Open Friday

And then there were eight…

Much like the D pool of death yesterday, it seemed pretty apparent going into this morning that the E pool was going to be too close to call heading in.  Pike was a somewhat suspect 1 seed, thanks to a shaky performance vs. Electric Pig on Thursday, and the other 3 squads (Furious George, Johnny Bravo, and Sockeye) were all capable of beating or losing to the others, as all three were talented but sometimes inconsistent in their execution.

            So needless to say, this Intrepid Reporter planted himself firmly in between the fields that made up this pool for most of the first two rounds, and he was not disappointed.  Pike is very fun to watch-they run a good combination of careful, ball-control offense to possess the disc and big hucks when their deeps come open.  Bailey Russell and Joel Wooten are two of the fastest, biggest big men around, and they are used early and often.  Pike took half in this game 8-6 on the strength of some strong O and a few miscues from Bravo’s defensive offense.  Pike stretched it to 11-7, when Bravo called a timeout.  I don’t know what was said in that huddle, but it clearly worked.  Their defense turned on the intensity, tying the game at 13’s.  Mike Whitaker got a poach layout D on the endzone to bring it to 15-14, and then a forced huck to a covered receiver at 16-15 gave Bravo the disc.  Matt Lipscomb found Josh Ackley with the 60+ yard backhand for the goal and the win.

            Furious was doing what they do best, finding their big men in the endzone.  Andrew Lugsdin was getting it first, catching two early goals and absorbing some contact afterwards.  One left him limping off the field, only to return two points later.  A Furious Callahan after an extended discussion gave them a 6-4 lead.  Sockeye ran off 3 straight and then took the half 8-7.  Jeff Cruikshank was not on target with some of his hucks, forcing into covered receivers.  Furious managed to stretch out to a 13-11 lead after their D got a few big turns.  Sockeye rallied to tie at 13’s, then 14’s.  A missed layout bid by a Sockeye defender left an unmarked thrower, who hit Andrew Lugsdin in between and over two defenders for the goal and the 15-14 capped win.

             The second round brought a little less excitement.  As I mentioned yesterday, Pike plays a pretty short roster because their talent pool simple isn’t as deep as the top tier teams yet.  Joel Wooten later told me that he was not used to playing 50 points a day, which is about what he played on Thursday.  So Pike just didn’t have the energy to give Furious much of a game.  Furious took their momentum of the first game and stretched it out, taking half on Pike 8-4.  Pike was just a step slow on both their offense and their defense, and Furious is too good to play anything less than your absolute best.  Pike picked it up in the second half, and was able to keep the lead at 4, but they simply did not have the legs to get turns on Furious’s O team, and the final score was 15-11. 

Bravo-Sockeye was certainly much more exciting.  Both of these teams run a pretty open rotation, although they split into an O and a D team, as pretty much every team does these days.  And they are both athletic and talented, although prone to momentary lapses of concentration.  This game featured some big throws, Bravo’s mostly going to Mitch Schminke and Hector Valdivia and Sockeye’s to a wide array of fast and tall receivers, including Keith Monahan, Alex Nord, and Danny Trytiak, a young player who is exceptionally fast.  This game was nip-and-tuck the whole way, as neither team could build more than a 4 point lead. Bravo took half 8-7, their first halftime taken in 5 games at Nationals. Bravo built a 12-9 lead, but Sockeye got an O point then 4 straight from their D line to make it 14-12.  Bravo scored a tough goal by forcing two difficult throws to Schminke, then Sockeye worked it in for the 15-13 win. 

But the point differential was in Bravo’s favor.  By scoring that last goal they assured themselves a net zero point diff., while Pike was +1 and Sockeye was –1, with all three teams tied at 1-2 in the second-day pool.  So Sockeye would be playing for the right to make it to quarters.

            Pool F was far from a given result, to be sure.  But it seemed like Jam and Ring were a step above the Condors and DoG, based on the first-day results.  Of course, looks (and seems) can be deceiving.  They still play some disc up there in Boston and Santa Barbara, and were here to show it today.

             DoG still runs their trademark multiple zone and junk looks, trying to force easy turns and upset the opposing teams’ flow.  Most of these are only for a few passes, after which they fall into a man D with a one-way force.  Jam’s horizontal stack offense was not particularly bothered by the many defensive looks, but Jam was not quite as on today as they had been the day before against the Condors.  This game never saw a lead of more than 3, although Jam was in front the whole way.  They were able to hold off a furious run at the end by DoG’s defense, and Jam pulled out the 15-13 win.

            Ring/Condors was also very tight.  There was a little bit of testiness to this matchup, as the Condors requested observers at halftime, which Ring had taken 8-5.  The observers immediately made a difference, as a foul call was rescinded and Condors got a score.  The Condors O is still struggling to find itself fully, but their defense is absolutely amazing.  Mike Namkung and Greg Husak anchor a line that is nearly impossible to move the disc against.  They are fast, physical, and help very well on deep shots.  But they didn’t quite have an answer to Ring’s big throws.  Jon Procter put up some beautiful flicks, as Kris Bass was a whirling dervish on the field, as Ring held on to score the last two and win 15-13. 

            In the second round, Jam continued their sloppy play from the first round, but Ring was a more difficult opponent.  As Jam dropped discs and overthrew open receivers, Ring was slowly but surely grinding away the points. The final point looked particularly good for Tuba Benson-Jaja of Ring.  Idris Nolan threw two consecutive flick hucks, both of which were D’d by Jaja, only to have Idris call a foul and get the disc back.  A third huck from a different thrower was also D’ed by Jaja, this one with no call.  On the ensuing possession Jaja started to go deep, only to slow down when he thought the throw wasn’t coming.  It then went up, and he turned on the afterburners, laying out to catch it in the back of the endzone.  In the end, a 15-9 Ring victory may not fully represent the difference between the teams on this day.

            DoG and Condors was another great game.  Condors are clearly missing James Studarus, still sidelined with a bum ankle, and it is affecting their play on O.  But other players are stepping up big, including Kevin Buchanan and the always-dangerous Steve Dugan.  DoG is relying on Fortunat Mueller to get the offense moving, and Tom Matthews and 6’6” Colin Mahoney to anchor the D line.  I didn’t get to see a lot of this game, but reports are that Condors looked to be walking away with it, with a 7-4 lead, only to have DoG tie it at 9’s.  Points were traded from there on out, as both teams were tiring but fighting hard not to have to play again on Saturday.   I did show up at 13-12 Condors.  With the Condors having the disc to win, a huck went up to Mike Namkung.  Jit Bhattacharya was on defense, and the Condors’ Steve Dugan was also coming on strong.  Dugan and Namkung bid at the same time, and collided into each other, with Mike calling a foul on Jit, who he believed hit him.  A conversation ensure and, in the end, Mike retracted his call, an impressive amount of spirit in such a tight game.  After an injury timeout Fortunat came into the game and threw the goal to tie it at 13’s, next point wins.  The Condors received and DoG came out in a man.  Condors started in a horizontal stack, but went to a vertical set once it broke down.  They got jammed on the forehand side and couldn’t get off, but five straight passes ended up with Greg Husak hitting Brian Bogle for the goal and the win. 

            So Ring won this pool going away, with Jam taking second, followed by the Condors and then DoG playing one more that afternoon.

            In the lower pools, things went mostly to seed.  The big exception was Kaos dropping their first game to E-Pig, who scored their first victory.  A source tells me that Kaos simply could not score with their defensive unit.  Kaos’s O turned the disc over 3 times, which led to 3 E-Pig goals, and Kaos’s D forced 7 turnovers but couldn’t convert one until the second-to-last point of the game.  E-Pig finished up winning 15-11.  This made the Kaos/Chain Lightning game a bit anticlimactic, as Kaos had been effectively eliminated from the upper pool unless they could score a huge win.  Kaos was a bit disheartened by the result of the first game, and Chain won out, winning the right to play DoG in the third round.

            Both Doublewide and Big Ass Truck won their first games, meaning they would meet to play for the chance to move up.  This game was tight all the way, without a lead of more than 2 points either way the whole time.  I sprinted over from the end of Bravo/Sockeye to see Doublewide’s Don Tom call a timeout on stall 8.  BAT came out in a zone and Don tried to huck over the top, only to have the disc tipped by one of the cup members.  BAT was working the disc when Rook, one of their star players, dropped an easy swing.  Doublewide picked it up and quickly worked it in to move up and have a shot at Sockeye.

            The crowds were gathering for the third round games, as this was the first round all tournament that any teams had off.  Unfortunately, the games did not deliver too much excitement.  Sockeye was simply running harder than Doublewide was, particularly Danny Trytiak, who caught several goals.  Sockeye brought a serious level of intensity to this game, apparently feeling that they had something to prove.  This was mostly a positive thing, but their level of spirit was not as high as it could have been in every case.  But regardless, they outplayed Doublewide and won 15-9.  Chain, having perhaps expected to make quarters, certainly played a bit more like they belonged there.  But DoG was not going to go down easily, and they still had a few wrinkles up their sleeves.  A few set plays worked very well, and they were able to move the disc around the field and attack various angles almost at will against Chain’s at times overaggressive defense.  Chain continued to possess the disc well, but this played right into DoG’s defensive hands, as they try and give up a few easy passes and lure you into trying something a bit riskier.  Chain kept it close, but couldn’t get over the 2-point hump and DoG eventually won 15-12.

            So if you read any of my predictions yesterday, you already know that I’m an idiot.  But so be it, that never stopped me from talking before.  So our matchups tomorrow are

Furious v. DoG

Jam v. Bravo

Ring v. Sockeye

Pike v. Condors

            I’m going to go with Furious and Jam in one half of the bracket, and Ring and Pike in the other.  Pike is very dangerous in the first round of the day, when their horses are rested and raring to go.  Furious and Jam is pick ‘em.  It depends on who is playing better at the time.  Since I have to go with at least one team with a loss, it’ll have to be Jam, because I don’t think Pike can hang with Ring in the semis.  More tomorrow.

-David Samuels