MADRIGAL YARDS, MADRIGAL -- The Madrigal Times presents exclusive coverage of the Quad-Cities League held in Madrigal over the past two days. The finest players in the league will be selected to make up the Quad Cities All-Stars, who will compete in Muirthemne for the Myth World Cup. Half of the players will be chosen from the team that wins the tournament, and each of the three other teams will supply two of their players to complete the All-Stars. Rather than spoil the ending for you, we present the events of the tournament here in the order in which they occurred:

Game One, Covenant vs. Scales: The second game ever to be played here at the rebuilt Madrigal Yards was delayed by about an hour as the stadium was cleared of stray bits of putrescence remaining from the exhibition game played here recently. Once this onerous task was finally completed, however, the verdant grass of the field was revealed and play could begin. During the first game, the strong defense of the Covenant Campaigners held the young, agressive Scales team in check during the first half. Covenant goalie Cormac was only required to make two saves before halftime. In second half action, Alyce and Cathwin of Scales made a strong attack on the goal, but Cormac was able to make the save and quickly get the ball to forward Aethelweard, who penetrated the Scales defenders and beat goalie Loring for the first score of the game. In the final minutes, Scales was on the attack again when Covenant defender Kaherdin made an impressive steal, passing the ball to the offense. Aethelweard approached the goal and decoyed Loring out of position with a deft feint. A quick pass to Covenant striker Tarquin sealed the final score at Covenant 2, Scales 0.

Game Two, Tandem vs. Tyr: The second of today's morning matchups started out with several errors by both sides. Tyr scored early when striker Farrell took advantage of a miscommunication between Tandem's defenders Moore and Daras to slip between them and score. Tandem quickly struck back, however, as forward Brand and striker Calhoun evaded the Tyr defenders to double-team Tyr's goalie Sloan and tie the game at 1-1. Both sides settled down after this, and the tie persisted until late in the second half. Excitement mounted as time ran down, and the Tandem team pressed an attack. Midfielder Clairemonde of Tyr drew yells of admiration as he swooped in and stole the ball from Brand, but the excitement was only beginning. The Tandem captain Thayer intercepted a pass intended for Farrell and began weaving his way back towards the Tyr goal. Thayer's recklessness in not waiting for his teammates' support paid off in the end, as the Tyr defenders were out of position, allowing Thayer to attack the goal one-on-one. Although deflected, the shot went in and Tandem defeated Tyr by the score of 2-1.

Game Three, Covenant vs. Tandem: The afternoon session began with another strong defensive performance by the Covenant Campaigners. Their practiced defensive unit kept Tandem's young, inexperienced offense shut down for the entire match. Cormac saved several shots on goal made by Tandem forward Brand. Although the Covenant defense was solid, their offensive squad was unable to crack the Tandem defenders in the first half and the teams retired at halftime tied at 0-0. In second half action Covenant striker Tarquin and forward Gaheris began to find the creases in the Tandem defense, scoring two goals to lead Covenant to a 2-0 victory.

Game Four, Scales vs. Tyr: The final game of the first day of competition was a wild one after the earlier low-scoring matches. Tyr's strong offense scored three goals in the first half, with the young striker Farrell and forward Ulrich playing key roles. These were quickly answered by two return goals from Scales forwards Alyce, Marcus, and Cathwin. In the second half both defenses settled down a bit, but a dazzling steal by Clairemonde of Tyr led to a quick score, and Farrell impressed the crowd again with his speed, beating Scales goalie Loring to garner a 5-2 lead. Scales fought back valiantly, but their offense was able to score only one additional goal, leaving Tyr in the lead 5-3 when the final whistle sounded.

Going into the second day of competition, all eyes were on the Covenant Campaigners, who remained undefeated after two matches with four goals in their favour. But with the teams standing at 2, 1, 1, 0 with two matches to go, it was still anyone's game, and an unprecedented amount of money flowed through Madrigal bookmakers' hands in a busy morning's betting.

Game Five, Scales vs. Tandem: The Scales squad was looking for redemption today coming off their 0-2 performance yesterday, while the Tandem Defenders were trying to climb back into contention for the tournament championship. The Stalwarts took an early lead with a goal by forward Alyce, but early in the second half Tandem captain Thayer repeated his reckless pell-mell assault from game two and scored an unassisted goal to tie the match. As the final seconds of the match ticked down, Tandem players Brand and Thayer made a last-ditch effort to win the game. Their recklessness cost them this time, however, as Scales forward Cathwin made a daring slide-kick to disrupt the attack and get the ball to his partner Alyce. Demoralized by the realization that they would not have time to regain possession and score a winning goal, the Tandem defenders were unable to stop the speedy Alyce and Marcus, who blitzed the Tandem defenders with a superbly coordinated attack. The Tandem goalie Tristram was hardly caught flat-footed, yet all he could do was gape in awe as Marcus placed a perfect cross shot out wide, finding Alyce ready to head it in and score a deciding goal just as the referee's whistle sounded. At this, the crowd surged to their feet yelling and the Stalwarts congratulated themselves on their first tournament victory. However, their exultation was cut short by the news that forward Cathwin had injured his knee making the crucial steal, and won't be able to participate on the All-Star squad.

Game Six, Covenant vs. Tyr: Tensions were high as these two teams prepared for a match that would decide the championship. The Tyr players knew that to win the tournament, they would have to defeat Covenant by at least 2 points. That would give both teams equal records, and Tyr would win first place on the strength of their goal differential and their victory over Covenant in this game. Meanwhile, Campaigners supporters prayed that their defense, which so far had not allowed a single goal in the tournament, would be able to hold against Tyr's strong offense led by the impressive Farrell. No scoring occurred in the first half, as the teams seemed to be feeling each other out, and the fans settled back in their seats. The crowd was brought to their feet early in the second half when Clairemonde of Tyr made another of his daring steals and quickly passed to Farrell, who showed off a fine pair of heels as he weaved his way through the Covenant defense. Farrell faked left, dodged right, and sent a high shot sailing toward the far corner of the net. Covenant goalie Cormac made a strong lunge, but was unable to deflect the shot, and Tyr led 1-0 on the strength of the first goal allowed by the Covenant defense in the tournament. Cormac wore a faint smile on his face as he got up, and attentive fans noticed him nod appreciatively at Farrell as the teams resumed their positions. Play continued to be tense until late in the game when Farrell once again made a break for the Covenant goal. Knowing that this was probably the last chance for Tyr to extend their lead and win the tournament, Farrell seemed to fly past the Covenant defensive squad and toward the waiting Cormac. The Tyr striker again made a couple of convincing fakes, waiting until the last instant before launching his shot. Cormac slid to his left and made a dramatic kick-save, ending the game with Tyr contained to a score of 1-0. This gave them a goal differential of +2, not quite enough to beat Covenant's +3 and thus awarding the Campaigners the league championship. After the game, both squads congratulated each other on their play, and the teams of Tandem and Scales also came out on the field to join in the celebrations.

Selection of the All-Star team members is currently underway, and as soon as the announcement is made our coverage here at Madrigal Yards will continue.