back wall with a resounding thud, that’s almost drowned out by the shouts of the Foxes of the court and, just after it, the buzzer.

In the last remaining moments, the Foxes have managed to secure a tie, 4-4, sending the teams into overtime.

OVERTIME

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins

Dealer: Olivia Finch

Strikers: Arlo Booth, Akira Sato

Backliners: Casey Hendrix, Colin Jessup

After another fifteen minute break, the Foxes are led back onto the court, all aware that it shouldn’t have come to this, that this game should have been the closest thing to an easy victory they’d face all season.

Wymack names his lineup, and sends them onto the court. Though they can tell he, like them, isn’t pleased with how the game has gone, he offers encouragement instead of recrimination: Get out there and do what we both know you can do. Get out there and end it.

Though the team is just a little over twice as big as it was when it won the Championships so long ago, they’re still smaller than the Tornadoes, and at a disadvantage when it comes to overtime—the Tornadoes have fresher players to put on the court.

Overtime, however, is sudden death: the first team to score wins—if the Foxes can end it early, then stamina won’t matter. And, even with their most experienced backliners on the court, Colin and Casey, despite Casey just coming off of a tiring half, they’re hoping their defense won’t be tested too much.

In Akira and Arlo, Wymack has chosen strikers that are rested, and who have done well on the court so far tonight: Akira tallied one of the Foxes’ points in the first half, and Arlo had some good chances, and is hungry to finally land a shot that counts.

Back in goal for the Foxes, Grant, as both a goalkeeper and the Foxes’ Captain, feels like he has an even larger responsibility for the Foxes current position, and an even larger stake in making sure they don’t fall in overtime.

As the last team to score, the Foxes get first serve. Olivia serves up the court, where Arlo and Akira struggle to get around the Tornadoes backliners for a clear shot on goal. When Akira’s first attempt goes wide, the Torandoes manage to steal possession, and make a break for the Fox goal.

Casey lays a heavy hit on one of the encroaching Tornadoes strikers, and Colin is there to scoop up the free ball. Instead of passing it up the court himself, he throws it back to Grant who, with a heavier racquet, is able to put more force behind his swing, slamming it up the court and forcing the Tornadoes to reverse up the court and sprint for it.

Arlo emerges victorious, leaping to snag the ball out of the air—and an unpredictable play by the Foxes has put the Tornadoes on the wrong foot, opening up space for the Foxes to score—and it’s Arlo who does it, putting a fast shot in the upper corner of the goal, one that the Tornadoes goalkeeper, this time, is hopeless to block.

Less than five minutes into overtime, the Foxes have scored, ending the game in their favor: 5-4.

POST-GAME

Though they emerged victorious, the Foxes’ celebrations are muted: they’re tired from a long and difficult game, as are the Tornadoes, and both teams get through their customary handshakes as quickly as possible, barely meeting each other’s eyes, retreating into their locker rooms as quickly as possible.

The Foxes’ first two wins this season felt like victories they could be proud of—and even though their undefeated record remains intact, it’s difficult to feel the same about this one. Going from a shutout victory last season to barely pulling out a win in overtime feels like a step backwards, just when people were starting to believe that the Foxes were finally getting good.

Maybe uncharacteristically, Wymack tries to put a positive spin on it: it’s not the game we wanted to play, but you didn’t give up and you pulled it out. It feels like a mostly-empty platitude—the Foxes know the games are only going to get harder from here on out. At the end of his remarks, Wymack picks Kent and Arlo to go out to speak with the press, with a stern warning that if they or anyone else fucks up press duty—by, say, storming out of it—they’ll find themselves benched faster than they can blink.

The rest of the team stays behind to shower and change out, gathering in the lounge area of the Tornadoes’ away locker rooms to wait for everyone else to join them. Once Kent and Arlo have finished with press duty, they leave the stadium and load themselves and their gear onto their bus to head back to their hotel for the night.

Though it’s unclear if the Foxes feel much like celebrating, Wymack and Abby treat it like any other night and any other win, full of stern warnings to not distrub them unless they’re literally in jail, and not to miss the bus that will be leaving first thing next morning, lest they’re left in North Carolina. And then the Foxes are left on their own and to their own devices—whatever those may be.

ADMIN NOTE: And there you have it! 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.

I’ll see you back here for our next game, which will take place on October 20, and will be a home game against the Blackwell Jackrabbits.

#foxholegames #game02:03

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 03: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. JD CAMPBELL TORNADOES

Winning one game is good, winning two is even better—but the first could be considered only lucky, the second as nothing more than a coincidence. Winning three in a row, though? That would be something else. That would be harder to argue with. That would be the start of a streak.

The Gamecocks and the Terrapins have already fallen to the Foxes—the latter in spectacular fashion, a decisive 6-2 victory for the Foxes, humiliating the Terrapins on their own court—and the Foxes are hoping to add the JD Campbell University Tornadoes to the list next.

Their game against the Tornadoes last year was a shutout: four goals for the Foxes and zero for their opponents, allowing the Foxes to clinch their slot in the Championships and a third-place ranking in the Southeastern District.

They’re not just hoping for a similar result this time—they’re expecting it. Even the most grudging of analysts have to admit that the Foxes’ chances are good: that the Foxes have been performing well, and the Tornadoes are not a particularly formidable team—not like the teams that Foxes will have left to face after them.

With the Jackrabbits, the Jackals, and the Ravens to come—the best teams in their district, the teams the Foxes will be vying against for their spot in the Championships—the Foxes can’t afford to falter at these first hurdles, will need every victory they can get in order to claim the spot they know is theirs—to fix what they left unfinished last season.

But despite the strength of their last victory, the cracks are showing in the team—and this game could either mend them or widen them. The Tornadoes might be considered as easy an opponent as the Foxes can hope for, but that doesn’t mean anything if the Foxes are still fighting themselves, forgetting the teamwork that brought them so far last season.

Without it, the Tornadoes might not be so easy a foe, and the Foxes might go back to being more like the team that they used to be, the team that everyone laughed at, rather than the team they want to be—either way, a win or a loss will show: are the Foxes still getting better, or is their best already behind them?

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 Tornadoes 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.

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

#foxholegames #game02:03

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 02: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. BELMONTE TERRAPINS

PRE-GAME

An away game means that the Foxes and the Vixens miss most of their Friday classes, convening outside the court in the late morning to load themselves and their gear onto the buses in the late morning to begin the six-hour drive to Nashville, home of the Belmonte Terrapins, leaving enough room that traffic and stopping for dinner won’t prevent them from getting to Belmonte’s court on time.

They make it to Nashville with a little time to spare to check into their hotel, split themselves up among rooms, and enjoy a little downtime before they head over to Belmonte’s stadium, getting there an hour before first serve.

In the away team’s locker rooms, they don their much more subdued orange-on-white away uniforms, and then convene to discuss strategy: they’re heading into their second game of the season in a good position—but that doesn’t mean that the Foxes should get cocky, or underestimate their opponents; they beat the Terrapins last season, but they’ll need to work to make sure they beat them again.

With the Foxes having won their first game of the season, more of their fans were willing to make the journey to Nashville to cheer on their team, and though there are pockets of orange in the crowd, the stands are still overwhelmingly clad in Terrapins-green, and the Vixens don’t find a receptive audience as they rotate through their pre-game routines.

After their brief warm-up, Grant and the Terrapins’ 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 and take their positions for the start of the game.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins

Dealer: Claudia Jewell (Sub: Olivia Finch)

Strikers: Brayden Sykes, Arlo Booth (Sub: Marley Reid)

Backliners: Casey Hendrix, Glory Hoskins (Sub: Graham Sosa)

The Foxes take their positions: the starting players line up by the court doors, while the rest take their spots on the Fox bench—including Adam, who has drawn the short straw among the Foxes’ full roster of dealers and won’t be playing tonight unless unexpected injuries or red cards demand it.

The Foxes’ starting players and the Terrapins line up on their opposing sides of the court: dealers and backliners on the first and far court lines, and strikers at half court. The buzzer sounds, and Claudia serves to start the game.

Foxes and Terrapins break from their positions, and the game is on: Brayden does what he does best and puts all of his speed into beating the opposing players to Claudia’s serve—he had a less-than-stellar performance in the Foxes’ season debut, a yellow card that probably could have just as easily been a red one, and he’s looking to make up for it tonight.

But, this time, he has a striker partner that might not have their head entirely in the game: for Arlo, the last game had monsters lurking in the shadows, and though he’d been throwing himself into practice in the aftermath, a game is something more unforgiving. Leaves less room for error, for distraction.

Brayden sets him up for an early shot on goal, but Arlo can’t land it—it bounces off the wall to the outside of the lines without the goalkeeper even having to block it, and neither he nor Brayden react quickly enough to get a chance at it on the rebound.

The Terrapins backliners scoop it up, and quickly clear the ball down to half court and their waiting dealer. Claudia is there, too, to fight to keep the pressure on the Terrapins and the ball in their half of the court, but she takes the first big hit of the game, one that throws her out of the path of the ball and allows the Terrapins to move up the court.

The Terrapins’ fans, who had started out the game quiet and nervous as the Foxes seemed to storm out of the gate, quickly come to life, shouting encouragement at their team on as they encroach on the away goal. Casey and Glory are there to meet the Terrapins strikers, however, doing their best to cut off their paths towards the goal, push them back down the court.

Despite the backliners’ efforts, or because of them, one of the Terrapins strikers takes a chance on a quick, poorly-angled shot through the traffic in front of the goal—one that Grant deftly blocks, to the audible disappointment of the Terrapins’ home crowd.

And, with that, the initial excitement gives way to tension: protracted battles between two opponents that seem fairly evenly matched, neither of them able to get the upper hand over the other, the scoreboard remaining empty.

It takes a little awhile for another opening to come, but when it does, Brayden is the one to seize it, outrunning a Terrapins backliner for the ball when it comes loose, and then not stopping, firing the ball at the goal the second he has a clear path—one that slips past the goalkeeper’s outstretched racquet, lighting the goal up red and putting the Foxes on the board.

There’s a lot of game left to play, but the Foxes still take the time to grin and clack sticks with each other as play resets for the Foxes’ serve. But if the Foxes are enlivened by their point, then so are the Terrapins, more determined not to let the Foxes dig them into a hole they can’t get out of. Claudia serves, and this time a Terrapins backliner matches Brayden step-for-step as they both sprint for it—they get there at the same time, but when they grapple for possession, it’s the Terrapins that come away with it.

With Grant in goal for the full half, it falls even more on the backliners—Casey and Glory, to start—to hold down their end of the court, keep the Terrapins from getting too many chances and wearing Grant down.

It’s a challenge that they take to with determination, but one that Glory—a freshman with less Exy experience than much of the rest of the team, no matter how much raw talent she may have—may take a little too far.

In Exy, stick checks are only allowed between racquets, and when the head of Glory’s racquet hits a Terrapins striker solidly into the shoulder, causing him to cry out and drop his racquet, the referees interpret it as deliberate, and are quick to give her a red card when they stop play—sending her off the court for the rest of the game, and forcing her to sit out the next game, as well.

The referees also award the Terrapins a penalty shot, one that one of their strikers steps up to take, a determined set to his face behind his helmet. Penalty shots are easy points, most of the time, and if the Terrapins make the shot, then the score will be tied. Grant, however, has other plans, and he stays steady in the goal, correctly reading the striker’s body language and waiting out his feint to block where he really intends the shot to go—soundly denying the Terrapins the point.

With the Foxes holding onto the lead, Wymack makes a few substitutions to his lines: sending Olivia on for Claudia, Graham on for the red-carded Glory—and Marley on, not for Brayden, but for Arlo, a surprise to most of the Foxes.

Olivia, on a new team and in a new district, is looking to get out from underneath the shadow of Penn State—where her play, like everything else, suffered at the hands of the Lions. She has a fast striker and a former dealer on the Foxes’ offensive line, and she calibrates her serve to their strengths: makes it a big one, taking the Terrapins backliners off-guard with the distance of her throw.

It pays off: Marley puts herself in the perfect position to catch Olivia’s serve, and she and Brayden are able to nimbly weave their way around the Terrapins’ defense. But the Terrapins’ goalkeeping has been strong so far tonight, and Brayden isn’t able to land a shot and get himself a second point.

The Terrapins goalkeeper blocks the shot, and clears the goal with a heavy swing of their racquet, sending the ball far down the court, where the Terrapins strikers are waiting. Past the midpoint of the half, they seem to have a new burst of speed, putting new pressure on Casey, who’s played the entire half so far, and Graham, who’s fresh on the court and has something to prove after being thrown out of his first college game with two yellow cards.

When Casey isn’t quite fast enough with a check to prevent a Terrapins striker from getting off a shot on goal, he puts himself in the path of the shot instead—it hits him in the meat of his upper arm, the bad arm that he’d broken in the Championships last season. And, though it does hurt, it’s the memory more than the pain that stops him short, makes him freeze for just a moment before he gathers himself and realizes that, no, it’s not the same pain.

But, in Exy, a moment is an opportunity, a moment is sometimes all that’s needed for a goal to be scored, for the tide of a game to turn. But Graham is there to deny the Terrapins the opportunity for a breakaway, checking the striker to the court floor before he can get three steps with the ball, taking possession of the loose ball and firing it up the court to where Olivia is waiting.

It gives the defense time to breathe, and Graham spares a moment to shoot Casey a concerned look, but Casey’s shaken off his momentary shock and shrugs off the concern, and they spread out across the far court line again, ready to hold their end of the court down.

Olivia runs the ball up the court, passing through traffic to put the ball in Marley’s net. Marley is used to evading opposing players, used to setting up other Foxes’ points—but she isn’t a dealer anymore, she’s a striker, and it may only be the second game of the new season, but scoring points is her job now.

So Marley passes to herself off the wall when she would have passed to someone else before, a neat maneuver that puts her within scoring range—and score is what she does, lighting the goal up red and putting the Foxes up two to nothing.

The Terrapins may be down, but they’re not out. And, after Olivia’s serve, they set out to prove it: they push Marley and Brayden back hard, forcing turnovers that they use to push towards the Fox goal.

Grant has been solid in the Fox goal all night but, on a normal-sized team, players play full halves less often and he, along with Brayden and Casey, have been working hard all game. In the dying minutes of the half, the Terrapins are able to find a path past Casey and Graham and, when one of their strikers takes the shot, Grant is just a little bit too slow to block it—putting the Terrapins within one as the clock runs out.

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

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to their locker room for half time, tense after the Terrapins’ goal. Though they’re still holding onto the lead, it’s a precarious one, and anything can happen in the remaining forty-five minutes of the game. But, though the score could be better, their play was solid overall—keep playing how they played in the first half, Wymack tells them, and the points will surely come. There’s no need to get stupid about it. Back on the court, halftime belongs to the Vixens—though the Terrapins’ home crowd is less-than-receptive to their performance, when they’re currently beating their team. 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: Cecil James (Sub: Cameron Trask, Grant Rollins)

Dealer: Teddy Ryker (Sub: Paxton Ridley)

Strikers: Kent Cheong, Logan Trask (Subs: Akira Sato, Cadence Lowell)

Backliners: Sydney McCray, Colin Jessup (Sub: Graham Sosa)

When the Foxes starting the half take their positions, they’re tense and focused: the score is still close, and they’ll have to play hard if they want to break away from the Terrapins and secure the win.

The Terrapins dealer serves, and the players break from their starting positions to begin the half. Sydney sprints to challenge the Terrapins striker for the ball, winning the battle and getting it back up the court to Teddy, who finds himself locked in a battle of his own with the Terrapins dealer.

While his performance in the last game didn’t suffer too significantly, Kent knows that he was distracted by his half-sister’s presence, and he’s determined to put it out of his mind this game and focus. When Teddy loses the battle for the ball with the Terrapins dealer, his racquet forced out of his hands, Kent is there before the Terrapins can get more than a few strides with it, popping the ball free from the dealer’s net with a neat twist of his racquet.

Together, Kent and Logan bring a potent scoring touch: moving the ball up the court and leaving the Terrapins backliners flat-footed on their path to the Terrapins goal. When the ball lands in the goal, lighting the embedded sensors up red, the shot came from Logan’s racquet, after Kent sent him up with a pass so clean that all he had to do was catch and release.

It’s a good start to the half and, as the Foxes take their positions for Teddy’s serve, they’re grinning to each other. The Terrapins, on the other hand, are starting to get nervous. And, when play begins again, their discipline begins to break down.

The first casualty is Teddy, who takes the shaft of a Terrapins’ racquet to his ribs, winding him and sending him to all fours on the court floor. Colin is there quickly, putting himself in between Teddy and the Terrapins when he doesn’t get up right away. But not everyone on the court notices.

And when the referees don’t stop play, the Terrapins seize the opportunity. With one backliner distracted, it’s easier for the Terrapins to get a shot on goal, but Cecil still blocks it harmlessly, scooping up the ball and holding onto it so the referees stop play.

And that’s when they seem to notice that Teddy, though back on his feet and leaning on Colin for support, still hasn’t quite gotten his breath back, and is holding onto his ribs over his jersey and armor. He doesn’t have the breath to fight with the referees, but Colin and the other Foxes on the court do.

They manage to get a call in their favor: a red card for the Terrapins dealer, and a penalty shot for the Foxes, as Teddy is led off the court and back into the away locker rooms by Abby to be checked out. Wymack taps Kent to take the penalty shot for the team, and sends Pax on for Teddy.

When Kent steps up to the marked spot between the first court line and the home goal for his penalty shot, he’s relaxed and confident—this is what he knows how to do. And he makes it look effortless, whipping off a fast shot that the Terrapins goalkeeper comes nowhere close to blocking, and making sure the entire arena can see that he didn’t break a sweat doing it.

Play resumes again with Pax’s serve: they serve up the court to Kent, and when the backliners close in on him, they’re there for Kent to pass back to to try and create room. But the Terrapins close in on Pax, egging them on as they grapple for possession with jabs and verbal taunts that are more than enough to frustrate, but not enough for the referees to stop play.

Until Pax loses their temper and it turns into a shoving match between players, ball forgotten—but then, when the referees do stop play, it looks like Pax’s fault. They start to protest and it’s Sydney who’s closest and silences them with a warning hand to their shoulder—referees don’t like being argued with, and it can be grounds to turn a yellow card into a red one.

Pax is still angry, but both teams use the stop in play to make substitutions to their lines. Wymack sends Cameron on for Cecil, and Cadence and Akira on for Logan and Kent, and by the time the new players have taken their positions on the court for Pax’s serve, their temper has cooled slightly, leaving them feeling determined to use it, and to play well.

Cameron has had the whole game to sit on the bench, trying and failing to ignore a familiar face in the crowd—her ex-boyfriend, sticking out in Fox orange, sitting in the seats near the away goal that she’d picked for him while they were still together—and there with another girl. When she takes her place on the court, she’s livid, the painted goalkeeper’s box seeming too small to contain her rage.

And so the game Cameron plays is a risky one: venturing beyond the goalkeeper’s zone, playing the ball more often than she usually would. The first time she does it, it seems to take the Terrapins unaware, sprinting out of the goal to grab the ball and throw it up the court, denying them a chance at a breakaway while Sydney and Colin were otherwise tied up.

Pax is quick to adapt, sprinting fast to put themself at the end of Cameron’s throw, and from there the play unfolds, like it has so far tonight, in a way that seems straight out of the Foxes’ playbook: Pax passes to Akira, who neatly feints around a Terrapins backliner to put a shot inside the goal for the fifth time that night.

Play resets and Pax serves again, firing the ball up the court to Akira’s waiting racquet. But, with the point gap between the Foxes and the Terrapins growing, and the Terrapins being even further embarrassed on their home court, the Terrapins seem to give up on playing and decide to start fighting instead.

An easy target—and the last Fox to score—is Akira. The taunts come easily: calling him by the name of his On The Line character, telling him he’s not a real Exy player—alluding to the many rumors that surround his exit from Hollywood. And, when that fails to get the reaction they want, it turns physical: a hard hit sends him into the court wall and to the ground, allowing the Terrapins to get the ball out of their zone and toward the Fox goal.

The Foxes on the bench are complaining, the hit in the grey zone between legal and not, but play doesn’t stop: Akira gets to his feet and throws himself back into the game and, down the court, the Terrapins meet the Foxes’ defense with the same reckless fervor.

It’s Colin who gets the short end of the stick—quite literally. As he and a Terrapins striker battle for a loose ball along the wall, the butt of the striker’s stick comes up underneath the protective webbing of his helmet, catching him hard in the face. At the first sign of blood on the court—and on Colin’s white away jersey—play is halted, and Abby rushes onto the court to to assist him.

When the bleeding can’t be stopped right away, Colin is taken off the court and back to the away locker room for treatment while, on the court, the Terrapins striker is given an automatic red card for the shot to the head, and the Foxes are awarded a penalty shot, which Wymack chooses Cadence to take. And, to reward Graham for his steady play in the first half—after being ejected from the game against the Gamecocks—he sends him back onto the court to replace Colin.

Cadence takes her position for the penalty shot—but the Terrapins goalkeeper is able to read her, and put themself in the position to knock it harmlessly away. Disappointed, she and the rest of the players take their position for the restart of play, and the score remains the same: five to one.

Pax serves to restart play, but their serve is intercepted by one of the Terrapins backliners, allowing the Terrapins to make another desperate push for the Fox goal after being held at only one goal for most of the night.

Their reckless late-game style of play is eventually rewarded, getting them a goal that just barely gets by Cameron as players bunch up near the away goal. It isn’t enough to make much of a dent in the Foxes’ lead at all, nor is it enough to convince much of the already rapidly depleting green-clad sections of the stands to stick around, but it is enough to anger Cameron even further.

The Terrapins dealer serves, and play begins again. And when it looks like one of the Terrapins strikers is about to go on the breakaway, Graham and Sydney locked up with other players and too far away, Cameron ventures out of the goal again to head her off. Though smaller in size, her heavier armor makes for an unequal matchup: when they get to the ball at the same time Cameron doesn’t make any attempt to stop her forward momentum, slamming into the striker and taking her down to the floor.

And, when she doesn’t get up right away, play is halted, Terrapins helping their fellow player to her feet and helping her walk, limping slightly, to the doors and off the court. The Foxes seem more shocked by Cameron’s uncharacteristic display of aggression than anything, a spell that’s broken when the referees give her a yellow card and warn her to consider staying inside the goal for the rest of the game.

But before she can make her way back there, Wymack is beckoning her off the court. What possessed you to do that? He demands, and underneath his anger might be concern—but with him they tend to look the same. With time running out, Wymack puts Cameron on the bench and sends Grant back onto the court—declaring that he knows he, at least, won’t do anything stupid.

Play is reset to the half-court line and the Terrapins are given possession, their dealer serving to restart play—though, with little time on the clock, the chances of the Terrapins tying up the score are practically nonexistent, the chances of them reclaiming some of their dignity almost equally as remote.

That doesn’t stop the Foxes from playing like they have something to prove. And Cadence, still smarting from missing her earlier penalty shot, feels like she has unfinished business—which she wraps up with a neat goal in the last minutes of the game that seems to take whatever wind that remained out of the Terrapins’ sails.

When the buzzer sounds, it’s a bitter relief for the Terrapins and a triumph for the Foxes, the final score a decisive 6-2.

POST-GAME

By the end of the game, the stands are noticeably emptier, many Terrapins fans having given up and left long before the final buzzer sounded—but those that do remain are sure to boo the Foxes loudly as they convene at center court. A little jeering won’t deter them from celebrating their rout—in fact, it might just encourage them more.

The Foxes form a line behind Grant and go down the row of Terrapins players for the customary post-game handshakes. On the Terrapins’ side, it’s fast and perfunctory—they seem to want to get off the court more than they want to sneer at the Foxes, want to get away from the fans they disappointed tonight.

Afterwards, the Foxes retreat back to the away locker room to get ready to load onto the bus back to the hotel, where the celebration will no doubt continue. But on the court, the Vixens are still milling around as the rest of the stadium empties out—and that’s when Lukas is shocked to see his younger sister, Piper, having shown up alone and unaccompanied, and without warning him at all—but, then again, it’s not like they talk.

Back in the locker room, Wymack and his Assistant Coaches have to fight to make themselves heard over the Foxes’ post-game enthusiasm—his congratulations are as brief and as gruff as anyone might expect from him, but seem sincere enough. At the end of them, he sends Brayden and Akira out to talk to the press, and the rest of the Foxes go to shower and change out.

Colin and Teddy, however, are already out of their gear: Teddy seems better than he was when he was escorted off the court, though he’s got an icepack taped over his ribs; and Colin is trying not to talk or scowl with a busted lip and a bruised face—and trying hard, because silence isn’t something that comes naturally to him.

The Foxes and the Vixens take their time—the less angry Terrapins fans in the parking lot when they leave, the better—but eventually they leave the stadium and load themselves and their gear onto their buses and head back to their hotel for the night, where they’ve already largely taken over one of the floors for what will be sure to be a rowdy victory party.

Once they’re there Wymack and Abby quickly make themselves scarce. Just don’t get arrested, Wymack says before he goes, warning them that anyone who isn’t ready and on the bus after check-out the next morning will be left in Nashville. Afterwards, he and Abby lock themselves behind their do not disturb signs for the night, ridding themselves of responsibility and leaving the Foxes to their own devices until the next day.

ADMIN NOTE: Thanks for sticking with me! (I swear these get longer every time.) 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.

We’ll be interrupting our regular game schedule next week for the Fall Banquet—(or, the first installation in our Exy Prom Series, so more like Exy Homecoming)—which will be hosted by the Foxes and include all of the teams of the Southeastern District. (So, you know, it’s a good time to start talking about dates, if you’re interested in those!) I’ll see you back here after that for the next game, which will take place on October 6, and will be another away game against the JD Campbell Hornets.

#foxholegames #game02:02

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 02: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. BELMONTE TERRAPINS

One game isn’t enough to declare the Foxes a winning team: with so many games ahead of them, the Foxes could still falter in the regular season—with the Championships so far away, it’s better to focus on their more proximate goals: this game, and then the next one. Take it one game at a time.

But with a victory against their in-state rivals, the USC-Columbia Gamecocks, the Foxes started the season off the way they wanted to, and now it’s up to them to keep it going. To use that momentum, to keep winning, forging the path that will lead them to the Championships, to the business they left unfinished last season.

Maybe they shouldn’t jinx it, but they all know what their goal is.

Once again, their first away game of the season is against the Belmonte Terrapins. But this year, their positions are flipped: the Foxes won their first game, and the Terrapins lost theirs. But the result of this game is one the Foxes don’t want flipped: they managed to beat the Terrapins last season, although they had to take it to overtime to do it.

As the Foxes return to practice fresh off their victory against the Gamecocks and focus in on their new opponents, they intend to win more decisively this time. No overtime, and no doubt about who the better team is.

To do so, they have to tighten up their game, improve on the mistakes they made against the Gamecocks: more focus, more teamwork, less fights—the season is starting them off easy, neither the Gamecocks nor the Terrapins are near the top-ranked teams in their district, but that doesn’t mean they should let themselves accept anything less than their best.

The Terrapins are looking to recover, to show their own fans that the rest of the season won’t be like the start—but the Foxes have momentum, and then intend to make sure the Terrapins leave their court disappointed. And if the Foxes can pull out another win, it just might be the start of something good.

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 Terrapins 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.

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

#foxholegames #game02:02

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 01: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. USC-COLUMBIA GAMECOCKS

PRE-GAME

Almost overnight, the Palmetto campus turns into a riot of orange and white: ribbons and banners fluttering in the breeze, hung from every conceivable corner; the Orange Notes blaring the Foxes’ fight song across campus at all hours of the day; the Vixens donning their uniforms for the week’s classes, revving up spirit wherever they can.

It’s the start of the Exy season, and the anticipation is nearly electric. The Foxes have been practicing for over a month, honing their new lineup, and this is their first test, their chance to shape how the rest of their season will go—though they’re forced to sit through a day of classes first, trying to keep their minds on their studies instead of on the court, though for many that’s a hopeless task.

The Foxes arrive at the court an hour before first serve, donning their white-on-orange home uniforms for the first time this season. Once they’re all dressed, Wymack gathers them in the lounge, but there isn’t much to say that they don’t already know: this isn’t practice anymore, it’s time to go out there and do it for real. Time to show everyone what they’re made of.

While the Foxes take to the court for their warm-ups, the Vixens take to the crowd, revving up the orange-clad sections of the stands in an attempt to drown out the visiting Gamecocks—as the Gamecocks’ cheerleading squad tries to do the same.

Once warm-ups are over, Grant steps onto the court to meet the Gamecocks’ Captain for the coin toss that will determine who gets first serve—and, hopefully not for the only time that night, the Foxes win the toss.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins (Sub: Cecil James)

Dealer: Claudia Jewell (Sub: Sasha Hart-Ashby)

Strikers: Brayden Sykes, Arlo Booth (Subs: Jay Wright, Akira Sato)

Backliners: Colin Jessup, Sydney McCray (Sub: Graham Sosa)

The Foxes take their positions: the starting players line up by the court doors, while the rest take their spots on the Fox bench—including River and Paxton who, due to the depth of the Foxes’ roster for dealers, won’t be playing tonight unless unexpected injuries or red cards necessitate it.

As Captain, Grant was the first one to set foot on the court for this first game of the season, and he does it again, leading the team’s starting lineup through the doors and to their starting places. The crowd is loud, but once the doors shut the sound is deadened by the thick walls and the whirring fans in the ceiling: on the court, it’s almost silent, both teams tense and focused as they wait for the starting buzzer and first serve.

Claudia serves to start the half, and that quiet is broken immediately, Foxes and Gamecocks breaking from their starting positions. Brayden is faster off his mark than most, and gets to the ball before any of the Gamecocks can fight him for it—but doesn’t get more than two steps with it before the Gamecocks’ backliners are there, blocking his path.

The Gamecocks, who have always been overshadowed by the Foxes’ notoriety even when they weren’t overshadowed by their play, have always brought a heightened level aggression to their matchups, and this game is no exception. The first hit of the game is a big one, taking Brayden down to the court floor, and though Claudia dives in to the ensuing scramble for the free ball, it’s the Gamecocks that come away with possession.

The Gamecocks are able to push it all the way to the Foxes’ defensive zone, meeting Sydney and Colin in a clash of bodies and racquets. Their deadlock ends when, while one striker has Colin locked up, the other striker is able to wrest Sydney’s racquet from her hands—giving the Gamecocks the opportunity for a breakaway goal, an opportunity that Grant roundly denies them, knocking the ball away from the goal with a swing of his heavy racquet.

With her racquet back in a secure grip, Sydney is able to place herself at the end of Grant’s deflection, the ball landing solely in her racquet’s net and allowing her to run it up the court to Claudia, who then passes it off to Arlo.

For the first time since he suffered a concussion during the Foxes’ Championships run last season, Arlo is back on the court—and, after missing so many games, he feels like he has a lot to prove, and doesn’t intend to waste any time. When his ten steps don’t take him close enough to the goal for a solid shot, he passes off the wall to himself, and is then able to fire off a fast shot into the goal’s lower corner that the Gamecocks’ goalkeeper is too slow in his dive to block.

The players retake their positions for the Foxes’ serve, and with the Foxes on the scoreboard the tension is notably higher. After Claudia serves, the Gamecocks strike out hard, zeroing in on Brayden as he sprints to meet Claudia’s serve and checking him to the court floor once again before he can get to the ball.

And as the Gamecocks take possession. the hits keep coming—to the delight of the garnet-and-black clad fans in the stands, the orange sections joining in as the Foxes’ frustrations slowly mount, as they start hitting back harder, battles for possession drawing out into long, physical struggles before someone emerges victorious.

It’s all legal until the racquets hit the ground and the fists fly, and from the Foxes it’s Brayden who snaps first, a shoving match that Arlo and Sydney are there to break up before the referees can get onto the court, saving Brayden from getting a red card. He does get a yellow card, however, and the Gamecocks are awarded possession, with play being reset to the half-court line.

The Gamecocks dealer serves to restart play, and the team capitalizes on the advantage, executing a neat set of passes up the court that leave Colin and Sydney scrambling to catch up. The Gamecocks get off a shot, one that Grant blocks, leaving both the Fox backliners and the Gamecocks strikers scrambling for possession.

Colin and a Gamecocks striker get tangled up near the wall, until a particularly hard shoulder check from Colin sends the striker into the wall. He goes down and stays down for a few moments, and it’s enough time for the other Gamecocks striker to take offense to the hit, coming at Colin with fists raised.

Colin tries not to rise to the bait, at the expense of a few unanswered hits before his teammates and the referees can fully break up the fight. His restraint is rewarded—the striker gets a red card, and the Foxes get a penalty shot.

It’s around the midpoint of the half, and Wymack uses the stop in play to send on his subs: Cecil for Grant, Sasha for Claudia, Graham on for Sydney, and Jay and Akira for Brayden and Arlo—and sends Jay to take the penalty shot for the Foxes.

Jay takes his position for the penalty shot, between the far court line and the away goal. He should have an advantage: on the bench, he’d had plenty of time to observe how the Gamecocks goalkeeper moved, but the goalkeeper didn’t have the same opportunity to learn his shot—but his mind is somewhere else, on a past life and a wedding that’s coming right on the heels of this game, and when he winds up and takes his shot, the Gamecocks goalkeeper bats it harmlessly away, to the audible groan of the crowd.

The players on the court re-take their positions, and Sasha serves to restart play. The Foxes are still in the lead, but the missed penalty shot lit a fire under the Gamecocks, and Jay and Akira aren’t able to make a dent in their defense. Between the two of them, the Gamecocks zero in on the distracted Jay as the weak link in the Foxes’ striker line, hounding him into mistakes that they convert into turnovers, allowing the Gamecocks to push play back towards the Fox goal.

Making his freshman debut, Graham intends to make his mark—though, when he does, it’s not in the way he probably intended. Swept up in the speed and aggression of Class I play—and possessing no small amount of aggression himself—it isn’t long after tangling with the Gamecocks’ defense that play is halted and he is given his first yellow card, for an illegal stick check against the torso of an opposing player.

The Gamecocks are awarded possession, and play is restarted from where it was halted, too close to the Fox goal for comfort. With no space and no time to work with, Graham and Colin can’t quite cover their striker marks in time, and it isn’t long at all before the Gamecocks fire a shot past Cecil, putting them on the board for the first time that night.

The Gamecocks serve to restart play and, energized, the Gamecocks are quick off their marks: the dealer heaves a huge serve that rebounds off the far wall and into a striker’s net, and then just as quickly into the Foxes’ goal—scoring another point on Cecil not even a minute after the first.

And, just that fast, the Gamecocks are in the lead. They serve again, attempting to repeat the same maneuver, but this time Graham is there to intercept the Gamecocks’ serve, checking a Gamecocks striker into the wall to get them out of the way. He doesn’t get far with the ball before he’s met by the Gamecocks dealer, and instead of passing to Colin he attempts to barrel through—but an illegal trip is met with another stoppage in play and another yellow card, meaning he’s off the court for the night, his debut something less-than-glorious.

With Graham out of the game, Sydney is sent back on. And, when the Gamecocks serve again, she’s fast enough off her mark to beat their striker to the serve, snagging it and firing it up the court to Sasha, who takes her ten steps without letting anybody muscle their way into her path, before passing the ball off to Akira.

The Gamecocks defense puts pressure on Akira, succeeding in driving him closer to the wall, out of optimal scoring position. At the end of his ten steps he’s left without a clear shot to Jay or Sasha, and so he puts all of his strength into a quick shot on goal—one that, from a tricky angle, manages to hit just within the edges of the lines marking the goal. The Foxes on the bench and their fans in the stands are ecstatic, and even Akira’s surprised that he managed to pull it off.

The players retake their positions and Sasha serves, and though the Foxes do their best to use the momentum from Akira’s goal and push to pull themselves into the lead, they’re unable to make anything happen as the clock runs down.

The buzzer sounds to signal the end of the half, and the score remains tied: 2-2.

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to their locker room for half time, where tension and tempers are running high. A tied score isn’t where they wanted to be at this point in the game, and they know it will take tighter, more focused play to pull out a win in the second half—they can’t give away opportunities for the Gamecocks to score, and they have to be better at seizing the opportunities that the Gamecocks leave open in turn. That they have to be, and they can be, better. Back on the court, halftime belongs to the Vixens, who feed off the energy of the crowd, where both Fox and Gamecocks fans are pumped up by the closeness of the game, a first half that had seen many of the squabbles and hard hits that Exy fans always hope for. 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: Lucy Yoon)

Dealer: Teddy Ryker (Sub: Adam Radford)

Strikers: Kent Cheong, Logan Trask (Sub: Marley Reid)

Backliners: Casey Hendrix, Justin Acevedo

The Foxes and the Gamecocks’ fresh lineups take their places on the court as the court doors seal behind him, each side grim and determined, the outcome of the game still very much up in the air, still up for the taking.

Teddy serves to start play, and the game is on once again. Kent and Logan make an early push for the Gamecocks goal off of the strength of Teddy’s serve, but the Gamecocks goalkeeper deflects Logan’s shot on goal—a deflection which the Gamecocks dealer is quick to scoop up and whip up the court to their strikers, turning the tide of the game towards the Fox goal.

Both of the Fox backliners on the court had particularly disappointing ends to their season: Casey was taken out by a broken arm early in the Foxes’ Championships run, and didn’t get back on the court before the Foxes were knocked out; and Justin gritted his teeth through an undisclosed shoulder injury right up until the end, when it became too bad to ignore.

They’re both healthy now, though, and more than most want to get the season off to a good start. They’re tested early, however, as the Gamecocks mount an aggressive offensive, their dealer jumping into the fray as a third striker, forcing Teddy to fall back as well to help Justin and Casey out.

With the crowd of bodies around the Fox goal, it’s hard for Cameron—who’s also back on the court after an eventful season, one which saw her family’s past literally unburied—to keep an eye on the ball. The goal that slips by her isn’t a pretty goal by any means, isn’t one that will make the highlight reels, an opportunistic shot by a Gamecocks striker that gets just enough room to get off, but it still lights up the goal red same as any other, still counts as a point.

Cameron is more than a little rattled, but she takes a deep breath and tries to gather herself: the Gamecocks have a one point lead, but it’ll take very little to change that, if she holds her ground and shuts down the goal—which she knows she can, because she’s done it before.

The Gamecocks serve, but aren’t able to get far with the ball before Casey is there, neatly sending a Gamecocks backliner’s racquet flying out of his hands and coming away with the ball, running it up the court to Teddy, who then passes it to Kent.

On edge every time he catches a glimpse of white-and-orange pom-poms out of the corner of his eye, Kent finds himself slipping back into old habits. Always an aggressive striker, the extra edge to his play is hard to notice, but it’s enough to get him in trouble—after too many protracted struggles for possession against his opposing backliner, his hits get a little dirtier, leading up to an illegal trip using the shaft of his racquet.

The Gamecocks backliner doesn’t take it passively, getting to his feet and in Kent’s face. The altercation seems ripe to grow into an all-out brawl: closest to the action is Teddy, who got into his fair share of scuffles last season, but instead of throwing himself against the Gamecocks he devotes himself to pulling Kent out of the fray, assisted by Casey’s quick intervention.

It’s not fast enough to avoid the referees getting involved—but they award Kent and the Gamecocks backliner each a yellow card: the first for tripping, the second for escalating to a fight, though the Gamecocks are awarded possession, and play is reset to the half court line.

The Gamecocks serve, taking play into the Foxes’ defensive zone. In their game against the Gamecocks last season, Justin earned himself an uncharacteristic red card, and as he faces off against the Gamecocks strikers, behind one of the helmets is a familiar face, trying to bait him with a smirk on his face like he’s sure it’ll work. This time, however, Justin refuses to lose his temper, holding his ground against each borderline-dirty shove and check.

But the Gamecocks’ aggressive play is enough to wear down the Fox defense, enough for their strikers to make another attempt at the Fox goal. This time, however, Cameron isn’t taking any chances that the Gamecocks might get a bounce, and she swings her racquet with all her might, clearing the ball all the way back behind the half-court line.

It’s Kent who’s there at the other end, snagging the ball out of the air before any of the Gamecocks even come near it, taking it as far up the court as he can before passing it back to Teddy, who passes it back to him just as quickly for a shot on goal—one of the fast, hard-to-anticipate trick shots that first got him noticed by Wymack, and that the Gamecocks goalkeeper is too slow to block.

With the score tied again, Wymack uses the stop in play to make some substitutions to his lineup, sending Lucy on for Cameron, Adam on for Teddy, and Marley on for Kent. The new players take their positions and Adam, making his debut on the court as a Fox after a rollercoaster season playing with the University of Texas Longhorns, serves to restart play.

Sitting on the bench for the majority of the game gave Marley plenty of time to doubt and, when she takes to the court in her first official game as a striker, she’s less aggressive than she’s been in practice—less aggressive than she knows she can be. It’s frustrating, especially when her backliner mark is all too happy to capitalize on her mistakes, muscling her out of the way and bypassing both Casey and Graham for a shot on goal that Lucy only just manages to block.

Clearing the goal took Lucy to the edge of the goalkeepers’ marked-out area, and one of the Gamecocks strikers takes advantage of that fact, and the crush of players around the Foxes’ goal to block the referees’ view, to make bodily contact with her—just as the Gamecocks dealer whips a shot past, one that she’s unable to block, that lights the sensors embedded in the wall up red.

The Foxes’ outrage is immediate: the scoreboard above counts a point for the Gamecocks automatically, putting them in the lead, while below the Foxes and the Gamecocks are shoving each other. In the thick of it is Lucy—while she doesn’t have much cause to fight as a goalkeeper, she used to be a striker, and physical altercations on the court are nothing new to her.

Roped into the fray against her will is Marley, targeted by the same Gamecocks backliner that’s been dogging her heels her entire time on the court, full of sly cutting remarks that get under her skin—first shaking her, but then making her angry.

It takes all six of the referees, streaming onto the court through the thrown-open doors, to break up the scrum. But, once they do, a different kind of fighting breaks out—this time a tense verbal one between Wymack, the Gamecocks’ coach, and the referees.

At the end of it, the Gamecocks goal is overturned—the score is restored back to 3-3, tied once again. Because of the size of the fight that broke out afterward, the referees opt not to give out any yellow or red cards, though they do award the Foxes possession as play is reset to the half-court line. On the court and on the bench, however, the Foxes are unsatisfied, as are their fans in the stands.

Adam serves, but play stalls out near the half-court line, both teams with new energy to break the stalemate on the court. When play opens up again it’s Adam who does it, shaking off the Gamecocks’ opposing dealer long enough to heave the ball further down the court towards the away goal, forcing both the Foxes and the Gamecocks to give chase.

With a disappointing start on the court, Marley’s determined to make a difference in the game, and it puts a little more speed in her stride. She’s the first to the ball, and quick to feint around the Gamecocks backliner, creating an opening for herself—and her first point as a striker, breaking the tied game with a goal that can’t be argued with.

The Foxes on the court are elated, clacking sticks and tapping Marley on the helmet as they all retake their positions, a celebration that takes an extra minute to die down—but once it does, they’re focused again: the clock is running down, now, but there’s still enough time for the Gamecocks to tie the game up again.

But they don’t get a chance to: Adam serves, and Marley is there to catch it. This time, aided by her years of experience as a dealer, she doesn’t make the shot herself, but puts herself in a position to set up Logan in the perfect place to slam another shot home—turning what was, at one point, a nail-biter of a game into a decisive lead for the Foxes.

The players on the court gather for another serve by Adam, but there’s no time left on the clock for anyone to make a play—the stands are loud, now that a Fox victory seems assured, and when the final buzzer comes, it’s almost completely drowned out by the sound of the crowd.

When the first game of the new season is over and the score is final, the Foxes have secured a victory, winning 5-3.

POST-GAME

It’s the first victory of a new season—the first, hopefully, of many more to come. The Foxes take their time to bask on it, the team converging at center court over their orange-painted Fox paw to celebrate, and Wymack indulgently lets it go on for long moments while the Gamecocks look sourly on, before gathering them for the customary post-game handshakes, the Foxes forming a line behind Grant and going down the row of Gamecocks players before they retreat into their own locker room.

But despite the celebration there’s a note of caution: it was a hard fought game, and though the Foxes won, there were long stretches of the game where it seemed like it could have easily gone the other way. It was enough to beat the Gamecocks, but soon they’ll have to face more difficult opponents, and if they make the mistakes they made tonight against the Jackals, or the Ravens, they likely would not get the same result, not manage to salvage a win in the second period.

Wymack and their coaching staff know it, but they don’t say anything tonight, entreating the Foxes to enjoy their victory—everything else can wait until practices resume after the weekend. After he’s extended his usual gruff congratulations, Wymack puts Cameron and Marley on press duty, and when they leave to meet with the waiting reporters, the rest of the Foxes retreat into their locker rooms to shower and change out.

Most of the Foxes take their time, making plans to take over the study rooms in the basement of Fox Tower for an impromptu victory party, but someone they could expect to be in the middle of such a conversation, Jay, is nowhere to be found, gathering himself faster than the rest and leaving before almost anyone can say anything to him—he has a wedding to attend.

Everyone except for Jay waits in the lounge for Cameron and Marley to finish with press duty, and then they file out of the stadium to fight their way through post-game traffic back to Fox Tower, where the rest of their night awaits—everyone save for Arlo, who is taken by surprise in the dark shadow of the court by a past he thought wouldn’t come calling after last year’s game against the Ravens—by associates of his father, who died in prison last year.

ADMIN NOTE: An ominous note to end on, but thanks for sticking with me through the first game of the new season! 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.

The next game will be taking place on September 15, and it will be an away game against the Belmonte University Terrapins. We’ll be following that up with the Fall Banquet, hosted by the Foxes and including all of the teams of the Southeastern District, on September 22. The schedule for additional games will be announced sometime in the future, and I’ll be sure to make an announcement when I update the schedule!

#foxholegames #game02:01

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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GAME 01: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. USC-COLUMBIA GAMECOCKS

The Foxes’ last season ended in defeat: a shootout loss in the last death match before the semi-finals to the USC Trojans, who went on to win the whole thing. But none of that matters anymore: it’s a new season, and the slate has been wiped clean.

And while they might not have a title to defend, the Foxes do have something to prove: their finish last season was the best the team had performed in years, the Foxes battling every step of the way despite cries that it was all luck, that they would soon go back to the disappointing performance the Exy world had come to expect from the ragtag team.

When they lost they proved their doubters, those that said they could never win, right. It’s the start of a new season, and it’s time to set the tone: that this season they intend to not only match last season’s performance but surpass it—to take it right to the Championships and do what they were unable to do last season and win there, too.

Their first opponents are the USC-Columbia Gamecocks, the only other Class I team in the state of South Carolina. When the Foxes played the Gamecocks last season, a tense and low-scoring affair, they won, eking out a narrow 2-1 victory—though that's in the past now, too.

But the Foxes and the Gamecocks are both acutely aware of their history, and they both need the win. For the Foxes, a victory against the Gamecocks would send the message they want to send, that they’re still a team to watch and to fear. For the Gamecocks, who failed to even qualify for the Championships last year, a win would say that this season won’t be like their last.

Only one of them will emerge victorious, and the Foxes intend it to be them. It’s the start of a new season, where victory or disappointment will be a portent of what’s to come, and the Foxes intend to show that they came to win.

ADMIN NOTE: Hello Foxes, and welcome to the official start of the Exy season! 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 Gamecocks 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.

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

#foxholegames #game02:01

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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Hey Foxes! Ahead of the new season, I wanted to put together a guide that can be referred to by players old and new alike to give you an idea of how the Exy season works and what I expect from you as players.

The overall schedule for the season can be found here—(additional games will be added as the season goes on)—and, on game weeks, the basic schedule for game weeks is as follows.

Monday: Details of the game are announced (whether its a home or away game, the team that will be playing, etc.) following the game announcement, players will have five days—(Monday-Friday, though sooner is definitely better than later)—to submit requests to this blog for things they’d like to happen in the game, as well as to volunteer for press duty.

I will do my best to incorporate player requests into the game outcome, and anyone who doesn’t submit request will still be included, but events that happen in the game will be up to my discretion.

Friday: The game outcome will be posted. Once game details are posted, players are open to roleplay any elements of the game—(travel to the game, the game itself, halftime, after the game)—in threads or self-paras. Two players per game will be put on press duty. If you volunteer for press duty, you should be prepared to play out, either in a thread with the other assigned character or a self-para, your character taking questions from the press.

Underneath the cut, please find more detailed game guidelines. If, after reading, you have any additional questions, please feel free to send them in to this blog and I’ll do my best to answer!

ONE: PARTICIPATION

The most important thing to know about the games is that they are designed to be collaborative. The more feedback and suggestions I get from players leading up to the game, the easier it will be for me to put together, and the better the final product will be.

And, while I will include your character in the game even if you choose not to submit any game requests, you’ll find that your character will likely not be featured prominently in the game.

If you don’t submit anything to me, I will most often use your character as part of necessary game mechanics—(passing, shooting, scoring, etc., depending on your character’s position)—but not much beyond that. I will not injure your character without your permission, for example, and I will not force your character into extreme situations and plots without your permission.

If you refer back to the games from last season, most of the incidents that were the most exciting and drove the overall plot of the season forward—(Arlo’s father’s death, Sam’s appearance at Castle Evermore, Zia and Casey’s confrontations with Penn and Ohio State, respectively)—were the result of extensive coordination between myself and the players involved. And I’m almost always happy to accommodate player requests!

TWO: GAME MECHANICS

If, when the season starts, you don’t know what to submit, there are a few things that might help: referring to the Exy page for a better understanding of the way the game works, and referring to games from last season.

Requests can be as detailed or as vague as you want them to be. Points, penalties, fights, people your character knows showing up in the stands—they’re all fair game. Even something like “I’d like my character to score a point, if possible, and I’d like to volunteer for press duty” is still better than not submitting anything at all. There are a few things to keep in mind:

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: There are six players on the court at a time for each team: two strikers, two backliners, one goalkeeper, and one dealer. Barring extenuating events such as injuries, red cards, or overtime, this allows me to play twenty four players in a game, with the line-up changing entirely during halftime and once at the midpoint of each half.

The team roster is capped at thirty, which means that depending on the number of active characters in play at any given moment not every player will get to play in every game. That opens up plot opportunities for you to consider that might lead to your character being benched: Have they been late to practice that week? Not performing well?

FIGHTS/PENALTIES/CARDS: Things like on-court fights or numerous penalties will likely result in either a yellow or red card. A yellow card is a warning, and if a player receives two yellow cards during a game they are ejected from the rest of the game. If a player receives a red card, they are ejected from the game and not allowed to participate in the following game.

All of these things are great and make for fun games, and I encourage them, but know that if your character is consistently causing penalties or receiving cards, they will likely be in hot water with the Foxes’ coaching staff, and potentially their other teammates.

The next few items are important, so I’m giving them their own sub-sections:

THREE: INJURIES

Injuries are another aspect of the game, and by no means do I encourage you to stray away from them, but please keep in mind that injuries are serious, and I take their recovery time seriously.

There is a small amount of wiggle room: if the nature of the injury is non-specific, just something that was “tweaked” during a game that takes them off the court, then they’ll be back in the game much faster. But any player that is pulled from a game with a non-specified injury will miss (at least) the next game, barring long stretches of time in between games such as Christmas break.

If the injury is more specific, that will usually lead to more time off the court, relative to the nature of the injury. Broken bones, concussions, etc. will put players out of commission for weeks or months. Injuries involve missed practices and lost conditioning, and so even when the player is recovered from the injury itself they won’t be back to 100 percent, and will likely not be slotted back into the lineup for games right away.

Another important thing to note: no one player is important enough to the team that they will be encouraged or allowed to play injured.

FOUR: GAME MECHANICS, PT. 2

The most common game request I get as an admin is that someone would like their character to do well. And I understand that, I want the Foxes to do well, too! But keep this in mind: not every player is going to play well every game. If the Foxes all always played well, they wouldn’t be Foxes, they’d be one of the Big Three. As an admin, it’s my job to keep an eye on the big picture, and part of that is retaining the Foxes’ underdog status. Part of that is making sure that they lose sometimes.

So I encourage you to also consider your characters not doing well. Is there something going on in their personal life that’s throwing them off their game? Are they fighting with their teammates and is it affecting their teamwork on the court? You can also use the games as a springboard for future plots. Sometimes players just have slumps, or off nights. There doesn’t have to be a reason, but you could use a poor game performance as a jumping off point that affects them in your off-court threads as well.

And, additionally, for a game to be good and engaging, it must involve everyone: if the strikers never lost possession of the ball, the backliners and the goalkeepers would have nothing to do; if the backliners never let an opposing striker past, the goalkeeper would have nothing to do—and so on. So if I write your character losing the ball, or failing to stop an opposing team’s player, I’m not necessarily trying to say that they’re playing a bad game—it’s just sports! Games are chaotic, and fast, and there’s no such thing as a perfect performance. It’s what makes them fun!

#foxholegames #gamesguide

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS UPDATE: FINALS

For an up-and-down season—one that’s seen the rise and fall of the Foxes, the slow decline of Ohio State, the tarnishing of the USC Trojans’ pristine reputation—the composition of the finals comes as no surprise.

With the Breckenridge Jackals outmatched and easily defeated, the last two teams standing are the Edgar Allan Ravens and the USC Trojans. It’s a situation familiar to Exy fans: the Ravens and the Trojans were the first two Class I teams, and they’ve been on top of the sport since their inception almost without fail.

And it comes with clearly drawn battle-lines: the Ravens are no longer the undisputed Kings of Exy that they once were, but they’ve clawed their way back up to the top from rock bottom, remaking their team along the way but never forsaking their appetite for victory, their unwillingness to be anything less than the best; the USC Trojans might have stepped into the spotlight while the Ravens were rebuilding, but it was only to be shunted, once again, to second-or-third place when the Ravens ascended again.

Along the way, the Trojans have always appeared to value hard work and good sportsmanship—contrasted with the Ravens’ signature ruthlessness—valuing it even over victory. It took only one swing of a racquet, one illegal hit, to shatter that image, and the Trojans are facing the Ravens with that cloud of shame hanging overhead—knowing that a victory might be just the thing they need to dispel it.

For the Ravens, however, it’s like blood in the water—they’re coming into the finals with their heads held high and a trail of enemies scattered behind them, ready to add the Trojans to that list for an undefeated season.

EDGAR ALLAN RAVENS VS. USC TROJANS

The finals take place on the Ravens’ home court of Castle Evermore, drawing a sold-out crowd to the country’s biggest Exy stadium, a foreboding black behemoth in the wilds of West Virginia, also home to the U.S. National Court.

The Ravens seize upon the home-court advantage with an early lead, scoring twice in the early minutes of the half while the Trojans seem a little slow to start, a two-point lead that they’re able to hold onto for the entirety of the forty-five minute first period—but not extend, as the Trojans’ defense closes ranks to hold the Ravens at bay after their two initial points, with the goalie that shut out the Foxes in their death match shootout holding down the goal.

It’s a frustrating game for fans, who came expecting a high-scoring, knock-down, drag-out game and, after an exciting first few minutes, got a Cold War instead. It’s a tense one, too, two points not enough of a cushion for a Ravens fan to feel comfortable, fans of each team aware that it could be closed in a matter of minutes.

It isn’t until the second half that the game seems to turn in the Trojans’ favor: first with a penalty shot that gets them on the board, and then with a goal quickly tacked onto that, drawing them even and bringing the stands back to screaming life. The last five minutes of the game bring the Ravens back into the lead, the clock ticking down to a Ravens victory until the Trojans manage to tie up the score in the last minute of the half—meaning that the fate of the Championships will be decided by a shootout.

The Trojans have been to the shootout before in the Championships—it’s how they defeated the Foxes. This time, however, it’s them that’s at a distinct disadvantage: with Theo Massey on the bench, the Trojans have five strikers to the Ravens’ eight. However, the Trojans don’t let that count them out, and they match the Ravens shot-for-shot and block-for-block, the shootout continuing past one full rotation of the Trojans’ five strikers without either team pulling ahead and ending it.

In the end, the Trojans and the Ravens’ seasons—and the entire Championships—come down to one shot: the Trojans score against the Ravens goalkeeper, and the Ravens don’t have an answering shot, knocked harmlessly away by the Trojans’ goalkeeper. And, just like that, the Trojans have secured an upset victory against the Ravens, earning themselves the title of Champions, the ultimate high to balance out the brutal lows of their season, the final score 4-3.

ADMIN NOTE: And we have a winner! The Exy season will conclude with a final banquet—(which will begin next Friday)—that includes all of the teams that qualified for the Championships. At the banquet, hosted by the Trojans, the Championships Trophy will be given to the Trojans and the Day Spirit Award will be awarded to the team that demonstrated the best sportsmanship over the course of the season.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for your participation and enthusiasm over the course of the season! I would not have been able to churn out these games without your input and your encouragement—(not to mention: the memes)—and together we made this season a wild ride full of wins and losses, parental deaths, parking lot fistfights, arrests, ghosts of traumatic pasts™, broken bones, and concussions. This blog will be going into hibernation until after the summer, when we’ll do it all again—and I know that I, for one, am looking forward to it!

#foxholegames #championships09

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS UPDATE: SEMIFINALS

After multiple rounds and one last death match, only three teams are left standing:

The Edgar Allan Ravens: The defending Champions, the Kings of Exy that fell to the bottom and fought their way back up and won’t be dethroned again. The Ravens have made their way through the rounds of the Championships virtually undefeated, and they dispatched the Penn State Lions in their last death match, taking out one of their fellows in the Big Three on their way to the semi-finals. More than any team in Class I, the Ravens know how to win. Though much about the team has changed since they lost to the Foxes so long ago, some things have stayed the same: they expect and accept nothing less than victory, walking onto each court with palpable arrogance that, more often than not, they have the skills to back up.

The USC Trojans. The Trojans may have made it this far, but it hasn’t been a victory march for them: though they haven’t lost many games along the way, they’ve lost something else that’s perhaps more precious to them—their reputation. They earned themselves the first red card in their team’s history in their third-round match against the the Foxes, and after taking out the Foxes in the last death match and securing their slot in the semi-finals, that shame is coming with them. The Trojans are no strangers to the semi-finals, or the finals, but their signature optimism and good cheer seems strained—and if they lose this time, they won’t have a Day Spirit Award to fall back on.

The Breckenridge Jackals. With each of the Big Three teams dominating their own districts, the evens bracket has never achieved the excitement or attracted the attention that the odds bracket has, for all that it’s a more level playing field, more of a toss-up as to who’s going to come out on top. This year, with Ohio State slipping to third in its district and into the stacked odds bracket, the evens bracket was even more of a question mark. And out of it emerged the Breckenridge Jackals, the number two ranked team in the Southeastern District—above the Foxes, and making it further in the Championships than the Foxes could. But for the Jackals to beat the Ravens or the Trojans would be a massive upset, the caliber of any of the Big Three teams beyond anything the Jackals faced in the evens bracket to get to this point.

EDGAR ALLAN RAVENS VS. BRECKENRIDGE JACKALS

Hailing from the same district, the Ravens and the Jackals met before during the regular season: and the result was, predictably, a victory for the Ravens. As they meet again on the Ravens’ home court of Castle Evermore, a similar conclusion seems all but assured, the writing on the wall even before the game’s first serve.

But the Jackals haven’t made it this far to just roll over, and they put up as much of a fight as they can: they’ve played the Ravens before, they know how the Ravens play. But knowing and being able to do something with that knowledge seem to be different things, and the Jackals fall into a hole in the early minutes of the game that they spend the rest of the game trying to fill in, trying just to keep up with the relentless pace the Ravens set and then don’t let up from.

It’s a fast and brutal game: the Jackals have modeled their play style off of the Ravens, the best in the league, both teams bringing that edge of aggression and outright violence that seems to attract the most bloodthirsty of Exy fans, never afraid to play dirty when it can get them ahead. It makes for a stop-and-start game of brawls and penalties, until the refs seem to give up and leave both teams to fight it out, calling only the most egregious infractions. But for every goal the Jackals manage to score, the Ravens seem to have two more, and the Jackals end the game the decisive losers, the score 3-7 in the Ravens’ favor.

BRECKENRIDGE JACKALS VS. USC TROJANS

After losing to the Ravens, the Jackals then face the Trojans, the other remaining member of the Big Three, in a do-or-die game: if they lose this game, they’ll be eliminated, and the Ravens and the Trojans will advance to the finals without facing each other in the semi-finals, the game made unnecessary by the Jackals’ failure.

It should be a more even match-up: despite losing to the Ravens, the Jackals are playing the best they’ve ever played; the Trojans, on the other hand, despite making it to the semi-finals, are playing far from their best. The Trojans, in fact, barely made it to the semi-finals, their death match against the Foxes going to a shootout, the entire team forced to confront the fact that they could have lost it right then and there. And so the Trojans come out of the gate with more desperation than anyone’s used to seeing from them, a determination that the Jackals just can’t match: for the Jackals, who have never won a Championships title, just making it to the semi-finals is a feat—for the Trojans, losing it here would be nothing but a disappointing end to disappointing Championships run.

And so they don’t lose: the Trojans play the tight, clean game they’re known for, while the Jackals are more aggressive, allowing the Trojans to capitalize on every penalty and every red card. For their part, the Jackals fight right down to the buzzer, even when it becomes clear that the Trojans’ lead is too huge for them to close—and so the Jackals lose in front of a home crowd, the score 2-5, sending the Trojans on to the finals along with the Ravens.

ADMIN NOTE: And there you have it! There will be one more of these short updates posted next week (on Friday) for the final Ravens-Trojans game, and then we’ll have a winner, and TFC’s first Exy season will come to a close!

#foxholegames #championships08

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CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME 07: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. USC TROJANS

PRE-GAME

It’s only been a month since the Foxes last played the Trojans. They meet again with one more win under each of their belts and minus two players—and this time they meet on the Foxes’ home turf of the Foxhole Court. Last time, the Foxes had met the Trojans expecting a difficult game, but a clean one, the kind the Trojans had staked their entire reputation on. This time, they’re not making that mistake again.

A home game means that the Foxes have to make it through a tense day of classes—first serve is at seven thirty that night, and the Foxes don’t have to be at the court until an hour beforehand. Plenty of time for curious questions and wishes of luck from Palmetto students, and plenty of time for nerves to set in. But then, after interminable hours, it’s finally time for them to face the Trojans, reporting to the Foxhole Court and their familiar locker room, donning their white-on-orange home uniforms for what they hope won’t be the last time.

And despite the bad blood between the Foxes and the Trojans, newly spilled, when Wymack gathers them in the lounge before warm-ups, he entreats them to keep their heads clear, and to stay focused. This is about the Championships, he tells them. This is about winning, not about revenge. Don’t lose sight of that.

It’s a sold-out crowd and, so far away from the Trojans’ home turf, a friendly one, orange-clad stands filled with the kind of bandwagon fans that will abandon the Foxes in a heartbeat if they don’t win, if they go back to performing at the level that everyone’s long since grown used to. Tonight, however, they’re full of optimism and energy, yelling back to the Vixens in enthusiastic call-and-response as the cheerleaders wave their pom poms, revving up the crowd.

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—and enter the stadium. As the Foxes begin their warm-ups, Grant is distracted by a figure trying to get his attention from the front row—a blast from the past, from Freeport, from Little League. It’s a brief exchange, pleasant in a way that’s more unsettling than comforting: good luck out there, his former teammate says, and if you wanted to talk after the game, I’d like that.

He doesn’t have time to dwell, doesn’t have time to do much besides nod, finish his warm-ups, and try to put it out of his mind. After warm-ups are done, he meets the Trojan Captain on the court for the coin toss that will determine who gets first serve, who offers a handshake and a statement of good luck that seems part-apology, part-trying-too-hard.

The Trojans win the toss, and the starting players take their positions for the start of play, while the rest take their spots on the bench—including Arlo and Casey, both injured.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins (Sub: Eliana Felix)

Dealer: Sasha Hart-Ashby (Subs: Teddy Ryker, River Tate)

Strikers: Joel Carlyle, Jay Wright

Backliners: Colin Jessup, Zia Mendez

After the last game, the Trojans are chastened, more determined than ever to live up to their reputation: to play a clean game, not take any cheap hits. Wymack pressure upon his players that the Trojans are too good for the Foxes to hand over any penalties, sacrifice any of their players. If the Trojans play clean, then the Foxes must, too.

The starting buzzer sounds, and the Trojans dealer serves, and the game begins in earnest—with the Foxes quickly seizing the advantage, nothing cautious about how they come out of the gate. Zia, who will be on the court all night, makes the first hit of the game, stopping a Trojans striker in his tracks and stealing possession for the Foxes, firing off a pass to Sasha that she runs up the court to the Fox strikers, feinting and weaving around the Trojans that would impede her path.

After a season with more than its fair share of violent outbursts and subsequent red cards, Joel is determined to be there for his team tonight, and it translates into strong play, taking the ball that Sasha hands off to him and finding a path towards the Trojans goal—and staying with the ball after the Trojans goalkeeper blocks his first shot, snagging it from the air and firing it just as quickly at the opposite corner of the goal where the goalkeeper, after diving for his first shot, has no hope of blocking it.

It’s only one goal, just the start of what they know will be a long and hard-fought game, and so the Foxes’ celebration is muted, their focus not breaking as they take their places for the reset of play. Sasha serves, firing off a pass to Jay, and then sprinting up the court to enter the fray as he finds himself locked in a battle for the ball with the Trojans dealer and a backliner.

Wymack may have entreated them to play clean tonight—but Sasha’s never played clean in her life, and she’s not about to start tonight. The check she gives to the Trojans dealer to pop the ball free uses the shaft of her stick as much as it uses her body, gambling that the dirty play will go unnoticed in the tangle of players. The ball is sent loose, but the referees’ whistles are sounding before she can scoop it up. She’s given a yellow card, a warning, and play is reset back to the half court line, with the Trojans in possession.

The Trojans dealer serves, and the Trojans push towards the Fox goal. At the last moment, Grant realizes that he’s in the exact wrong spot to make the block, sees the play unfolding behind his eyes too late for him to stop it—but then Zia’s there, putting herself in front of the goal, deflecting the shot at the very last moment. Play continues at a breakneck pace, with the Trojans regaining possession, meaning that they don’t have time to exchange even a glance, and that Grant has barely seconds to regroup, to regain or find his focus.

The Trojans don’t let up, one of their strikers feinting around Colin to create another opportunity for a shot on Grant—who makes the save, this time, with a calculated swing of his goalkeeper’s racquet that sends the ball directly into Zia’s net, a move perfected in extra one-one-one practices, precisely executed under game-night conditions. For Grant, it’s more than that: proof that he won’t let himself be distracted, that he can focus on the game even when the past comes calling.

More pieces fall into place, the ball sailing seamlessly from Zia to Sasha and from Sasha to Jay, who’s able to whip off a lightning-fast shot that both a Trojans backliner and the Trojans goalkeeper can’t get a stick on, earning the Foxes a second unanswered point, an extended lead.

Wymack uses the pause in play to send in his subs: Eliana relieves Grant in goal, and Teddy takes over for Sasha, taking his spot on the first court line for his serve. He serves up the court to Joel, but play quickly becomes deadlocked at center court, neither team able to gain ground on the other. Teddy throws himself into the fray, chasing down the ball and doling out checks.

But somewhere in the breakneck pace of play, the tone changes. Too focused on their opponents, no one on the team quite catches it until Teddy’s throwing the first punch, taking on a Trojans backliner who has more than a few inches on him—not that it seems to stop Teddy. Trojans sportsmanship is enough for Teddy to get a few unanswered hits in, but even that has its limits, and the backliner hauls off a punch that knocks off Teddy’s helmet before his teammates are there to pull him back—with Zia and Colin swooping in to do the same to Teddy.

It isn’t, however, enough to save Teddy from being ejected from the game, a red card to match the blood between his teeth. He exits the court to the disapproving looks of Wymack, Sebastian and his teammates, even as Talia hands him a towel to staunch the bleeding from his spit lip. The Trojans backliner, too, leaves the court—not because of a card, but because his nose is bleeding too profusely for him to continue.

Wymack sends on one of his dealers least likely to get into an unprovoked fight, River, and they take to the court as one of the Trojans strikers steps up to take a penalty shot—and a convincing feint and a lightning-fast redirection is enough to get the ball past Eliana, earning the Trojans their first point of the night.

Any suspicions that the Trojans might have been holding back, falling on their own sword to reclaim their honor, are quickly dispelled. With the penalty shot, the tide of the game quickly changes in the Trojans’ favor, forcing the Foxes on the defensive.

It’s a game of fast footwork rather than big hits, and the Trojans are some of the fastest in the game. Though the Foxes are playing better than they did the last time they played the Trojans, the Trojans are too, seizing upon any gaps in the Foxes’ play to force turnovers, finding or creating the openings that will take them up the court and closer to the Fox goal.

Play gets tangled up in front of the goal, Colin and Zia clashing with the Trojans strikers, blocking shots and cutting off passes, doing it again when they don’t manage to clear the ball back out to center court, making it only a matter of time before one shot, a fast rebound off of one of Eliana’s blocks, makes it past her, allowing the Trojans to tie up the score.

As the Trojans hit their stride, it forces the Foxes onto the back foot, River falling back to help Colin and Zia guard Eliana—a kind of play that doesn’t allow them to create the kind of scoring chances they need to break the deadlocked score, a kind of play that lets the Trojans wear them down, circling the goal and forcing Eliana to bat away shot after shot until, inevitably, another one ekes its way by her stick, lighting the goal up red behind her and putting the Trojans in the lead.

As play resets, Eliana lashes out, stick hitting the Plexiglass wall behind her and making it shake, before she turns her ire at all the players in front of her. None of them are able to manage much anger—she’s not saying anything that they don’t know, they need to be better if they want to give their teammates a chance to pull out a win in the second half.

The Trojans dealer serves, but this time they can’t get very far with the ball before Colin is laying out one of their strikers with a hard check, the kind that this game hasn’t seen too many of, heaving the ball up the court and forcing River to sprint for it. They and the Trojans dealer get to the ball at the same time, sticks locked and grappling for it, a battle that River wins, parting the dealer from both the ball and her racquet.

River passes to Jay, and he and Joel are able to get the ball past the Trojans goalkeeper with a slick play, where Jay feints for the goal, faking out the goalkeeper, before passing to Joel, who slams it home.

Finally manage to snag a goal after three unanswered Trojan points, the Foxes take their spots for River’s serve with new determination, all of them hot off of their marks to clash with the Trojans.

The last five minutes are the half are a tiresome back-and-forth across the length of the court: Joel and Jay each manage some shots on goal, but all of them are denied by the Trojans’ goalkeeper. On the Foxes’ side of the court, Eliana holds her own in goal, using her vantage point to call cues to Zia and Colin—and, when the Trojans really put the pressure on, River—and, combined, they manage to hold the Trojans at bay until the clock runs out.

The buzzer sounds and the Foxes have managed to keep the score even: 3-3.

HALFTIME

The Foxes and the Trojans retreat to their respective locker rooms for what will surely be a tense fifteen minutes—both teams wished that they would be in a better position going into halftime, hoped they’d be in the lead. In their lounge, the Foxes are focused, Sebastian sitting down with the second half’s starting players to go over what they’ve drilled again and again in practice, every player able to recite the Trojans’ roster backwards and forwards, the intricacies and quirks of their play. It hadn’t made enough of a difference in the first half, but maybe it’ll be the key to the second. Back in the stadium, the Vixens take to the court for halftime, where the crowd is more enthusiastic and supportive than it’s been all season thanks to a home game, a sold-out crowd, a tense game against a difficult opponent. After fifteen minutes, both teams are called back to the court, and their starting players take their positions for the restart of play while the rest take their spots on the bench.

SECOND HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Cecil James (Sub: Cameron Trask)

Dealer: Claudia Jewell (Sub: Pax Ridley)

Strikers: Jay Wright, Marley Reid (Sub: Joel Carlyle)

Backliners: Zia Mendez, Justin Acevedo (Sub: Colin Jessup)

The Foxes’ starting lineup take to the court with a heavy burden on their shoulders: the game is deadlocked, and if they can’t manage to eke out a win, the Championships will end right then and there for them. That lineup includes Jay and Zia, both back on the court after only a fifteen minute break, barely enough time to catch their breath; and Marley, temporarily stepping into the role of (a much-needed) striker after a strong performance against the Lions last game.

Claudia serves, and play begins. It’s a slow start to the second half—for the Foxes, but not for the Trojans, who have an entirely fresh lineup on the court, and as much on the line tonight as the Foxes. Determined play from the Trojans backliners gets the ball away from Jay, and the Trojans are able to move it all the way up the court, scoring fast enough to leave Cecil, Zia, and Justin almost dazed, wondering how it happened.

Play resets, and the Trojans serve again. The Foxes are alert this time, but again it doesn’t seem to help them, as the Trojans offense—including Jon Dygen, Cecil’s boyfriend—ruthlessly exploits or creates gaps in the Foxes’ defense. Cecil is focused on Jon, determined to shut his boyfriend out, diving to block Jon’s shot from the first-court line, but unable to control the rebound off of his racquet, which Jon’s partner quickly seizes and slips past him, Justin and Zia too far away to help.

A two-point lead for the Trojans might not be impossible to close, but it does inject a new dose of fear into the Foxes, adds a new level of desperation into their play that isn’t matched by the Trojans, who now seem calm and confident, controlling play and taking it right up to the Fox goal yet again. Zia and Justin are there, knocking shoulders and locking sticks, but even their best efforts only seem enough to hold the Trojans at bay, not turn the tide.

It’s a strategy that has done the Trojans well so far this game, wearing down the Foxes’ defense and goalkeeping with repeated shots on goal until one gets through. Jon gets another good chance at a goal, a fast shot that slips through the traffic in front of the goal to Cecil, who just barely manages to get his stick on it—but barely is still enough to knock the ball away, and this time Claudia is there to make sure it stays away, clearing it up the court to the strikers.

Now, it’s more of an even match: Jay and Marley have spent the first portion of the half with little to do, allowing Jay a little more time to regroup after playing the first half, and now they hit the Trojans’ defense as hard as they can, using speed and agility as their strengths.

This time it’s Jay that’s setting Marley up, instead of the other way around, and she takes a shot that ekes by the Trojans goalkeeper, lighting the goal up red, putting the Foxes one point closer to tying up the game.

Wymack uses the pause in play to send on his subs: Cameron for Cecil and Pax for Claudia, who steps up to serve for the Foxes. They’re able to land the ball squarely in Jay’s racquet, but the Foxes are unable to keep the momentum of Marley’s goal going, and the game enters a frustrating span of interrupted plays and nerve-wracking turnovers that, thankfully, don’t result in any Trojan goals—thanks, in part, to Cameron’s efforts in goal—but don’t result in any for the Foxes, either, leaving them still behind.

This far into the Championships, most of the Foxes are nursing at least small hurts, but Justin’s been working through a little bit more than that: a persistently sore shoulder that hasn’t been enough, yet, to bench him, but is more than enough to be a hindrance, always in the back of his mind as he plays.

Play is bunched up along the Plexiglas near the first-court line when a check from Jon sends Justin, bad shoulder first, into the wall, and the sharp burst of pain sends him almost immediately to his knees. And, when he doesn’t immediately get up, doesn’t shake it off, play is halted. Not far from where he had hit Justin, Jon is standing, ashen-faced, and the rest of the Trojans don’t look much better. The situation might not be as serious as the one with Arlo last game, but it’s still an uncomfortable reminder. This time, at least, the hit was clean, but in Exy even clean hits can have bad results.

After long moments, Justin stands, and is able to walk off the court under his own power and into Abby and Talia’s care, the Trojans on the court starting the applause that is quickly picked up by the entire stadium, continuing until the door to the Foxes’ locker room closes behind him and Colin’s stepping onto the court to take his place.

Play is restarted from where it was halted, with Pax serving. With the Foxes still behind, coming so close but not close enough to goals, they’ve been putting their all into aggressive play—and it comes back to bite them, when a struggle for the ball with the Trojans dealer sends them to the ground, ankle bending at an awkward angle. It stops them in their tracks long enough for the Trojans to make away with the ball, but they’re up and throwing themselves into play again before play can be halted, and the game carries on.

But it’s still enough to slow Pax down—or the small bloom of pain is enough to remind them of another, worse injury, and they can’t seem to hold the middle as well as their teammates need them to, losing the ball in between the backline and the strikers, causing a turnover that could have led to a breakaway goal for the Trojans, if not for Cameron diving and taking a ball to her armor instead of her racquet.

Wymack is apologetic, but with the clock winding down, he uses his timeout to pull Pax, sending Claudia back on. The Trojans serve, and Claudia beats out a Trojans striker for the ball, heaving it up the court as hard as she can, sacrificing precision for distance and leaving the strikers and the Trojans to fight it out at the other end. It’s Jay that gets to the ball first, but he can’t come away with it clean, and in the scuffle, an elbow makes its way underneath the visor of his helmet and gets him squarely in the mouth.

Jay doesn’t realize at first, but the referees stop play as soon as there’s blood on the court. Talia rushes on with with gauze, trying to stem the bleeding, but the referees soon lose patience—if Jay’s going to drip blood onto their court, then he can’t be on it, and he joins the other injured Foxes on the bench.

Joel comes back on for the dying minutes of the half with the Foxes still trailing by one—and both he and the rest of the Foxes are angry as the referees choose to give the Trojans the benefit of the doubt, even after the last game, neither giving them a yellow card or granting the Foxes a penalty shot, calling it an unlucky accident. Which is may have been, but the accidents tonight have all been unlucky for the Foxes, and not the Trojans.

Claudia serves, and Marley fights to be the one to get to it first, everyone on the court pushing a little harder as the clock counts down—the Foxes to tie the game, and the Trojans doing anything they can to stop them from doing just that.

Marley is able to hold onto the ball for long enough to get a pass off to Joel, and is there again when his ten steps are up, firing off a quick back-and-forth that earns him another ten—and at the end of those ten is an opening, one that he seizes. The goal lights up red and the Foxes, on the court and on the bench, almost can’t believe it, silent for a moment before they leap to their feet, where they’ll stay for the rest of the half.

The score is tied, and they’re still in the game: they reset to center, and Claudia serves, but there isn’t enough time left on the clock for either team to get a play together, strikers conserving their energy now that they know that they’re going to a shootout.

The buzzer sounds, and the Foxes have just barely managed to tie up the score, sending them to the shootout for the second time in their second death match, with a score of 5-5.

SHOOTOUT

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins

Strikers: Jay Wright, Marley Reid, Joel Carlyle

In Championship games, ties aren’t broken in overtime, but in shootouts. After conferring with his assistant coaches and his goalkeepers, Wymack puts Grant in the goal, and sends him and his strikers onto the court, including Marley, who counts as a striker for the evening.

The Trojans and the Foxes are to alternate shots, cycling through their strikers—meaning that the Trojans, with more players on their roster, hold a distinct advantage, though with Theo Massey on the bench, not even dressed, the Trojans are down one more than they otherwise would be, five strikers to the Foxes’ three.

The Foxes are up first, and Jay, no longer bleeding after taking an elbow to the face, steps up to the far-fourth line to take a shot against the Trojans’ goalkeeper, one that’s easily batted away.

Next is Jon Dygen for the Trojans, taking a shot that Grant likewise blocks, leaving the teams still deadlocked.

Marley takes her place, a position she’s never been in outside of practice, and then takes a few moments to center herself before taking a shot. She’s blocked by the Trojans goalkeeper but, when she steps away from the Trojans goal, Jay is there to commiserate with a hand clasped to her shoulder, since he hadn’t managed to score either.

The next Trojans striker takes his place to square off against Grant—and, this time, the ball misses Grant’s racquet by mere inches, putting the Trojans on the board first for the shootout.

In goal, Grant is shaken, faced with a question he can’t answer: is he distracted by the presence of a former teammate, letting something personal get in the way of his game, letting the team down? Or are the Trojans just so good that it wouldn’t have made a difference either way?

Either way, he can’t ponder it for long—the Foxes have to answer the Trojans’ goal or lose the shootout and the game, and Joel steps steps up to take the shot with every breath in the packed stadium seemingly held. He winds up for a huge shot—and the Trojans goalkeeper's save is just as huge, diving and slamming it down the court.

The Trojans realize it first, breaking into cheers and converging on their goalkeeper as the Foxes look on in stunned disbelief. The Trojans have won, in overtime, in a shootout—and the Foxes’ season is over.

POST-GAME

It takes a long time for the handshake line to form, the Foxes standing by their bench as the orange-clad crowd streams for the exits around them, no longer cheering, no longer excited. Some of the Trojans on the edges of the team’s huddle of hugging and back-slapping keep casting looks over at the Foxes—like they’re guilty, feeling like they’re rubbing the Foxes’ noses in it more than they should be, but not quite guilty enough to rein it in.

Eventually, the handshake line forms, the Foxes going down the Trojans’ roster with hands outstretched as quickly as they can get away with without being accused of being sore losers, unsportsmanlike—especially compared to the Trojans, who make sure to smile and say good game all the way down the line, like they really mean it.

As soon as they can be, they’re back behind the closed doors of their own locker room, where a near-oppressive silence falls. Wymack doesn’t attempt to break it with platitudes, knowing that they’ll fall on deaf ears when the loss is so fresh, just quietly taps Cameron and River on their shoulders to put them on press duty, ushering them out to face the firing squad, sending Sebastian with them—and trusting them all to keep their cool.

The rest of the team showers and changes out and, though it’s for the last time this season, none of them really linger over it, most of them eager to put the game and the court behind them for the night. Once they’re done, they gather in the lounge to wait for Cameron, River, and Sebastian to finish with the press—except for Grant, who has a former teammate waiting for him outside of the locker room doors that he can’t just ignore, despite the fact that his team just lost the death match.

When they’re all together again, Wymack still doesn’t say anything about the game—nothing about how far they made it, how hard they fought. He only lets them know that there’s food—and, yes, alcohol, if they want it—waiting for them at Abby’s house, and they don’t have to show up if they don’t want to, but he's not bailing anyone out of jail tonight, so they better not get into any trouble. And, just like that, save for the reporters still hanging around the Foxes’ entrance to the stadium as they leave the Foxhole Court and make for their cars, their season is over, one game shy of semi-finals.

ADMIN NOTE: Thank you for sticking with me for what I think was the longest game of the season—I wanted to go out with a bang! 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.

You haven’t seen the last of this blog, however, though more details will be posted about that a little later—I’ve just gotta let the dust settle for a little bit first, and hope you don’t hate me too much!

#foxholegames #championships07

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME 07: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. USC TROJANS

After three rounds and six games, only a few teams are left standing, and they each have only one more game standing in between them and the semi-finals. A death match. The three winners will go on to the semi-final round, and the three losers will end their season there—so close, but not close enough.

From the odds bracket, it will be either the Ravens or the Lions, and either the Trojans or the Foxes. The Big Three, and Exy’s biggest underdog, still standing despite the odds. Some might say that, for the Foxes, just coming this far is a victory, but they’d disagree—they don’t want a consolation prize, they don’t want condescension, they want to win.

And the team standing in their way, right now, is the USC Trojans. Having faced each other just a month prior during the third round, it’s a rematch, an important second chance for both the Foxes and the Trojans. Each team is down a player: Arlo Booth with a concussion, Theo Massey benched in disgrace for causing it. Though neither of them will be on the court, their presence will be felt—they’re the reason the teams’ last meeting left a bitter taste behind, the reason this game is hugely important for both the Foxes and the Trojans, for reasons that have little to do with the Championships themselves.

For the Trojans, it’s a chance to repair their damaged reputation, to play the clean game they’re known for instead of the ugly, personal game they’d played against the Foxes before. For the Foxes, who lost one of their players at the hands of a Trojan with a personal vendetta, and who also just lost, it’s something more like revenge.

After the violent nature of their first meeting, anticipation is mounting, speculation swirling like blood in the water, fans and reporters alike waiting to see what this rematch will bring. In many eyes, the Trojans have already been dethroned, the golden children brought down to the level of the rest. Some are disappointed, but some are satisfied—a game as brutal as Exy doesn’t seem to leave much room for saints. Now, all that seems to be left is for the Foxes to strike the killing blow.

If they can. The Trojans are a Big Three team, with countless appearances in the Championships and multiple titles to their name. The Foxes, on the other hand, have only the one Championship victory, long enough ago that it doesn’t seem to count for much anymore, for almost no one to believe that they can do it again. Once again, the Foxes’ entire season comes down to one game—can they win again, or does the streak stop here?

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 Trojans 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!

These requests are anything you would like to happen to your character during the game to help further your personal plotline. Want to score a point? Want to get into an on-court brawl? Send in it, and I’ll do my best to work it into the game narrative. If you don’t submit anything, you’ll still be included in the game, but what happens will be up to my discretion.

Also let me know if you’d like your character to be on press duty for after the game—even if you’ve been on press duty before! Two characters per game will be on press duty, and you can (if you choose) do a thread or a self-para of your character answering questions from reporters about the game/the team. If no one volunteers, characters will be randomly assigned.

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

#foxholegames #championships07

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME 06: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. PENN STATE LIONS

PRE-GAME

Earlier this season, the Foxes had walked onto Pride Court for the Winter Banquet, the Lions and the Foxes meeting for the first time this season not in their jerseys and armor, but in dresses and suits and ties. The violence, however, hadn’t been contained to Plexiglass walls and the excuse of a game, and there’s a video to prove it: multiple members of the Lions ganging up against Zia, with a few of the Foxes intervening in her defense.

Now they face each other again in one of the last games of the third round of the Championships. After their first game, the Lions have less to worry about than the Foxes. Barring something drastic, one of the best teams in the league being shutout or only scoring one or two goals, the Lions are practically guaranteed to move on to the death matches, as are the Ravens and the Trojans.

The Foxes, however, are playing for their lives. Every point they score counts, though they don’t know, yet, how much. After the Big Three, there’s one more death match slot that seems up for grabs, and the Foxes’ main rivals for it are the University of Texas Longhorns—(who the Foxes played, and beat, earlier in the Championships)—who are also playing tonight and, thanks to the difference in timezones, will be starting after the Foxes, will know how many points the Foxes earn, and how many they need to get to beat them.

This time, the Lions will meet the Foxes on the Foxes’ home turf, a sea of fans in white and blue among the vivid orange of the Foxhole Court. The game is sold out, the stadium packed to capacity, the Vixens raising their voices as much as they can to be heard over the anticipatory din. Seemingly every college Exy reporter is in the stands, waiting for the scoop of the season— waiting for something terrible to happen.

The Foxes arrive at the court an hour before first serve, donning their white-on-orange home uniforms for the first time in several games. After an unsettling last game, Wymack’s pre-game talk has more meat to it, entreating them to keep their focus no matter what the Lions might pull, to not let themselves be drawn into fights that will only be used to make them look bad—and, most of all, to win, to make the Lions eat it.

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—and enter the stadium. During warm-ups, the Foxes stick close to their part of the court, and Zia studiously doesn’t make eye contact with the familiar faces as the Lions do the same, nor does she with the white-and-blue clad cheerleaders that traveled here with them, some of which are familiar as well.

It’s all routine, until warm-ups are over, and the Lions’ captain steps onto the court for the coin toss that will determine to gets first serve—and entering the court for the Foxes isn’t Grant, but Zia herself, standing on the other side of the center court line with her head held high, face set in a determined mask.

The Foxes win the toss, and the starting players take their positions for the start of play, while the rest take their spots on the bench—including Claudia, due to a red card in the game against the Trojans, and Arlo and Casey, due to injury.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Grant Rollins (Sub: Eliana Felix)

Dealer: Teddy Ryker (Sub: Pax Ridley)

Strikers: Joel Carlyle, Akira Sato

Backliners: Zia Mendez, Colin Jessup (Sub: Justin Acevedo)

Both Zia and the Lions’ Captain stay on the court after the toss, waiting for the rest of the starting players to filter on around them. It’s a lull that the Lion takes full advantage of, starting up a murmured stream of vitriol that fails to get a rise from Zia—it’s nothing she wasn’t expecting, and nothing she doesn’t have a response for: she’s a star player on a team that’s made it to the Championships, and she has nothing to be ashamed of, unlike the Lions.

The buzzer sounds, and Teddy—back on the court after a near-fainting spell on the court last game, having spent the last week under the watchful eyes of the Foxes’ coaching staff before being cleared to play tonight—serves to start play, the Foxes breaking from their starting positions and throwing themselves against the Lions.

To get the points they need, the Foxes are playing an offensive game, Teddy spending more time on the Lions’ side of the half-court line than he does behind it, Zia and Colin right up against it, doing everything they can to force turnovers, leaving Grant alone to hold down the goal behind them. It’s risky, but it quickly pays off: Joel gains possession off of a pass from Colin and sinks it, the goal lighting up red behind the Lions’ goalkeeper for the first point of the night.

Play starts again, with Teddy serving, and while the Foxes may have the home court advantage, the referees are from the ERC and, as small transgressions that go uncalled pile up, it quickly becomes apparent that they, at least, do not favor the Foxes. First Colin is tripped by the stick of a Lions striker, sending him crashing to the court floor, getting to his feet afterwards as quickly as he can with Teddy’s help; then Akira is caught in a scramble against the wall for the ball by a Lions backliner that seems to be much more interested in slamming him into the wall than gaining possession.

Though the Lions save the worst, of course, for Zia. She never seems to be able to keep the ball for more than a few steps at a time before a Lion closes in on her—often more than one, their strikers choosing to leave Colin uncovered in order to gang up on her in two-on-one scuffles that leave her on the ground or against the glass. The players closest to her—Colin and Grant—can see mouths moving, the sneers on the Lions’ faces behind their visors, the way that Zia herself isn’t silent in return, but neither of them are close enough to hear what any of them are, which only makes them worry more.

And, though the Lions seem a little more interesting in checking Zia than they do scoring, that kind of play leads to opportunities, opening up one side of the court faster than Colin can get there to turn them back, giving the Lions a clear shot against Grant—one that’s just a little too fast for him to block.

The players line up for the Lions’ serve, but play has barely resumed before the Lions, emboldened by the lack of penalties, make another dirty hit against Zia, this time when she doesn’t have possession of the ball. Despite the booing from the orange-clad sections of the stands, it seems to be yet another piece of bullshit that goes uncalled—if not for Grant essentially stopping play himself, using his heavy racquet to pound on the wall until the referees unlock the court doors and stream on. The conversation between them is tense, but Grant manages to keep calm, and is rewarded with the first penalty call of the night: a yellow card against the Lions’ Captain.

It’s barely a comfort: it isn’t red, the Foxes don’t get a penalty, but it’s something. When he’s done arguing with the referees, Grant doesn’t go back to the goal right away, instead meeting Zia at her starting position at the first court line and engaging her in a brief, murmured conversation: Grant letting her known that he has her back, Zia letting him know that she’s got this under control.

Play restarts from where it was halted, on the Foxes’ serve. Teddy serves to restart play and, this time, the Foxes find an opening, a chain of rapid-fire passes through the gaps in the Lions’ coverage that put Akira within scoring distance, an opportunity he capitalizes on for the Foxes’ second point of the night.

Teddy serves again, but the Lions push hard, determined to tie up the score again. In the grand scheme of things, it might not matter, the Foxes can bleed points as long as they score as many as they can, but Grant doesn’t want to give the Lions anything if he can help it, wants to beat them. And this time, when it’s just him in front of the goal, facing off against the Lions’ strikers, he can, and he does, diving for a spectacular save and then scrambling to his feet just fast enough to scoop it out from underneath a Lions striker as they come in for the rebound, throwing up the court to where Zia’s waiting at the half court line, landing it squarely in her net.

Zia holds onto the ball for as long as she can, determined to hold her ground and play her game, not pass just because she’s afraid of the Lions coming down on her. She makes it to the end of her ten steps to pass to Joel, who’s able to whip a quick shot around the Lions’ defense and goalkeeper for another point.

Wymack uses the pause in play to send on his subs: Eliana for Grant, and Pax for Teddy. They, with the rest of the players still on the court, take their positions for the restart of play and Pax’s serve. They send it up the court to Akira, but Akira can’t find a clear path to the Lions’ goal, loses possession in the middle of a risky pass back towards Pax.

At the half court line is Zia, meeting the Lions striker and locking sticks, attempting to pop the ball free from his net. He pushes back, with a vicious twist meant to wrest her racquet from her hands and, when she holds on, he repeats the motion, except this time it seems less like an attempt to part her from her racquet but, instead, to strike her in the ribs with the bottom of his stick shaft.

It’s another dirty hit, one that gets the Fox bench on its feet, yelling at the refs to stop the game—and, with the way the game’s been going, it’s not clear that it would have, without the outrage. Again, the card isn’t red, but yellow, but it’s the Lions Captain’s second of the night, and it evicts him from the game. As he retreats from the court, refusing to look chagrined, it’s Zia who gets the last word.

Pax serves again, passing to Akira and then running up the court alongside him to try and draw off the Lions, give Akira a better path to score. Akira’s shot is blocked, however, and none of the Foxes are quite fast enough to beat the Lions to take possession of the deflected ball, and the Lions capitalize on the opportunity.

Colin rushes out to meet them before they can cross the half-court line but, when a strikers’ shoulder gets up into his midsection, sending him to the court floor slightly winded, he can’t regroup fast enough to fall back and help Eliana, who’s hiding a hurt hand behind an armored glove and a determined expression. She’s left exposed for a breakaway goal for the Lions, their second of the night.

Play is paused momentarily, this time so the Lions can make some adjustments to their line. When they settle in for the Lions’ serve, Zia can see that across the court on the far court line ready to serve, is the only female player remaining on the Lions’ roster, the one who’d been a freshman when she’d been a senior. And that, more than anything else the Lions has thrown at her tonight, has the potential to rattle her focus, knowing what it was like to be blamed for anything that went wrong for the Lions while she was on the court, whether it was her fault or not.

She serves up the court to the Lions strikers and this time Colin is ready to meet them, and not willing to be knocked down. The struggle for the ball, body checks and locked racquets and expletives ground out between gritted teeth, quickly turns into something a little more personal.

Though the brunt of the Lions’ malevolence has been focused on Zia, it’s radiated outwards over the entire court, unnecessary aggression and nonexistent penalties meaning that all the Foxes are tired, sore, and at the end of their ropes. In other words, the fight has been a long time coming. First it’s Colin and one of the Lions strikers, and then it’s Zia and the other, and then Eliana’s leaving the goal to put herself in the middle, drawing in even more players before the referees stream onto the court to break it up.

This time, the referees give yellow cards to almost all the players involved: including Colin, Zia, Eliana, and a number of the Lions. Colin, on-edge and reckless, mouths back: “oh, so now you do your job?” And, for his trouble, gets himself a second yellow card, one that puts him out of the game for the rest of the night, with the warning that if he opens his mouth again, it’ll be red. It shuts him up, but he still can’t wipe the scowl off of his face as he stalks off the court and back to the Foxes’ bench, where Justin is sent on in his place.

Play is reset to the half court line and, predictably, the Lions are granted possession, their dealer serving as the half enters its final minutes. The Lions push towards the Fox goal, predictably on Zia’s side of the court, but despite the fatigue from playing a full half, from being checked and knocked down and knocked down again the entire time, she throws herself into the check without hesitation. They grapple up against the court wall for possession, Zia ultimately coming up victorious.

Zia passes to Pax, and pushes herself off the wall and away from the Lions striker to follow the ball, there for Pax to pass back to when they can’t find a way forward, the two of them firing the ball back and forth until a pass opens up to Akira, close to the Lions goal—who shoots it past the Lions’ goalkeeper, making the goal light up red.

Play resets to the half court line and Pax serves, but both teams know that the clock is almost out, and no real play forms, both sides simply holding their ground as the clock runs out, Justin and Pax falling back around Zia to keep the Lions from getting off any more cheap shots than they already have tonight—though, no matter how much they tried, she’s still there at the end of the half, still standing on her feet.

The buzzer sounds at the end of the half and already the Foxes have made headway into getting the points that they’ll need to move on: 4-2.

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to the locker room for half time as the Lions do the same—save for two players, Zia and the Lions’ female dealer, who stay in between their teams’ benches to talk, despite the worried looks from the Foxes and the darker ones from the Lions as they go. In the locker room, the Foxes are tentatively pleased, but still on edge: first serve in Texas will be coming just as the Foxes’ halftime ends, so there’s no news there, nothing to let them know how much they have to score in the second half besides more, besides as much as they can. Back in the stadium, the Vixens take to the court for halftime, feeding off the energy of the crowd, the edge-of-your-seat closeness of the score, of a game played as aggressively as any bloodthirsty Exy fan could hope for. 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: Cecil James (Sub: Cameron Trask)

Dealer: Marley Reid

Strikers: Jay Wright, Joel Carlyle

Backliners: Sydney McCray, Justin Acevedo

The Foxes file onto the court and take their places for the start of the second half, where the next forty-five minutes may prove critical in determining their future in the Championships. It weighs heavily on the Foxes, despite their lead, especially the strikers—and especially Joel, who’s spending the entire night on the court.

Before sending them out, Sebastian stops Joel, Jay, and Marley at the doors. His instructions are different for each of them: for Joel to pace himself for at least the first quarter, to pass every time he gets the ball; for Marley to forget about Sydney and Justin and play as essentially a third striker; and for Jay to just score.

Marley serves, heaving the ball up the court as far as she can, and play begins. Though Zia is no longer on the court, surrounded by a protective coterie of Foxes on the bench, the Lions’ play continues to resemble the first half: aggressive and dirty, only this time it’s more diffuse, the brunt of it not focused on just one player. The Foxes grit their teeth and settle in for a rough rest of the game—they already know what to expect from the referees.

This time, it’s the Lions that draw first blood, Sydney and Justin unable to turn the ball over as the Lions storm over the half court line. Cecil blocks the first attempt the Lions make but, outnumbered in front of their own goal, the Foxes aren’t able to regain possession, and the Lions are able to score on the rebound—and, despite the fact that they’re still behind, to gloat on their way back to their starting positions.

The Lions serve, but this time Sydney is there to intercept it, laying out one of the Lions strikers to get the ball squarely in her own net. She passes up the court to Joel who, following Sebastian’s orders, passes it almost immediately to Jay, who turns it into another point for the Foxes and who, since the Lions started it, clacks sticks with his teammates in equally over-the-top celebration as they return to their positions for the Foxes’ serve.

Marley serves but, just as the ball lands in Jay’s racquet, a Lions backliner is there with a vicious downward swipe of his racquet that knocks it, racquet and ball both, right out of his hands, the impact seeming to jar his arms up to his shoulders. And, from there, it’s almost easy: the Lions have the Foxes figured out, and their offensive-heavy strategy for the game leaves gaps in the defense for the Lions to exploit.

Sydney and Justin try to hold the Lions at half-court, but a hard body check that sends Justin to the floor is enough to let the Lions push through and, though he scrambles to his feet as quickly as he can to sprint after the Lions strikers, he’s unable to get his body or his racquet in the path of their shot, and it just barely misses Cecil’s outstretched racquet for another Lions point.

The Lions serve and, sensing a chance to make up some ground, push towards the Fox goal. But this time it’s Justin’s turn to return the favor, a check with some real heft behind it that sends the same striker who had bowled him over to the ground, and lets him take back possession, throw it up to where Joel is waiting—who, again, passes, this time to Marley.

As a dealer, Marley has been trained to pass more than shoot and, when she sees a shot between the Lions’ backliners to the goal, she almost doesn’t it take it. But that’s not the game she’s playing tonight, and it’s not the game that she’s been trying to play this entire season—and so, after setting herself up to pass, she pivots at the last minute to shoot on the goal, and is almost as surprised as everyone else when she sees it light up red with a point for the Foxes, a point for her.

The Foxes gather in to celebrate the goal, clacking sticks and knocking their helmets together. Though they can’t know, yet, how many points they need, with six to their name and a lead against the Lions, it’s hard not to feel a little giddy, to feel some of the weight lifting off of their shoulders. But the game isn’t over yet, and Wymack uses the halt in play to send in his last sub: Cameron for Cecil.

Though the Foxes are still ahead, the rhythm of the half has been a frustrating back-and-forth, every point the Foxes scored answered by a point from the Lions, never letting the Lions pull into the lead, but never letting the Foxes’ extend theirs, either. Cameron, back from a red card on a dubious call in the game against the Buckeyes, is determined to change that.

As the Foxes get into their positions for Marley’s serve, Sebastian, on the other side of the glass, signals for Joel’s attention—after playing the whole first half, Joel’s paced himself in the second, but now it’s time for him let it all go, and lay it all out on the court.

Marley serves and, when it just misses Jay and is intercepted by the Lions’ dealer, she’s the one to throw herself at him to get it back, locking sticks and popping the ball free with a sharp twist. She can’t disengage quickly enough to take possession after, see the ball safely into the nets of one of her teammates, but Sydney is there to do it for her, scooping it up and throwing it up the court, the pass angled to bounce off of the wall and into Joel’s waiting racquet.

Having paced himself so far, Joel’s now on his second wind, can run himself right down to the final buzzer—and then, after that, absolute exhaustion—but right now he’s got adrenaline to carry him: first past one backliner and then the other, leaving one trying to gather their senses after a hard hit into the wall, and another momentarily parted from his racquet, on his way to the goal—a hard shot that lands itself in the upper corner, out of the Lions goalkeeper’s reach.

And, again, the Lions look to answer, pushing hard after Marley’s serve to take possession, getting it after a trip to Jay that probably should have been called but wasn’t—just one of many, this game—and pushing with equal and dubiously legal aggressive past Justin and Sydney, until Cameron is the only thing standing in between the Lions strikers and another point. But she’s patient, focused, waiting out the striker’s fast feints for their real shot, blocking it when it comes.

Near half court, Justin puts himself perfectly in place for the end of her swing, catching it neatly and running it past half-court and into the Lions’ zone. At the end of his ten steps, he passes to Joel, who finds a path through the Lions the same way he did before: by making it himself. He shoots, but it’s Jay who sinks it, catching the ball as it rebounds off of the goalkeeper’s stick and slipping it past him while he’s still struggling to get up from his dive.

The clock is running out and, with no way for the Lions to close the gap, the Foxes are guaranteed the win. As Marley serves, though, the Foxes aren’t content to just let the clock wind down, and they play just as hard as they had with forty-five minutes left. The Lions, however, seem to just want the game to end: stealing possession just to throw the ball as hard as they can into the Fox zone, making the Foxes sprint for it just to make the clock run out faster. Though their slot in the death match was already virtually guaranteed at the start of the night, it’s an inauspicious end to a game for one of the Big Three. And by the looks on the faces of both the Foxes and the Lions—one smug, the other furious—they both know it.

The final buzzer sounds and it’s not only a victory for the Foxes, but the kind of victory they wanted, that they needed, one with a high point total: 8-4.

POST-GAME

It’s a near reversal of their fortunes against the Trojans—no, it’s even better than that, the difference between 8-4 and 7-4 might be only one point, but that point still feels huge. More than that, it’s the Foxes’ first victory against a Big Three team this season. But this victory means even more than winning a game, means more than just doing all they can to advance in the Championships—because it’s not just against any team, and not even just against one of the Big Three, it’s against the Lions, a team that deserves much worse than just losing to the Foxes.

After the Foxes’ celebration at center court dies down, the team falls in line behind Grant for the customary post-game handshakes but, when he and the Lions’ Captain meet at the head of their respective lines, Grant pointedly ignores his outstretched hand, continuing down the line with his hand held firmly at his side. As far as he’s concerned, with the Lions, sportsmanship is off the table. Behind him, other Foxes quickly follow his example, to the visible anger of the Lions players, the Foxes’ show of solidarity a reminder to the public that the Lions certainly don’t want. While the Lions anger is quiet, simmering, their coach is more verbal, though he directs the brunt of it at Wymack: “Are you going to let them disrespect another team like that?” Wymack, however, is completely impassive. “Yeah,” he says, “proud of ‘em.”

Afterwards, the Foxes retreat into their locker room, where Wymack puts Pax and Zia—”think of it as a victory lap”—on press duty. The rest of the team showers and changes out, and then waits in the lounge for Zia and Pax to finish with press and join them—everyone except for Justin and Cameron, who are the first finished and first out of the Foxhole Court, needing to make the journey to Pittsburgh for the next step in the Trask siblings’ case.

When everyone is finished, they don’t head back to Fox Tower, or out to Columbia. Instead they stay in the lounge and turn on the TV, tune in to the tail end of the Longhorns-Ravens game. It’s close—not between the Longhorns and the Ravens, but between the Longhorns and the Foxes, where just a single point could mean the difference between a death match and elimination, and the thrill of the Foxes’ victory gives way to tension as the clock runs down—until it’s over, and the buzzer sounds, and the Longhorns haven’t managed to do it, weren’t able to exceed the point total that the Foxes put up tonight.

And then it is time to leave the Foxhole Court, time to celebrate, because the Foxes are moving on the the death match, one step away from the semifinals—and then, maybe, after that, finals.

ADMIN NOTE: And that concludes the final game of the third round! Thanks for sticking with me and, 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.

I’ve decided to push the death match back a little bit to give you all some more breathing room with your plots—(and to milk the suspense)—so I’ll see you back here for it on April 28. The Foxes’ opponent will be revealed sometime in the weeks before the game, so for now it’s a mystery! However, at the conclusion of the third round, the Foxes and the Big Three are the only ones left standing in the odds bracket, so the Foxes know that they will be vying against one of them—(for the second or third time)—to try and make it to the semifinals.

#it's the lions so please be aware that there are vague allusions to sexual assault but nothing too explicit #foxholegames #championships06

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 7 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME 06: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. PENN STATE LIONS

Coming out of their first third round game against the Trojans, things are not looking good for the Foxes. They fell against the Trojans in a low-scoring game, and they lost one of their own: Arlo Booth was taken off the court in a stretcher in the middle of the game after a blow to the head. And eventually, days after the game, the Foxes made an announcement: that he’s out for the rest of the season—however long that may be.

Things aren’t exactly looking food for the Trojans, either. With their pristine reputation sullied, their chances of winning the Day Spirit Award for yet another year slipping away, they’ve done the only thing they can do: announced that as long as Arlo Booth isn’t playing, Theo Massey won’t either, his season ending while the rest of his teammates continue with their Championships push.

With one game left to qualify for the death matches before the semifinals, the Foxes have four points to their name. The exact number they need to score to move on is yet to be determined, dependent on how the rest of the teams in the odds bracket do in their third round games, but they know that it’ll have to be a lot. And that they’ll have to be scored against the Penn State Lions, the last of the Big Three for the Foxes to face this season—and yet another team that shares bad blood with the Foxes. More specifically, with Zia Mendez, who played four years on their team.

It’s in all the headlines, none of the other games in the third round—or in the entirely of the Championships so far—have received this much attention, this much swirling speculation, a kind that’s so rabid it feels especially voyeuristic, especially invasive, reporters once against swarming Palmetto State’s campus to try and get at the Foxes, get a soundbite, campus security doing everything they can to keep them away.

It’s the first time the Foxes will face off against the Lions, the first time that Zia Mendez will play her old teammates, who have continued to play Class I Exy and attend college without even as much as a slap on the wrist for the crimes they’ve been accused of. Without a day in a court of law, a meeting on the Foxhole Court seems to be the only kind of justice either side can hope for, both the Foxes and the Lions wanting to take each other down for reasons that go far beyond their current standings in the Championships.

It’s the Foxes’ last chance to move on in the Championships and, if they fall, their defeat will be especially bitter, because it will have been handed to them by none other than the Lions. In the point-driven third round, there are many questions that remain as the time ticks down to first serve: Can the Foxes beat the Lions? Can they score enough points to move on to the next death match? And can they deny the Lions enough points to keep them from moving on?

ADMIN NOTE: Hello Foxes, it’s that time again, and apologies again for being a day late with this! 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 Lions 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!

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

#foxholegames #championships06

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thefoxholecourtgames-blog · 8 years

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CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME 05: PALMETTO STATE FOXES vs. USC TROJANS

PRE-GAME

A Championships game means a Friday of missed classes. The Foxes head to Upstate Regional Airport in the morning to make the long journey to Los Angeles, which includes an hour-long layover in Atlanta. The team splits up upon landing and retrieving their gear from baggage claim into several vans, as do the Vixens, who were on the same flight. Instead of heading directly to the stadium from the airport, they go to their hotel first: to drop off their things, eat dinner in the hotel restaurant and if possible, since they’re at the disadvantage of a three-hour time difference, nap.

An hour before first serve, they drive over to the Trojans’ stadium, donning their orange-on-white away uniforms and then gathering in the lounge for a pep talk from Wymack, who entreats them to play a good, clean game against the Trojans, and to not take any unnecessary risks—no repeats of the fights or the injuries that they saw against the Buckeyes.

Meanwhile, spectators file in to fill the stadium. This far away from Palmetto, there isn’t a lot of orange in the packed stands, the crowds awash in scarlet and gold. Trojans fans, however, are the most cordial of Exy fans, and though the Vixens aren’t met with enthusiastic cheers as they take to their pre-game routines, they aren’t met with boos, either.

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—and enter the stadium. After the warm-up, Grant meets the Trojans’ captain at center court for the coin toss that will determine who gets first serve. The Foxes win the toss, and the starting players take their positions for the start of play, while the rest take their spots on the bench—including Cameron and Joel, due to red cards in the game against the Buckeyes, and Casey, due to injury.

FIRST HALF

STARTING LINEUP:

Goalkeeper: Cecil James (Sub: Eliana Felix)

Dealer: Marley Reid (Sub: Pax Ridley)

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

Backliners: Zia Mendez, Colin Jessup

The Foxes’ starting line files in through the away team doors, taking their spots for the start of play. Across the court, the Trojans do the same, and taking the court are two faces that are familiar to the Foxes—or, at least, to some of them: Arlo’s former foster brother and friend Theo Massey and Cecil’s boyfriend Jon Dygen, both strikers.

Marley serves to start the half, and the game is off to a fast start. Arlo and Theo start next to each other on the half-court line, all of their old competitiveness from Connecticut renewed and intensified, and Theo bodily keeps Arlo from sprinting to meet Marley’s serve. It falls to Logan, who is just a moment too slow.

The Trojans take possession, and push toward the Foxes’ goal, with fast footwork and lightning-fast passes that take all of Zia and Colin’s ability to keep up with. It takes just a split-second lapse to create an opening, Jon firing off a shot the second the Trojans’ offensive dealer gets the ball in his racquet—a shot that Cecil is just a moment too slow to block, putting his boyfriend on the board with the first point of the night.

The Trojans serve to restart play but this time Marley is there to intercept the serve, running it up the court to Logan, pushing with him in a series of zig-zagging passes that take him closer to the Trojans goal until he’s able to slip a shot past the Trojans’ goalkeeper, putting the Foxes on the board and tying up the score.

Most of the Foxes are celebratory as they retake their positions, but there’s a different game that’s going on on the court, and this one is just between Arlo and Theo. Every time play restarts at center court they exchange words, growing more and more clipped each time, and after every serve they’re dogging each other, each of them wanting to be the first between the two of them to score a point—and wanting to do everything they can to stop the other from accomplishing that feat.

Marley serves and, this time, Arlo is too fast for Theo to keep up with. He breaks away and catches the serve, and then it’s him against the Trojans backliners—who are skilled, but still can’t keep up with the fire that’s driving Arlo towards the Trojans goal. A risky shot lands him just inside the perimeter of the goal, lighting it up red with another point for the Foxes.

Further down the court, Theo’s cursing, the butt of his racquet hitting the court floor in loud punctuation to his frustration, turning all heads on the court his way. In a violent sport where emotions run high, the Trojans have maintained their reputation by keeping each other in check. Personal insults and highly aggressive play are not the Trojan Way, and as the players line up again, Theo gets his share of sidelong glances from his teammates, and a kind-but-firm rebuke from his Captain, the Trojans’ starting dealer.

But it doesn’t seem to help. As the players take their spots again for the Fox serve, Theo and Arlo’s voices raise again—not enough for their exchange to be heard in its entirety over the noise of the crowd and the fans circulating air on the court, but enough for the Foxes on the court to make out one word from Theo’s mouth: father.

Marley serves, but Theo is hot off of his mark, a below-the-belt verbal hit and a hard check getting Arlo out of the way for him to take possession of the ball and run it up the court with dizzying speed. Once his ten steps are up, he doesn’t pass, instead feinting and passing to himself off of the court wall. In the split-second before his rebound reaches him again, he takes down Colin, a hard hit that sends him into the wall before Theo is off again, scoring against Cecil—and the score, in every sense, is tied.

Colin is slow to stand, and the hand that helps him to a feet does not belong to Fox but to a Trojan—and not just any Trojan, but Jon. Though Colin, bemused, accepts the friendly overture, he brushes him off once he’s on his feet again, reassuring a concerned Zia that he’s fine as they make their way back to their marks for the Trojans’ serve.

But the serve doesn’t come—no one hears the words that mark the breaking point, but they do all notice when Arlo’s racquet hits the court floor and he’s screaming at Theo, his words fueled by the ammunition of years of living under the same roof, knowing just the right buttons to push. On the court, the Foxes and the Trojans alike are all caught by surprise, momentarily stunned.

In the end, a moment is all it takes. Off the court, Joel seems to be the only who isn’t frozen, and he bangs on the side of the glass in warning, with a bad feeling about what’s going to happen next. It’s a momentary distraction that means that Arlo doesn’t even see it coming: when Theo lashes out, it’s not with his words but with his racquet—and when Arlo goes down, he doesn’t get up. He doesn’t even move.

In a packed stadium, you can hear a pin drop, until it’s broken by the sound of the court doors being unlocked and thrown open, space made for the stretcher that will carry Arlo off the court. Off the court, it’s all Sebastian can do to keep the benched Foxes from streaming onto the court. On the court, it falls on Zia to keep the starting Foxes back so the medics have space to work. No one needs to see the red card to know, but still the murmurs go up when the refs send an ashen-faced Theo off the court—it’s the first red card in the Trojans’ history, and his team is not pleased.

Wymack and Abby go with Arlo—as does Joel, who won’t let anyone convince him to try and stay behind—leaving Sebastian and Talia in charge. First Sebastian and Grant meet with the referees and the Trojan Coach and Captain, leaving the rest of their teams behind to gather at their benches, wide-eyed, as they speculate on what could happen next.

The Trojans make an offer—first to reschedule, which isn’t feasible with the breakneck pace of the Championships, and then to forfeit the game entirely, to assuage the damage they’ve done to their honor. Grant stands firm: he accepts neither their guilt or their pity, he wants to beat them on the court, wants to get the points that a forfeit wouldn’t offer them, points that they need to move on past the third round.

They split and head back to their benches, where their coaches send their lines onto the court for the resumption of play—and a penalty shot for the Foxes. Subbing in for Arlo for the rest of the half, Akira steps up to take the shot against the team that had once wanted to sign him. He winds up, shoots, and the Trojans’ goalkeeper misses by a longshot—either the Trojans are as rattled as the Foxes, or they’ve just given the Foxes a free point.

The Foxes take their spots for the restart of play, with Eliana and Pax also subbing in for Cecil and Marley. Pax serves, and the game proceeds, but seemingly at half the skill as it had at the beginning of the night. Both teams are rattled, the Trojans are guilty and the Foxes are angry—but despite their rage, they’re like a series of disparate pieces, passes not connecting, plays falling apart. When the Trojans score against Eliana, it’s like the Foxes have, against their will, given away the point, allowing the Trojans to tie up the score.

And it doesn’t get any better after that. Frustrations mount among the Foxes: Logan and Akira can’t seem to close, Zia and Colin’s well-honed synchronicity only appears in fits and starts, and Pax is left in the middle, trying to shore up both ends. In goal, Eliana makes a few heroic saves, but it’s only a matter of time before another one slips by her, and the Trojans pull ahead.

The Trojans serve, and it all begins again—until Colin, wanting the Foxes to snap out of it and wanting to punish somebody even if the person he wants to punish most is not on the court, slams the Trojans striker who had subbed in for Theo into the wall, holding him there with his shoulder pressed into the center of his back. It’s inside the limits of legality, but it’s undeniably aggressive, and the referees aren’t messing around, giving him a yellow card.

Play is restarted from where it was halted, with the Trojans in possession. The clock is winding down, but the Foxes want to do everything they can to stop the Trojans from getting another point. Though it isn’t their specialty, Pax falls back to help the backliners, staying between Colin and Zia as they attempt to hold the Fox goal for a few minutes more.

When the buzzer sounds for the end of the first half, it’s almost a relief, and the Foxes trail the Trojans by one point: 3-4.

HALFTIME

The Foxes retreat to the locker room for halftime, silent and grim-faced, where they seem lost without Wymack there to rally them in his typical gruff fashion. With him at the hospital, and with no news about Arlo, that task falls to Sebastian and Grant. Being down by one point isn’t the worst place to be, they say. It’s hard, but we have to stay focused. Back in the stadium, where the atmosphere still hasn’t recovered from the grim scene on the court, the Vixens take to the court for halftime, though their energy is noticeably low. 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: Grant Rollins

Dealer: Claudia Jewell (Subs: Teddy Ryker, Paxton Ridley)

Strikers: Jay Wright, Cora LeClair

Backliners: Sydney McCray, Justin Acevedo

The Trojans dealer serves to start play and the two fresh lineups clash against each other with renewed energy, like halftime had done some good in wiping the slate clean.

In goal, Grant in particular wants to center and focus his team, and he gets an opportunity early in the half, when one of the Trojans’ strikers gets around Justin for a hasty shot and Grant blocks it, swinging his heavy racquet to send it all the way down the court, where Claudia—who had to watch Arlo taken off the court on a stretcher, with Joel at his side—sprints to meet it.

After what happened in the first half, the Trojans are noticeably reluctant to play a physical game—an advantage that the Foxes can’t help but notice. Cora is the first to take advantage, and when the Trojans dealer swoops in to steal the ball from Claudia in a brief scramble, she trips him, sending him crashing to the court floor and letting her run away with the ball.

But she doesn’t get very many steps in before the referees are halting play, opening the court doors—it was the kind of move that usually wouldn’t have stopped play, but they have an example to set. They give Cora a yellow card, the Foxes’ second of the night, and the Foxes a stern warning: as far as they’re concerned, this is strike two for them, and the next card they get will be red.

Play is restarted from where it was halted, and the Trojans dealer serves. They may not be playing physical, but they’re fast, their teamwork some of the best in the league. Despite their guilt, they can’t help but want to win, and no matter how hard the Foxes play, they can’t help but find themselves one step behind.

The Trojans dealer passes to a striker, who Sydney is just a second too slow to block, letting them get a pass of to the other striker, who feints around Justin, needing only one moment to fire off a shot—one that Grant’s dive is just a little too late to stop, earning the Trojans another point.

The game seems to be out of their control, and it’s frustrating. As play resets at the half-court line, Grant leaves the goal to touch base with each of his players on the court, trying to rally them for the last quarter, for them to do everything they can to close the point gap.

The Trojans dealer serves, and the Foxes have a surge of energy. Justin meets the Trojans striker at the end of the serve, pushing through a persistently aching shoulder to wrest the ball from them and throw it up the court to Claudia, who takes the ball and runs with it. At the end of her ten steps a Trojans backliner is there to intercept her attempted pass to Jay, and she has to turn right back around and sprint the other direction up the court.

It’s a frustrating position, trying to hold the middle when the game’s not going their way, and maybe that’s why it happens, or maybe it’s just another instance of the referees being overzealous. Claudia locks sticks with the Trojans’ dealer and, somewhere in their struggle, her racquet slips and winds up colliding heavily with the other dealer’s torso, causing him to double over, winded. It was an accident, she protests to the referees when they stop play, but they made a promise and they stick to it. When the card comes, it’s red, and Claudia leaves the court, Teddy coming on in her stead.

The Trojans are awarded a penalty shot, and one of their strikers steps up to take it. In goal, Grant readies himself to block, watching the striker wind up, putting himself in what he thinks will be the path of the ball—and, when the goal lights up red behind him, it comes as a complete shock.

Back after a minor injury in the last game and an ill-fated trip back to his hometown of Oakland afterward, Teddy is noticeably off his game. The Trojans dealer serves and, no matter how hard Teddy tries, the dealer seems to easily get around him, helping move the ball up the court towards the Fox goal time after time, Sydney and Justin just barely able to hold them at bay—and, when they can’t, it’s Grant blocking their shots, doing everything he can to slam the ball further up the court to where Cora and Jay can get to it.

It’s after one of those massive swings that Jay is able to take possession and create an opening for himself, feinting around first one backliner and then another. As he closes in on the Trojans goal—passing to himself off the wall as he goes for another ten steps—the Foxes on the bench are on their feet, as are the Vixens, all with their breath bated, watching the Foxes’ best chance to score yet this half—and they do score, Jay slipping a shot into the very corner of the goal, lighting it up red.

Teddy serves, but it lacks the power behind it that it usually has and, as a result, Jay and Cora are too far up the court to receive it. Frustrated with his steadily mounting errors, and the exhaustion that seems to dog his every step, he throws himself into the fray with Sydney and Justin as the Trojans push all three of them steadily towards the Fox goal. They get a lucky break: Justin checks his striker mark to the ground and passes to Teddy, who sprints as hard as he can to get the ball up to Jay.

But the effort takes its toll—Teddy is doubled over at center court, barely able to keep his feet as the world seems to spin around him. Sydney is the first to notice that something’s wrong, and she moves up to stabilize Teddy just as it seems he’s about to collapse. She flags the Foxes on the bench, who pound on the court walls to get the attention of the referees, who halt play. She helps him off the court, delivering him to Talia, who quickly whisks him back to the Foxes’ locker room to treat him for apparent dehydration and exhaustion.

Sebastian makes the call to send Pax back on for the Foxes, and they serve to restart play from where it was halted, deep in the Trojans’ zone. They pass to Cora, who after ten steps takes a shot on goal, which the Trojans’ goalkeeper blocks, knocking it down the court and into the net of one of the Trojans backliners’ racquets.

Pax runs for it, but can’t get there in time before the backliner fires off a pass to the Trojans’ dealer and, just like that, the Trojans now have another chance at the Fox goal. A Trojan striker shoots on Grant, which he blocks, but he doesn’t have the time or the room to clear the ball, and the Trojans get the ball back before Sydney and Justin can stop it, and the Trojans slip it past Grant in a split-second rebound.

The Trojans serve, and the game is all but over, a point gap that the Foxes can’t hope to close in the few minutes that remain. Stubborn to the end, it doesn’t stop the Foxes from trying—a point might not mean victory, but it could help them get farther in the finals.

Justin checks one of the Trojans strikers hard, muscling them to the ground with a shoulder, and throws the ball up the court to Pax, who then throws it to Cora. There isn’t an opening, and there isn’t enough time—the Trojans backliners and dealers fall back to protect the goal, and the wild shot that Cora fires off in the last few seconds of the game goes wide, bouncing harmlessly off the back wall as the buzzer sounds.

The final buzzer sounds and the score is 4-7 in favor of the Trojans, the Foxes’ biggest defeat in the Championships so far.

POST-GAME

Losing should be nothing new to the Foxes—but with the successful run they’ve had so far this season, it is, and it’s devastating. The Trojans’ celebration on the court is muted, in deference to the strange circumstances of the game, and yet it still feels like salt in a wound. The Foxes retreat off of the court as the Trojans stream onto it, gathering by their bench to slap each other on the back and offer platitudes—that they played hard, even if this wasn’t the outcome they wanted. It’s more comforting for some than for others.

They gather for the post-game handshakes, going down the line as Trojans tell them good game with earnestness that seems to scream of apology, some attempt to salvage the reputation that one careless and angry swing of a racquet had shattered. At the end of the Trojans’ line is Theo Massey, who still seems shell-shocked, but doesn’t seem surprised as some of the Foxes blatantly ignore his outstretched hand.

They retreat to their locker room and, with Wymack gone, it falls on Sebastian to send two of the Foxes to talk to the press, and he chooses: Cecil, who may be the only person left in the Foxes’ locker room with anything nice to say about the Trojans; and Akira, who has more experience dealing with the media than the rest of the Foxes combined.

The rest of the players shower and change out and then gather to wait for Cecil and Akira to join them, sitting in mostly stunned silence, punctuated with concern for Arlo, who’s still at the hospital with Wymack, Abby and Joel. When Cecil and Akira finish with the press, there’s nothing for them to do besides go back to their hotel and wait—for Arlo to be released, and then for the flight the next morning that will take them back to Palmetto, and let them leave this nightmare of a loss behind them.

ADMIN NOTE: And that concludes the first game of the third round! 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.

I’ll see you guys back here on April 7 for the Foxes’ game against the Penn State Lions, which will be the Foxes’ last chance to move on to the next round of the Championships. (No pressure.)

#foxholegames #championships05

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