The crowd roared as the teams took to the air in Game seven of the 2001 quodpot Bowl. The green and gold clad Boston Secondmen and the black and silver San Diego Stags each flew around their half of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The magically enhanced dome was the site selected for the seventh game in the seven game set. After coming back to win game six, San Diego looked to clinch their second championship in three years. Boston was hoping for their first title in 25 years.
Renowned announcer, Chaste Samson, also well known for announcing Muggle sports was calling the game for all.
"…Looking to stop the Stags is the Boston Secondmen, one of the oldest teams in the American Quodpot Association. Boston, once the laughing stock of the league found itself fortunate when Coach Jarlon O'Neal held an open try-out in an attempt to bring in new talent. Without a 1st, 2nd or 4th round draft pick, in the five round rookie draft, and losing five players to free agency, the Boston Squod was desperate for new talent. Ultimately, the thirteen player squod was filled with five players from the tryout, including former USA Quidditch Beaters John Madsten and Franklin Lewinskey, College Football Tight End Chris Jenkins, Boston native Vince Scully, and an unknown player named James Black. They still don't have a full practice squod."
On the large screen a picture of the sullen blond with his hair pulled back into a ponytail. A slight hint of a scar could be traced above his right eye. He spun a quod on his finger as his height, weight, and season stats was shown next to him: 5'8" 148 lbs.
"Though smaller than most of the rest of the league, the second year Black has amazing instincts, particularly working strategy, understanding when to score and when to take the quod.
"In this series however, his size had been shown to be a detriment as the larger, stronger players have had an impact, rather than trying for the big hits, the Stags have resorted to simply marking him closely and not allowing him to move..."
Samson continued to describe how the Stags were able to tie the series at 3-3, physically bullying Black, not allowing him the space to maneuver and move the quod.
The teams lined up for the opening drop and the dome shook as every voice in the crowd shouted out, "…three, two, one, go!"
The quod dropped from the top of the dome and both Centers raced vertically to meet it. Like Quidditch, Quodpot has variable game times. Nobody knew when the quods would explode, but any player caught in possession of the exploding quod was out for the game. Once a team ran out of players the game was over and the score was the result. It was not out of the ordinary for the team to run out of players was the team to win the game.
Just like the previous games in the series, James Black found himself hounded by opposing players. "Come on, Mark, don't you know all the girls go for the scorers? How many pots do you have in six games? Two?" Black swerved to the right to try opening space for a teammate driving towards the pot.
Mark Bush, Flyer Back, for San Diego threw a shoulder into Black, cutting off his move responded, "It seems to me that you were the one hanging with me… for my pretty face." Again he cut off Black's movement, this time down towards the floor.
Ten minutes passed and the crowd started to stir as neither team was able to gain an advantage. Multiple times, the quod switched hands as nerves were getting the best of both teams. A sense of urgency began to grow as most quods would explode between five and ten minutes and the first quod had yet to. Not even the wizards who placed the spell on the quods knew exactly when they would blow.
San Diego had possession and was flying hard in a vertical diamond formation, passing the quod anytime a defender got too close. A quick twist in the formation and the Stag Center shot down towards the pot and just as he was about to drop the quod into the pot, it exploded.
A loud groan came from the San Diego supporters, so close to the opening point, now they were down a man with the score still 0-0.
The next quod was immediately dropped from the ceiling, James Black made his first move of the game. With Bush marking him so closely, he hadn't had a chance to fly back for a defensive stand on the Stags last attack.
Black dove hard towards the ground, veering towards the center of the field. Chaste Samson described the move, "Black is moving so fast towards the floor that he'll get there well before the quod. Bush, beaten for only a split second is flying right behind Black, reaching out desperate to slow Black's momentum by grabbing the tail of his broom. Something needs to change because they're going to…. Oh My! What a move!"
James Black, emulating Victor Krum's Wronski Feint in the 1994 Quidditch World Cup against Ireland, waited until the last second before flattening his descent, then pulling upward towards the still falling quod. Mike Bush, on the other hand had no chance. He slammed headfirst into the ground, snapping his broom and rolling over and over for at least 20 yards.
With all eyes on Bush, James Black caught the quod and, with a beautiful barrel roll, avoided a hard check from the Stag defenseman and raced to the pot, depositing the quod for the first point of the game.
As his quod settled in the pot the third quod of the match dropped from the ceiling. The eleven on nine match continued, the Stags could not send in a substitute for Bush until he made it to the sideline with the assistance of mediwizards. Of course Black being so far from the rest of the players, the match was essentially ten verse nine until Black could turn around and join the rest.
The game continued chaotically for the next ten minutes as two quods exploded in less than two minutes, giving neither team the opportunity to score. With the score still 1 to 0 for the Secondmen, the Stags were able to mount their second big offensive attack. The nine, with Bush's replacement and losing another to a quod, pulled an all out attack creating a box formation with one in the middle. Without a defenseman, they risked a quick turnaround for Boston should they score or the quod explode, but they were desperate for some momentum.
Boston hero Vince Skully tried to break up the formation flying crosswise to disrupt the flight pattern. A hard check by the centerman knocked Skully off his broom, only a strong grip of one hand kept him in flight.
Three quick passes and the back four Stags pulled off back towards midfield as the other five drove to the pot, knocking all Secondmen defenders out of the way, scoring to tie the game.
As the game continued neither team was able to gain any advantage, both losing players to exploding quods. Two hours in and the scoring drought seemed non-stop.
"This game is on pace to be not only the lowest scoring game seven in league history, but one of the lowest scoring games ever. The Stags finally have a one-man-up advantage, and with fewer players on brooms, the field is going to open up. We should start seeing more scoring in the coming minutes."
Juan Garcia, San Diego's leading scorer had the quod, with Black marking him closely. While he couldn't stop Garcia from moving forward down the field, Black did cut off any move towards the pot.
"The average quod this match has been in play for seven minutes. Players need to be aware of it. Garcia not only has nowhere to go, but he has no one to pass to."
Suddenly, Garcia didn't have the quod, it was in Black's hands. Knowing that he likely had no chance to score he pushed the quod back into Garcia's hands and pulled back away from the Stag Flyer. This proved to be Black's first mistake of the match as Garcia shot down to the pot and plunged the quod in before the inevitable explosion.
Now down 2-1, trailing a player, 7 to 6, the Secondmen found themselves having to press. Possession of the quod was essential, but very dangerous. A two player disadvantage this point in a match, especially when down could be a death nail.
Six minutes into the next quod, the Secondmen pulled a coup, driving deep into Stag territory before, clearly deliberately, turning it over and pulling back for an all out defense. Four Secondmen, including Black surrounded Garcia with the quod, preventing any passes and trapping his movement. With nowhere to go and no one to pass to, Garcia took the exploding quod square in the chest.
The next ball dropped and Secondmen captain Napoleon Garner shot like a bullet to retrieve it. Quick passes between he, Jenkins, and Lewinskey led to a quick goal.
The next two quods exploded quickly, the first knocking Skully and the second knocking out Madsten. The Secondmen were now at a two-man disadvantage 6-4 with the game tied at two. "Such a wide open field and only four flyers leaves the Secondmen with a decision to make," Chaste Samson added her analysis, "They can drive hard to score or they can go defensive and work on preventing scores and forcing the Stags to lose players."
Garner winked to Black. They were going all out to score. If they could get a lead and find a way to maintain possession, they could run out of players first for a win.
Garner and Black are two of the fastest flyers in the league, though no one had the agility of Black. Together they quickly moved the quod. Without the numbers, the Stags had a hard time maintaining a mark on either. In a two man play, Garner flipped the quod over his shoulder driving straight at a defender and Black caught it diving low to the ground where he gained speed none of the Stag defenders could match.
He easily scored while teammate, Jenkins raced back and beat the Stags for possession of the next quod. He raced forward joining Garner and Black and in a three man play beat the defense again to gain a two-point lead.
Now up 4 to 2, the Secondmen dropped back in a tight defense to prevent attacks on goal. "We need to get them down to five players before we lose another," Garner instructed, "Tight, physical defense."
Samson described the next play, "The Secondmen drop back into a zone defense, defending their pot, not allowing any Stag to drive to the pot with the quod. The Stags spread out wide, trying to force the defense to spread with them. Lopez quick pass to Johnson, skip pass to Schmidt, who drives in hard… oh cut off by Black, he drops the quod back out and the Stags try to set up again."
Boom! The quod exploded in Johnson's hands, now it was four against five, but with the Secondmen out of position, the Stags were able to fly back to get the next quod. They moved into a V formation to try to muscle their way straight through the zone defense. The last two broke down while the next two broke up and the leader dove straight to the pot. The one man game didn't fool the defense who now had the leader trapped with nowhere to go. Boom! Four on Four.
Black split away with quicker reaction time than anyone would believe and caught the next quod before it made it had fallen ten meters. He had a clear path to the pot. He looked back over his shoulder and saw everyone else jockeying for possession of the next quod. The only thing that would stop him from establishing a three point lead was an exploding quod.
"All on his own, Black is in a race against time, 50 meters. He is accelerating hard, flying like his life depends on it, 25 meters. You can hear a pin drop in this dome, 10 meters, 5…."
"Score!" Chaste Samson calls out, "Now we have drama lady's and gentleman, the Secondmen have a three goal lead and with a four on four game can start thinking about running out the game through possession. "
Boom! The next quod was barely caught by a Stag player before it exploded on him. Four on three!
Now the Secondmen switched to a conservative gameplan again: tight defense, long possessions. The Stags grew more and more desperate trying to force the quod into the pot. The next two quods took out one of each team. The quods seemed to have less patience and were exploding quicker.
Now it was Garner and Black against two Stags. The score was still 5 to 2. Garner and Black played man to man defense on the remaining Stags. Each defender allowed his opponent to catch the pass, but always drove him toward the sideline.
Garner sent Black a quick signal. As his mark passed the ball to Garner's man, Black drove to the middle of the field as Garner intercepted the pass and drove to the pot on the far side of the field. He looked at Black and winked. He would either score, making the lead insurmountable, or the quod would explode and it would be up to Black to run out the game.
The quod exploded and the next one fell into Black's hands. He raced to the perimeter of the field, arm raised in triumph, knowing all he had to do was take the next explosion and the game was theirs.
The Stags players desperately chased after him trying to get a body close, but Black was simply too strong a flyer. He weaved right, left, up and down avoiding all crowd rustled with nervous excitement. The game could end at any moment. One minute passed, five minutes passed.
Boom! The quod knocked Black sideways but he hardly felt it as he dove to midfield where teammates were flying as fast as they could to meet him. They were AQA Champions!
Up in a box sat a family of redheads, whose daughter and sister was a rookie for a British Quidditch team here for a pre-season friendly against the USA National Team. All watched the game intently, though very different than Quidditch, the game was fast and intense.
Ron Weasley leaned over to his sister Ginny, "Weird game this quodpot."