Varsity Quidditch dominated the Lassiter Trojans last night in the Quidditch State Cup after a rigorous game that ended 190-40. The victory was unprecedented, shocking the state and making NC history. Never had Cobb County been the only player for the Cup, and never had NC beaten Lassiter or won the Cup.

“We made history!” exclaimed senior beater Fabian Wesley once the match completed. “We’d been practicing so hard and completely redefined our game plan, and it’s thrilling to see all our hard work pay off.”

NC’s win came largely from their offensive strategy, with chasers Nathaniel Bigelow (junior), Alice Johnston (senior), and Katherine Brown (senior) bombarding Lassiter’s keeper, sophomore Ruphard Keyes.

“We just kept going and going,” said Brown. “The key was to keep passing so Lassiter’s chasers didn’t take the Quaffle. There were a lot of elaborate plays we had to pull off that we didn’t know if we would be able to do.”

Bigelow was the first to score through the middle hoop, immediately following the goal with another in the left hoop with assists from Brown. Trojan chaser Victor Cray caught the Quaffle from Keyes and darted across the field to NC’s goals. At one point he fumbled and the Quaffle dropped to the ground. Immediately another Trojan, Harrison Richards, grabbed the Quaffle and shot in past NC keeper Carl Chinn through NC’s goal.

“We got really scared when the Chasers stole the Quaffle from us,” said NC senior Beater Gregory Wakefield. “They’d always beaten us in the past and usually after they took the Quaffle from us they kept it.”

The Trojans became caught up in the moment and began chanting, “Go, go Gryffindor!”, alluding to their gold and crimson school colors. North Cobb’s student section was briefly silenced before they roared back, “Gryffindors may say we’re awful, but at least Ravenclaws don’t drop the Quaffle!” and “Lassiter might be big and rich, but NC can catch the Snitch!”

“They really shocked us with how loud they were chanting, and we scrambled to find a comeback,” said fan and freshman Daniel Thomas. “Eventually we decided that if they were Gryffindor, then we were Ravenclaw, and so we used the chant we’d rehearsed before the match. It was so exciting!”

The Warriors on the Quidditch field scored and shot the Quaffle three more times against the Trojans, with Brown accounting for one goal and Johnson the other two, in the time it took for the “Ravenclaw” fans to finish their chant.

“It was great.  The Lassiter fans looked so shocked that they stopped cheering. We were pretty shocked too, though. It felt like Lassiter was starting to slip, and we tried to take advantage of that,” said Johnston.

Yet NC suffered a setback in which the Trojans gained four more goals, bringing up their total points to 50.

“That was scary,” said Keeper Chinn. “I let in four goals and I thought at that point we were done for.”

But NC rallied quickly and Brown and Johnson each shot off two goals, tying the game. Suddenly, NC and Lassiter Seekers junior Rowan Yeni and senior Harriet Porter spotted the Snitch nearly at the same time. They shot off, Porter in the lead due to her top-of-the-line broom, the Lightningstrike. Quality beat quantity, however, and little Yeni, with her Firebolt broom, knocked Porter’s hand out of the way to touch the Snitch.

A silence hushed the field before a great cheer exploded from NC’s stands as fans rushed the fields. Principal Philip Page descended from the stands as well for the victory ceremony, in which the President of the High School Quidditch Association (HSQA) presented the State Cup.

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Seeker and captain Rowan Yeni. “We put it all out on the field and we were rewarded for it. We gave 110 percent in practice and 200 percent out there. Now all we have to do is defend our title next year!”

April Fool’s!

xoxo,

The Chant