by Nick Ligatti, Tournament Director

On May 1, 2004 at L.C. Bird High School five teams from around the state of Virginia came together to play in the 2004 UPA VA State High School Championships. The teams included James River, L.C. Bird, Poquoson, Yorktown Varsity and Yorktown JV.

As the day started the weather was overcast with the chance of showers, mainly in the evening. The teams quickly found out that the rain wasn’t going to wait too long to fall. The games started at noon and were played to eleven, because we were concerned about enough light in the later rounds. In the first round LC Bird faced off against James River and Yorktown V played Yorktown JV. LC Bird took the lead early on, and although there was a scare in the second half, they held off James River 11-4. In the battle of Yorktown H.S. the varsity team won 6-1.

In the second round Poquoson went against Yorktown V and James River took on Yorktown JV. In a hard fought game Yorktown V beat Poquoson 10-7 at the cap to win. The game played through the hardest rain shower of the afternoon, which made both the field and some of the play sloppy. Early on it looked like Yorktown might have underestimated Poquoson’s team (this is the first year the school has had a team) as Poquoson took a 3-2 lead. Yorktown regained their composure and eventually took the game. In the James River Yorktown JV game, James River took the lead and wouldn’t let go winning 11-2.

In round three LC Bird played Yorktown JV and James River played Poquoson. Bird took an early lead against the JV team. Trying a new zone defense that the team called the Pott’s D (a five-person cup with one mid and one deep) Bird won 11-4. Poquoson and James River played an exciting game that went to the cap, Poquoson was involved in the two closest, and exciting games of the day. James River played well all day long, but Poquoson was better than them on this day, winning 8-6.

In the fourth round LC Bird played Poquoson and James River played Yorktown V. Some of the inexperience of Poquoson at tournaments was starting to show, after playing two extremely close and tough games in a row, it appeared as though their stamina was failing. LC Bird won 11-3. In the other game, James River was playing solidly but they faced an organized Yorktown team that they could not handle. In another good game Yorktown V won 11-7.

In the fifth round Poquoson played Yorktown JV. Although the JV team played hard all afternoon, they just could not keep up with Poquoson. Poquoson eventually won 11-4. In the other game of round five 3-0 Yorktown faced off with 3-0 LC Bird. Since both teams were undefeated, this game was going to decide the championship. The Bird team had been looking forward to this since last years tournament when Yorktown crushed them 13-1, this time Bird had a more experienced team, having returned all but two of their players from the previous year’s team. Bird opened with a 2-0 lead, then Michael Clapman (a captain and one of the best players on the team) was injured by his own teammate, Tray Rives, when they were both going for the disc. Tray did catch the disc, but Michael was out for a few points. Stephen Powell did an amazing job stepping for Michael. Yorktown quickly solved the zone defense the Bird was running and scored two points quickly. As the score went 3-2, Michael felt ready to come back in for Bird and they took the half 6-2. In the second half there was more of the same Bird was dominating, Bird eventual won 11-4.

The final results were: 1. L.C. Bird, 2. Yorktown V, 3. Poquoson, 4. James River, and 5. Yorktown JV. James River won the Spirit Award in commanding fashion winning by more than 30 votes over Poquoson. Overall the day was great for all players, even though it did shower throughout the day.