[the phantom]

It was no surprise to Barrow-Downs supporters when their team earned the right to host a first round match. They were a contender every year, after all- one of the elite. But not a dynasty. For that, they had to win some titles first.

Nearly every Downs dwellers could be seen wearing green and gold upon black in the days leading up to the match. The words on their shirts read everything from "Go Downs!" to "This is our year!" to "Hail King Nog!" Gondor was well respresented, but they kept to themselves, wary of the extremely odd population of the Downs. It was a well known fact that many of the Downers changed into werewolves on a regular basis, and the Gondorians weren't anxious to rub elbows with such dangerous folk.

The stadium filled early the day of the match, and an exhibition match was played between many of the Downers who were not on the actual squad. The people of Gondor were astounded by what they saw, as the players on the pitch looked good indeed- good enough to compete in the Arda Cup surely. And these were the back-ups? As the match finished up the sky clouded over and it began to drizzle. The Downers laughed and spread out their arms, clearly enjoying themselves, while the men and women of the south huddled beneath their robes and eyed the Downers, thinking them weirder than ever.

Soon the stadium was filled to the brim and the two playoff squads made their way onto the field, while at the same time the rain really began to pour, and rolling thunder began to be heard in the distance. The home supporters screamed, shouted, blew horns, shook bells, clanged weapons, and beat drums. The noise was just deafening. Team Gondor did their best to take no notice of it, but it was clear that they were a bit taken aback, and were concerned by some of the more insane looking Downers waving huge Barrow-blades around in the air. Captain Nogrod approached the Gondor side and kindly informed them that the Downs crowd, while noisy, was never the sort to do physical violence to the opposition, but right after he left Phantom swept past and added, "Unless you tackle me or Sally too roughly, of course. Then you're all kinds of dead. The crowd really loves us, you see. Especially that group over there with the long bows."

It was almost certainly an idle threat, but as the match began Gondor did look extremely uncomfortable defending against the pair of midfielders, clearly afraid of getting too close. And they paid for the space they allowed 25 minutes in when Sally was allowed to run free down the right side and sent one at the goal. The effort was deflected away by a defender, but Nogrod mopped up the loose ball and the home team was up by one! The rest of the half Gondor did their best to push back, and gained a couple of solid efforts, but the great warg in goal was on guard and in position each time.

During the halftime break the winds picked up and the lightning and thunder increased to a near constant flash and boom. A handful of Gondor fans left their seats for shelter, but the Downs fans stuck around and were not dismayed. As the second half kicked off things got worse, as decent sized pieces of ice began falling from the sky. The players from Gondor looked pleadingly at the refs, but the match went on and soon Gondor was in a two goal hole as Phantom was allowed a lane to approach and sent it off to Wilwa for an easy header.

The crowd grew louder and louder and the hail got larger, and lightning actually struck the Downs goal! The keeper, Eomerwarg, laughed heartily and leaped to the top of the net, waving his hands in a welcoming fashion towards the sky. He wanted another strike! The crowd began chanting, ""Tor-na-do! Tor-na-do!" and as if they were one single force they began running in giant circles around the arena, leaping from chair to chair in their respective rows. The Gondor fans cowered in their seats as the Downs fans whirled over them, stepping on the backs of their seats, armrests, and occasionally their heads. Upon reaching their original seats, the Downers stopped and began chanting again, clearly building up to another rush around the stadium. Gondor supporters turned tail and left- every last one. The conditions were insane, and the players and supporters of the Barrow-Downs were even more insane! They had not signed up for this.

The players from Gondor still tried to fight it out, but after Nogrod scored his second goal (again assisted by a free-roaming Phantom), the fight was out of them. Mercifully the refs called the game early, though it's possible they did not know what the actual time was, as the stadium's clock and scoreboard had been struck by another bolt of lightning and was no longer functioning, and the personal watches of the refs had been battered by hail and invaded by rain. It goes without saying that there was a party of epic proportions that night upon The Barrow-Downs. The people of the realm were crazy to be certain, but the happy sort of crazy.

Barrow-Downs 3-0 Gondor
tot shots 15-8
on target 8-3
GOALS:
*25, 1-0 Nogrod (Sally)
*49, 2-0 Wilwa (Phantom)
*64, 3-0 Nogrod (Phantom)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Barrow-Downs- Wilwa, Steve
*Gondor- Eldacar, Fastred