Meadowlands 2008 Finals Game-by-Game Analysis
By blandestk | Published: April 15, 2008 4:17am EST
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The crucial third game took place on The Pit, where the teams battled on King of the Hill. The Game 2 win seemed to energize Final Boss. Ogre 2 ripped off some nasty snipes in the opening phase, as Final Boss jumped to an early lead at 53-15 and 100-68. At that point, Classic made a run, garnering more than a minute in the hill to lead 130-103. The teams jostled for control with neither squad making a big run. With Classic ahead 178-153, Final Boss entered a period of dominance, powering to the lead and sprinting past Classic. All four members of Final Boss were positive (+31 overall), led by Ogre 2's 29-16 output, which allowed them to win 240-195. With two consecutive wins, Final Boss found themselves one game from pushing the championships to a second series. Although a slaying advantage does not always correlate to a win in objective games, it does not hurt a team's chances to out-kill the opposition by more than 30 kills. Final Boss parlayed the killing advantage to a win in Game 3 and decided to use the same template for Game 4, Onslaught Capture the Flag. Two Minutes into the game, Final Boss grabbed the lead and at the 6:20 mark made it 2-0. The game threatened to be a runaway, but Classic stabilized and halved the gap 9:30 into the game. Despite a baffling play in which Final Boss moved the flag to their scoring platform before dropping it and not scoring, they took a 3-1 lead and limited Classic to just one more score, winning the game 3-2. The difference throughout was a massive disparity in slaying. Final Boss logged 39 more kills than Classic, an astounding statistic in championship game. Strongside was 37-25; Ogre 2 was 40-27; Ogre 1 went 37-26. The win gave Final Boss a 3-1 series win, forcing a winner-take-all second set of games. Classic were reeling, losing three straight games to the national champs. But after a short break, the upstarts showed excellent rebounding ability in Game 1 of the second series. Final Boss jumped to a quick lead on The Pit CTF, but Classic pushed two flags across the line in a minute and a half to lead 2-1. Just a minute after Classic's second score, Final Boss evened the game. Undaunted, Classic looked strong in scoring for a third time, giving them the 3-2 win and a lead in the second series. Ogre 2 went 34-24 in the loss. Despite no stellar performances (Fear's 27-24 game was Classic's best statistical outing), Classic used excellent teamwork to grab the V. |
