|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
|
The tournament had two pools of 5 teams each. On Saturday we played round robin in the pools, and then two crossover games against similarly seeded teams from the opposite pool. So everyone got 7 games on Saturday and then the winner’s bracket started with two “Play In” games, designed to reduce the 10 teams in the tournament to 8 so we could have a quarterfinal round Sunday morning. Pinche & 5 West both ruled their respective pools, and came in as the top seeds. 5 West won their crossover game with Pinche, so got the top seed overall. Pinche got the second seed. 5Holio got the 3rd seed by virtue of cleaning up the bracket other than 5 West, including impressive wins over both Michigan teams (one in a crossover game). Duke finished second behind Pinche in their pool, good for a 4 seed. Old Guard and Anarchy got the last two byes through the play-in round, the 5 and 6 seeds, respectively. That left Boners playing Tons of Fun and STUG vs. Purple Cobras Saturday evening to determine who “won” the right to play the top seed in the winner’s bracket quarter final round, and who were the first two teams into the loser’s bracket. Several matches stand out from pool play. 5Holio rode steady play and excellent team defense to a surprising upset of Duke in a crossover game. But by far the most drama occurred in the crossover game between Old Guard and Anarchy, which included many players from local ultimate teams from the 80's. Old Guard took a few gift dumps and nursed them to an 18-15 final switch; seemingly an insurmountable lead for such a veteran team. Careful conservation got this large lead up to 20-15, and it was all over but the shouting. But Anarchy stuffed a sock in the fat lady’s mouth, going on a huge roll to score 7 straight and win the game 22-20. Billy DeRaad, Tom Depree and Steve Sengebush all made multiple soaks during this run; missing any one would have meant the end of the game! This is the same Tom Depree who soaked Keenan & Dailey Jackson on consecutive throws during the second match of the day against 5 West! Standings after Pool Play:
Tons and Cobras both prevailed to join the winner’s bracket quarters. Winner’s Bracket Quarters Duke, 5 West and Pinche won their quarterfinal matches easily and had the tournament well on its way to staying on schedule. The fourth match was a barn burner between 5 Holio and Anarchy. These teams had played Saturday morning during pool play, a game won handily by 5 Holio. They came out confidently on Sunday morning and won the first game rather easily, soaking shot after shot and taking excellent care of the disk. With their backs to the wall, Anarchy recovered their game and roared off to a 21-15 win thanks to a couple of dumps from 5 Holio. The third game was a see-saw affair finally won by Anarchy after a period of multiple soaks in a row. Losers Bracket Meanwhile Old Guard dismissed the Boners from the tournament in the first loser’s bracket match. 5 Holio expelled Team STUG in the second match. The Globo-Gym Purple Cobras made a brief visit to the bracket, but were given a rude welcome by the ancient fossils of the Old Guard. 5 Holio graduated to a match with Tons of Fun, but didn’t have any fun as Tons prevailed. It was during this match that a bit of heckling by your friend and humble narrator seemed to get under the skin of Tons of Fun; one of the players suggested the issue could be resolved with a fight. The author thought a sprint race would be a better competition, but that suggestion was rudely rejected. So our loser’s bracket survivors, Tons of Fun and Old Guard, awaited the losers of the winner’s bracket semi-finals. Winner’s Bracket Semis: The winner’s bracket semis were mildly disappointing affairs, with 5 West beating Duke fairly easily 2 straight and Pinche bludgeoning Anarchy about the head and neck. Not even a third game? Come on, guys! Loser’s Bracket Redux Now the stage was set for another epic battle between Anarchy and Old Guard. The stakes were higher, with tournament survival on the line. Old Guard as before started out quick and got a lead, riding the powerful throws of Pat Dexter and the excellent defense of Ramon Sarason. Billy DeRaad put on an amazing display of defense late in the game, however, and Anarchy prevailed. Anarchy pretty much always prevails, doesn’t it? Duke dropped down and mopped the floor with first Tons of Fun, and then Anarchy. And then there were 3! Winner’s Bracket Finals Last years finalists (both under different names) squared off again in the winner’s bracket final. It was an extremely exciting, high level affair, full of great plays on defense and amazing shots. Unfortunately it only lasted two games, and I didn’t get to watch because those Duke carpetbaggers made us play our loser’s bracket match about then. 5 West prevailed, and retired to await an opponent for the tournament final. Loser’s Bracket Final Everything looked to be on pace for a rematch of last year’s epic final between Pinche and 5 West. Both teams had looked great all weekend long, neither had been tested by anyone other than each other. But that’s why they play the games! The match was close throughout the first few points with lots of great throws and great defensive plays. A few untimely dumps (when are dumps ever timely?) by Pinche got Duke a lead they would not relinquish, and they cruised. The rematch was off, and there would be a michigan team in the tournament final. Tournament final 5 West faced Duke in the final. 5 West won the flip and elected to throw; Dailey Jackson fired first, and Ryan Scott got the tip catch. He shot a forehand through Dailey for an early 1-0 lead. Dailey responded with an ace between Ryan & Luc Colden to square it at 1's. Dailey got a nice up on Luc’s flipper but it fell for a 2-1 Duke lead. Dailey scored on Billy Gagnon to tie it up again at 2's. The match continued to be a one point affair through the first switch and midway through the second; tons of catches, and great plays. 5 West got their first 2 point lead at 10-8 after a soak by Dailey. The teams traded points and the Keenan bagged Billy with his left hand, following with an inside out forehand for a 3 point lead at 12-9; Billy scored to force a 12-10 switch. Evan fired back and Luc Colden got a sick up on Evan’s forehand and caught the tip himself. He scored to bring it back to a one point game, and Billy soaked Keenan and scored to tie it at 12's. Then the battle really picked up. Evan scored to 13-12, and then Keenan & Billy traded soaks (each more spectacular than the last), followed by another grab by Keenan and a score to 14-12. Duke would not go away, scoring and getting a diving tip catch by Luc off an up by Billy; the return flipper tied the game at 14's. A pair of scores, a pair of tip catches brought it to 15's, then 5 West took control. Keenan & Evan each made tip catches and scored for 17-15. Billy put a nice forehand on the outside hand, but Evan soaked it and followed it up with a sick 5 hole of Billy to get the 18-15 switch. A pair of scores to 19-16, then another tip catch by 5 West and Evan scored to make it 20-16. Billy’s reply was soaked by Keenan with his left hand, and Keenan blew the candles out through Luc’s outside hand. Game 1 to 5 West. Game 2 kept the same incredible level of play, but sadly not the competitive nature of game 1. Ryan blasted a backhand through Dailey to open the game. Dailey got Billy in the face with a forehand, but it was a good enough up for Ryan to catch. Ryan dumped a backhand wide to tie it at 1's. Keenan scored and 5 West tip caught Billy’s shot back. Keenan scored through Ryan for 3-1. Ryan went back to the forehand for 3-2. Keenan and Luc exchanged scores and Duke started moving their lineup. This seemed to wake Dailey up. Billy went to the right end for the first time and Dailey scored on him. Dailey soaked Billy’s reply and threw an ace through Luc’s outside hand for 6-3. Dailey bagged Luc’s flipper and threw a forehand though Billy’s inside hand, (this time Billy was back on the left end) for 7-3. Dailey grabbed Billy’s forehand back and scored on him again for an 8-3 switch. Billy got a fair up of Dailey’s next shot but Luc barely missed the tip after a long run for 9-3. Billy got to 9-4 and Keenan shot him again. Billy stopped it and Ryan made an amazing kick save of the bobble but they couldn’t quite control it for 10-4. Billy scored for 10-5 and Keenan threw a fast chopper through Billy, which was a big change, he’d been throwing flat forehands to that point. Duke called it vertical, 5 West disagreed and Duke caught the re-throw. Ryan went back to his blazing backhand and Dailey made a sick up and caught the tip himself. He scored through Billy for 11-5. Billy & Dailey exchanged points for 12-6 then Dailey tip caught Ryan’s forehand and scored for 13-6. Keenan soaked Billy’s forehand on the outside hand but dumped his shot low for 13-7. Ryan attempted a fishhook which dumped for 14-7, and Evan scored to give 5 West the 15-7 switch. It actually got worse. Dailey got a monster up of Luc’s flipper which Keenan caught, but Keenan sailed a forehand wide for 15-8. Dailey calmly bagged Luc’s flipper an inch off the ground and scored for 16-8. Dailey soaked Billy’s shot and scored for 17-8. Evan got into the act, bagging Billy’s forehand and scoring for 18-8. Keenan made a sick grab of Luc’s flipper and scored on a flat forehand into the middle for 19-8. Duke rallied a bit; Luc got an amazing flipper ace for 19-9 and made a great up which Billy caught. Billy scored for 19-10. Dailey shot a forehand through Ryan’s outside hand for 20-10 and Ryan threw an eye-popping backhand that barely got touched for 20-11. Keenan ended the match with a forehand through Ryan for 21-11 final result. The stats showed an amazing display of guts virtuosity. Tip catches were exactly even, 5-4 in favor of Duke in game 1 and 4-3 in favor of 5 West in game 2. Keenan had 7 bags in the first game alone, and seemed well on his way to a second straight MVP award until his little brother Dailey blew up the second game. Little brothers can be so annoying! Billy had 3 soaks in the first game, Ryan Dailey & Evan each got 1. In the second game no Duke player had a soak, Dailey had 5, Keenan 2 and Evan 1. Total clean catches were thus 17-4 in favor of 5 West. Accuracy was even more impressive. Of 29 total shots by Duke in game 1, Billy threw 21, Luc threw 5 and Ryan only 3 (two after catches). 5 West’s accuracy fell off in the second game; Ryan had 7 shots, Luc 6 and Billy 11, but they were up big most of the game. Duke did seem to be avoiding Evan, Dailey got 20 shots in the match, Keenan 26, and Evan only 8. Billy threw 32 shots in the match, Ryan 10 and Luc 11. Ryan spent the weekend shooting mostly forehands with the occasional backhand. It was GREAT! Thanks to all the volunteers, thanks to all the out of towners who visited, and hope to see everyone next year. Billy Gagnon, I really apologize for serving finely crafted micro brew in kegs at the party. I know you would have preferred Buttweiper or Swiller Lite. Thanks for hanging in there! |
|