Masters Division Coverage - Day Two

By Bil Elsinger

Today will see the Masters division settle itself out of pool play, and go through the first round of the elimination bracket. Big Unit, Glum, and Hoss all have tough roads ahead of them as two wins are needed to get back in it. Old and In the Way hopes to maintain their undefeated record, and Pool A needs to figure out who the top seeds really are with four teams at 2-1.

Pool round 4. Day round 1.

Kavu takes a step forward and Empire a step back, although a close first half at 6-6 has Empire keeping pace. Both teams have sloppy turnovers which make the points long, but Kavu stops dropping the disc. They also go to man to man defense.

Old Sag isn't playing well and Philadelphia doesn't see a lot of wind so they're still adapting to the zone. The Fat Boys play great defense, and use a lot of long throws and overheads for goals. Doug Parrish and Neil Adams were really clicking on their throws for the Fat Boys. Fat Boys win 15-9 (although you should believe Score-O-matic over me for all of these finals scores).

Never Nice Guys, meanwhile, are handing Big Unit another loss. Big Unit has yet to gel, and mistakes near the endzone put them down. They do well when they move the disc around against the zone, but didn't push the deep enough to open up the under. They are doing things right in spurts, but can't maintain as NNG plays a four person trapping cup. Big Unit's turns resulted in a four person NNG fast break, and NNG wins 15-9.

The Refugees play the so far unlucky Hoss. Lots of hucks go up and the Refugees go up right away 7-0. There's spirit everywhere on the field as Hoss gets it back together a bit to finish down 15-4.

The Kegworkers of America are up 6-5 early as Grey Expectations play all man. Grey takes half 8-6 on a quick little run, and at cap the score is 11-8 grey. The Keggies come back as they switch to zone and tie at 11s, but its Grey Expectations the rest of the way on the strength of Jeremy Aldin's unstoppable hucks and Paul Anderson's catches. Grey's long game worked both early and late, but took a dive for the middle of the game.

Old and In the Way maintained their record although the game didn't get away from Glum until the end. There was a lot of zone early, and 4 person cups by both teams as Glum's zones forced some errors. Old and In the Way's Jeff Bryant and Jim Glynn stepped up with some skys and big Ds, and Old goes on to a 14-8 win.

Final Pool round. Day round 2.

We still have Kavu, the Fat Boys, and Never Nice Guys fighting it out for first in Pool A while the Refugees and Grey Expectations hope that Old and in the Way will fall.

Grey Expectations have their fate in their hands, as they face Old and in the Way. OIW went up early to 4-2, Grey tried to keep it a game as OIW takes half 8-4, but after half Grey rolls, although Grey had a couple after half. OIW 15, Grey 6.

The Refugees came out strong against Kegworkers and never let up. Refugees 15-4.

The third game of Pool B was the closest for this round, and this pool. The two 0fer teams meet in a heated game. Hoss didn't play to its potential all game, and despite a mid game spurt, their opponent Glum went up early and stayed up. Pete Schuhmann and Tim Weigand kept Hoss from fraying too much all weekend, and the all around play of Steve Adams was a good effort. Glum comes out of this one up 15-7.

Over in Pool A, the Fat Boys go up big in the first half on Empire. The second half is fairly even, but starting out 8-0 is a tough road to go down. Empire switched to zone mid-game, and the resulting turnaround has them wondering what could have been if they had done this earlier in the day/tournament. The Fat Boys win 15-7.

Kavu has its 3-1 showdown with Never Nice Guys. The first half is dominated by Kavu, however as they use big throws and hammers to go up. NNG brings it back to 9s with some tough man to man defense, but Kavu adjusted late in the game and pulls out the win 15-11.

Old Sag goes up early 8-3 on a down Big Unit team. Big Unit isn't super deep, and that shows for the weekend as they drop the game 15-8.

Day round 3. Quarters.

Pool B is clear cut, with OIW 5-0, the Refugees 4-1, Grey 3-2, and the Kegworkers 2-3. Hoss and Glum both drop out of the championship bracket.

Pool A is less clear cut, with Kavu and the Fat Boys both at 4-1. Kavu won the head to head, however. Old Sag and NNG are both 3-2, but the NNG's win over Sag puts them at third in the pool.

This yields a Kavu regional re-matchup with the Kegworkers, and the Refugees vs. NNG in one bracket, and OIW vs. Old SAG and the Fat Boys vs. Grey Expectations in the other. Thus begins round three.

Kavu continues its domination of the Kegworkers, as they are up all game. The Kegworkers make a run in the first half, but Kavu has better legs and the Kegworkers number with only wins against them this year. Kavu wins.

The Refugees come out of the gates fast gong up 8-2. This Miami team looks young and very fast as they dominate with no drops and good consistency. Good spirit was also in plenty supply, as NNG laments the relative youth that its members had five years ago. Refugees 15, NNG 7.

The Fat Boys go up early in their game against Grey Expectations. They maintain with a couple runs to 13-7. Grey makes a late bid with three points in a row, but can't get fully back into the game as the Boys take it 15-11. The best outcome of the game was the dilution of the bad blood that came out of a tough regional matchup. The addition of observers to the game calmed both team's attitudes considerably, and the contest was a friendly one.

Old Sag and Old and In the Way are the last Master's game playing and its a rematch of last year's finals. It has been back and forth, although OIW has had a 1-2 point lead most of the way. This is a great game that came much earlier than originally anticipated for both teams. Man was the defense of the day, as both teams worked, worked, and worked the disc before sending it long. OIW is up 15-14, and has the disc on the endzone line for a wind, but takes a time. A handblock by Old Sag keeps them in the game, but a deep turnover gives the disc back to OIW. OIW's Jeff Bryant finishes the game with a great deep catch, and Old Sag is out of the championship bracket. Very unexpected. It's tough to repeat, as Old Sag has learned.

So that's a tough Kavu team taking on a young Refugee team in semis and Old and In the Way trying to roadblock the Fat Boy's path to finals. Two old teams and two new teams, but not the all the "Old" teams that we expected.

All ideas expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the UPA