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June 1, 2008

Force Football - Shutting Out the Clarksville Foxes

Yesterday the Clarksville Fox came to Holmgren Field to play the Chicago Force. As regular readers know, the Chicago Force is our local women's tackle football team, and this year they are on track to make it into the playoffs and possibly even win the league championship. The championship is being held in Chicago this year, so it would be doubly cool if this turned out to be our year.

The Fox is a tier 2 team, which means they play at a lower level than the Force. Nonetheless, they were undefeated going into yesterday's game, so nobody was sure what the game was going to be like, except that for the first time ever all season, the weather was going to be warm. Although Bruce and Nate as a rule prefer cold weather, this does not apply when you're outdoors sitting on bare metal bleachers. At yesterday's game, you didn't need a winter coat, and you didn't have to worry about the wind interfering with a forward pass. It was a whole new experience.

The stands for the game were nearly full, and Bruce and Nate were politely asked to keep a lid on the brolly banging. Apparently, when they really get going you can feel it in the stands. Not being superior life forms with retractable claws and a flexible spine, humans find it unpleasant when they're sitting on something that has started to shake. The downside is that cheering with your voice instead of an umbrella is hard for Bruce, because you have to think of what you're going to say before you start shouting at the top of your lungs. Fortunately, the Chicago Spirit Brigade was nearby, so Bruce had official trained cheerleaders to make up the cheers for him. Of course, the Spirit Brigade still hasn't worked out routines to go with some of the more esoteric Force Fan cheers, such as Face Mask, Encased Meat, or The Referee is an Esthetically Challenged Cad and We're Unhappy About It, but I assume it's only a matter of time.

The Clarksville Fox plays very hard, but the Force is very strong this year. (And yes, the announcer never gets tired of Star Wars puns.) The first touchdown came five and a half minutes into the game, when Force Running Back Melissa Smith ran the ball into the end zone. When the Fox got the ball again, it was on their own 10 yard line. After three plays with no first down, the Fox took a gamble and tried to pass instead of punting. The pass was incomplete, giving the Force custody of the ball within striking distance of the goal. Melissa Smith ran the ball in for her second touchdown. The score at the end of the first quarter was 14-0 Force.

The first touchdown of the second quarter was accomplished by rookie Running Back Marcie Myers, who had several good runs during the game, but whose touchdown was the result of a pass from quarterback Sam Grisafe. The past two games have featured a lot of successful passes by Grisafe, which I consider a very good sign. As I have said before, the concept of the forward pass in football is completely insane, mostly because the human eye does not have the special bipolar receptors a cat uses to calculate a pounce, and if you can't pounce, you sure as heck can't be expected to throw a ball to a moving target while six angry women in padded costumes are trying jump on top of you. Of course, an excessively cautious person would not be playing tackle football in the first place. But still, I'm considering the pass thing a very good sign for our chances of going all the way this year.

Passing was not so good for the Fox. Shortly after Myers scored her touchdown, Safety Linda Bache intercepted a pass from the Fox quarterback and ran it up to the Force's 28 yard line. On the next play, Grisafe threw the ball to Brandi Srda, who made it to the 47-yard line in Fox territory before being brought down. The Force kept their hold onb the ball until rookie Albiona Zhubi caught another pass in the end zone for the fourth touchdown. The Force now led 28-0, with three and a quarter minutes left in the first half.

The Fox did not keep the ball for very long. Linda Bache intercepted another pass, and a subsequent 46-yard run by Melissa Smith had the fans thinking there was another touchdown in the offing. The Fox, however, got their own intercept and took the ball up to their own 25 yard line. They didn't keep it long. Tight End Kimberly Marks picked up a fumble on the 27 yard line; however, the clock ran out before the Force could score.

In the third quarter the Fox began to pick up steam, and neither team scored, but in the fourth quarter the Force got back in the groove. After the Fox scored a first down, a sack threw the Fox for a loss, and the Force defensive rookie Sofia SIanez capped the misery by dragging the Fox ball carrier backward to put the Fox 3rd and 22. A hard block from Linda Bache (it was a really good day for her) stopped the Fox again, leaving them with 16 yards to go on the 4th down.

When the ball turned over, veteran Force Fullback Bridget Fahrner started to have some fun. Bridget got two first downs in a row, the second on the Fox 7 yard line. On the next play she carried the ball to the 2 yard line, and on the play after that she scored a touchdown.

The Fox now had only 6 minutes of game time to get themselves onto the scoreboard. A sack by Linebacker Tricia Charbonneau handed the Fox a 10 yard loss, forcing them to punt on a 4th down. The punt literally bounced off the Force defensive line, and Darcy Leslie picked up the ball for the Force's sixth touchdown. The final score was 40 to 0.

There is one game left in the regular season, and it will be at home on June 14 against the Wisconsin Wolves, whom the Force defeated 14 to 7 in the first game of the season. Although it's always tricky predicting the weather in advance, I'm pretty sure that there will not be snow this time, which should help. If the Force win, then they will not only clinch the division, but almost certain the top seed in the playoffs. This means that their first playoff game will be at home against whoever wins the wild card slot, currently occupied by our arch-rivals, the Detroit Demolition. That's scheduled for June 28, so mark your calendars now. You don't want to miss this landmark season.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

# At Sun 9:20 AM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (2) | More Force Football | Tags: Albiona Zhubi Brandi Srda Bridget Fahrner Chicago Force Chicago Spirit Brigade Clarksville Fox Darcy Leslie feminism football Kimberly Marks Linda Bache Marcie Myers Melissa Smith Sam Grisafe Sofia Sianez Tricia Charbonneau umbrellas weather women

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Tracked on June 1, 2008 8:59 PM

Comments

Posted by: Rosemary at June 7, 2008 1:57 PM

Posted by: Ferdy at June 8, 2008 2:28 PM