Open Division Coverage - Day Two

By Bil Elsinger

A big day for all teams as we're looking at elimination for the lower brackets and seeding for the upper (plus the extra possible game for the fourth seeds out of Pool E and Pool F. To recap that, Furious and Jam came in first in their pools yesterday with the Condors and Doublewide rounding out pool E. Pool F is headed by DoG and Sockeye with Johnny Bravo and Ring coming in with the inherited loss. The 2s already have an 0-1 record because of their placement yesterday.

The wind is even stiffer today than yesterday, although not as bad as two years ago. There's some gusting, and occasionally it's not too bad. Late in the day the wind calmed down a bit.

Pool E went according to plan. Both Jam and Doublewide started off playing zone. Damien Scott, Big Jim Schoettler, and Jeff Eastham took on most of the handling duties against the zone for Jam with Damien getting the most touches. When Jam transitions to Man, Doublewide starts the game working it up the line, going from 6-2 down to a closer 7-5 down, but as the game progresses, the winds, which are stronger than yesterday but still cross-field, pose a problem for Doublewide. They get stuck forced into the wind on the line just off their own endzone several times, with a very small cutting window, and no place to throw the hammer (what with the wind). This is especially the case when the wind really picks up around 5 something. Jam uses the advantages that person is giving them with the heightened wind conditions. At 7-5, Jam calls a touch foul on a short turn into the endzone. They get the disc back, but turn over as they can't get force it in. DW turns it right back, however, and Jam goes up 8-5. There's a lot of turns by both team, but Jam does a comparatively decent job on offense as they work through Doublewides zone. Jam cruises in the second half to a15-7 win.

The Condors take an early lead against Furious, but Vancouver's defensive team steps it up as they go 3-2 when they're in. This translates into a 6-5 lead, as Furious is playing mostly zone, with some switches to man. The Condors are also playing mostly Zone, as Jeff Cruikshank and Derek Alexander keep the disc moving for Furious. The Condors tie at 6s. The Condors go on a mini-run to go up 8-7, but Furious answers back with two in a row to 9-8. Back come the Condors with two to 10-9. The defensive lines are playing well. There are a lot of turns on these gives and takes, but things are fairly even. Furious walked it up against the Condors zone in the fist half, so there's a transition to more man defense. Both teams seem to be playing as if the total number of turns don't matter that much, as a lot of chances are taken, and the disc switches sides quickly. Condors stay up at 11-9. At 12-12, Furious gets the D and goes up one with a very pretty long throw from Evan Wood. Kirk Savage then throws a goal for 14-12 after a couple more turns from both teams. Furious wins 15-12 with a strong second half as Mike Enns gets a sweet layout D and Furious works it 50 yards for the score. The big change for Furious for the final few points is a more cautious underneath game that gives them the last three points.

Over in Pool F, everything was up for grabs, and the supposed lower seeds show some muscle. Johnny Bravo starts out playing some person, while Sockeye is showing zone (especially upwind) and transition. Johnny Bravo takes half 8-4 as Sockeye has a lot of bad turns and wind takes their throws away. Bravo's efficiency comes in handy as they start out up 3-1 and maintain to 5-4 with a nice little run before half. Both teams start out a bit sloppy, but Bravo cleans it up first as they are still ahead at 10-7. Sockeye scores on only to have Johnny smoothly work it up the field to maintain their lead. Sockeye hasn't been showing a lot of patience, as they go to the huck against the tough upwind person defense. Some Sockeye drops on easy catches coming back to the disc are emblematic of Sockeye's troubles. Sockeye puts it together late in the game to come back to 14-13 on a three point run. Bravo closes out Sockeye's rally with a 15-13 win and a big upset.

Meanwhile, DoG is playing a lot of zone against Ring with a short cup and a lot of Sam Rosenthal chasing. Ring's Tiger Pearson, Mick Ribault, and Augie Kreivenas are handling against the zone, while DoG has Nathan Wicks, Alex Defrondeville, and Paul Greff in on the zone offense. Ring goes up 7-5 off of punts after trading until 3s and alternating with 1 and 2 point leads. Luckily, Ring's team has some advantages deep (6'10). DoG meanwhile is being more careful with the disc and a lot of under cuts. Ring shifts to a tough person D and continues to get its share of deep hucks. DoG's careful play ties the scores at 8s as they come out of half to score 2. DoG's comeback comes as they refocus some of their strategies, including putting more offense out on the field with their D lines. DoG's comeback is stopped short, as Mick Ribault comes up with a BIG Callahan on DoG's dump attempt. At 10-9 Ring, DoG drops the disc, but a Hinkle hammer flutters to a turnover close to the goal. DoG turns it back over on a drop, and Ring throws too deep. Ring comes back with a layout D by Kevin Kusy, and scores to go up 2. DoG gets a nice huck from Fortunat Mueller to the endzone line, and Moses Rifkin jukes his defender for the easy score 10-10. At 11-10 Ring, DoG gets another huck just short of the endzone and they call timeout. The timeout doesn't pan out as several turns by both teams occur on DoG's side of the field until Chris Hinkle of Ring gets the disc and puts to Kusy and DoG isn't back on D as Kusy takes the wide open cross field throw to Ray Parrish. Score Ring to 12-10. Ring maintains their lead for the upset win.

Meanwhile, in the lower pools, Electric Pig goes down to Boss Hogg. They start out slow as Boss takes half 8-2. Both teams play mostly man in a fairly clean contest (not so many turns, several less by Boss) as Boss is on its game.

Chain beats Sub-Zero as they play a smarter game by playing for field position. Hucks require Sub-Zero to try to grind the disc back up the field, but the wind and good defense make this difficult as Chain goes on to win. Chain was up a couple breaks early but Zero worked it back to an 8-6 half. Chain finishes strong to win 15-10.

In pool G, Vicious comes out with a strong first half against BAT. BAT tries to make a comeback, but bad decisions lead to an off game. The Vicious defense went on a nice run to 10-2 from 2-2. Both teams played mostly man defense, and Vicious closes it out.

In a heated match, Madison takes on Pike. Madison is up 13-10 in this game despite Pikes 4 man cup. Lot s of double teams are called but BAT doesn't back off and some tension builds up. There's a big discussion late in the game about an out of bounds situation that turns less than pretty, and Pike gets fired up. Some deep throws that Madison can't stop with a zone forces Madison into man D. Madison falls apart as some of its clutch players have an off game and Pike pulls out a 16-14 victory in overtime.

Round Two

The second round sees the winner of yesterday's pools take each other on. That's Furious Jam and DoG Sockeye. The Furious Jam game is for the one seed come bracket play, while the Dog Sockeye match will no longer necessarily determine the two seed after both teams' losses in the first round.

Sockeye starts off down to DoG, but Sockeye changes gears as it depends less upon strategy and more on having fun. This new found relaxation on the field turns into a three point run. to tie at threes as DoG's offensive line keeps coming under and plays zone when it turns. DoG scores their fourth point first, then puts in a fairly short to medium height line. Sockeye ties it at 4s, and DoG's defensive line looks tired. Sockeye continues their streak with a couple more points. They've just scored six to DoG's one but a Sockeye turn near their own endzone later results in a 6-6 tie. Another point for each team gets us to 7s, and a marathon point for half. A long time passes with turns by both teams. Eventually, DoG takes a time out. The time out comes through as DoG takes half. Sockeye receives, but a turn and a couple short passes later and they're suddenly down two. Roger Crafts then gets a nice layout for a huck from Jeremy Cram (many didn't think he'd make it to the disc) and a short throw nets Sockeye a goal. Sockeye then gets the D off a swilly short throw close to their goal and takes the opportunity to tie it back up at 9s. Fortunat Mueller answers back with a forehand for the score to Ron Kubalanza for the one point lead, and another less than perfect throw gets Ded. DoG calls time once again. And they score, 11-9. On the next pull, Sockeye calls off-sides, DoG repulls, and uh-oh, a dropped pull. DoG is getting under passes all game even though Sockeye's been audibly concentrating on stopping this. Cap goes on, the two teams are hucking, and Kubalanza strikes again with a Callahan off a swing pass. Later, Moses Rifkin throws a nice forehand to William Arnold to go up 14-9.

Jam starts off with three straight goals against Furious as they have some big grabs. Damian Scott grabs the swill from the air, and the Scott ­ Mike Grant matchup promises to thrill. Furious gets back into their rhythm, and trade a few until Grant pulls in a long huck from Andrew Lugsdin to bring it back to 5-4. When I get back from checking on the Jam game, Furious has taken half 8-7. Furious receives the pull, and promptly hucks to Mike Grant as he lays out in the endzone. Jam keep it close with a mid-length throw to Big Jim. Another break from the action, and Jam is suddenly up 12-9 as they go on a five point run. Furious has had some throwaways, drops, and hasn't been making great decisions. Jam, meanwhile, capitalizes on these mistakes as they score on hucks, and play a 1-3-3 to change the flow of the game. Their zone forces Furious to throw into the wind, and Jam starts winning the 50/50 catches. Jam works it up the field underneath to 13-9, and Furious is in trouble as the cap goes on and Jam finishes 15-10. Jam is back.

Bravo goes up 2 on Ring and trades to 4-2, but Ring pulls it back to 4-4. Bravo is working it under pretty well, but Kevin Kusy answers with an assist for Ring's fifth point and first lead. Ring goes on a run to 9-6, as Bravo starts playing Ring's game as swilly hucks go both way. Some endzone turns and lookoffs of upfield cuts contribute to Bravo's slide. Johnny Bravo's James Emerson isn't having a great day, but he gets a big handblock on the goal line. Bob Krier goes up in a crowd off a hanging throw to chip the lead back down to 2. Several turns follow with Mickey Madzinski picking off a lot of mid-field swill. Ring eventually scores to maintain their 3 point lead. Neither team seems to be eager enough to change the three point lead, so I wonder off. Ring keeps their lead at 13-10, and later add a point for their final score.

The Condors roll Doublewide as they go up early 6-1 and never recover. Doublewide seems a bit out of its depth here, but looks good for their eventual pre-quarter game matchup.

But who will they be matched up against? After round one, two teams in Pool H are 1-1 and Boss is 2-0 (with their inherited standings). Only a Sub-Zero win will move Boss Hogg out of its top spot, and the win needs to come with a sufficient point differential as three teams could finish 2-1.

But first, Pool G, where Vicious is already 2-0, and only Madison and Pike can challenge for the pre-quarter spot.

The Pike BAT game looks close, but I fail to find a representative from either team to recap it for me. It turns out to be immaterial for the pre-quarters spot as Vicious makes it impossible for the other teams as they close out Madison 15-7. Vicious dominates the whole game after they go up 7-1. Madison just came off their tough loss to Pike, and they've been riding their main players all weekend.

Chain goes up early on Electric Pig using deep throws to its taller receivers and field position. They stop Pig's long throws, although Pig does a good job of getting the breakmarks. Chain's survival depends upon Sub-Zero's winning and point differential, however, so their fate is no longer in their hands.

Boss Hogg kept it close through half on Sub-Zero with surges coming both ways. Sub-Zero is up a break the whole game as offensive execution is the key. Sub-Zero plays mostly man, and the location of turnovers late in the game helped lead to Sub-Zero's late game move. Unfortunately, a four point win isn't enough, nor does it serve Chain's interest, as Boss Hogg squeaks out with a plus one point differential (compared to a 0, and -1). Next up, Doublewide.

Summary of Round Two.

Sockeye goes from a good Thursday to a letdown Friday. They suddenly find themselves required to play a third round game against a hard charging Vicious that has only lost to the Condors and Jam. If Sockeye wins, they have the un-enviable task of facing the new #1 seed in the tournament Saturday morning, Jam. Doublewide hasn't seen very long games today, so they should be well rested for their Boss Hogg matchup.

DoG will be forced to play the Condors in the 4-5 game. Ring plays the second pre-quarters winner (Boss Hogg/Doublewide) and Furious takes on Johnny Bravo. This could lead, if seedings hold, to a Ring-Furious game, and a Jam DoG one, although Jam Condors is just as likely. But let's confirm the final quarter's participants.

Summary of Round Three.

Boss starts out up on Doublewide as Doublewide comes out with person D. Sockeye meanwhile goes up 2-0 as they play error free, and capitalize on the first Vicious turn. Vicious player #72 goes up in a crowd for a huck and Vicious puts it in to make it 2-1. The low turnover count is something of an exception so far this tournament, but as things come down to the wire, several teams are being stingier with the disc. A couple of turns later (near the Vicious endzone) and Sockeye goes up 3-1.

Over in the Double/Boss game, a long point's been in the works, including a time out. DW ties the score on a nice huck from Stew Ford to a wide open receiver.

Sockeye's Luke gets a partial handblock, but they don't make good of the D. Vicious sends it long to Donovan Thomas to get back to 3-2.

Boss hucks to Mike Franz to go up 2-1 on DW.

Some swill goes Sockeye's way but misfortune on a dump turns it back over. Britt Atack gets the handblock at mid-field. Sockeye works it up the field for a short score from Mike Caldwell to PatMcCarthy.

Boss meanwhile is transitioning from zone to man. DW works it up against the zone, and scores without a turn. Tie game at 2s.

Lou Burruss for Sockeye is out this game with a hamstring issue. We'll see if he comes back tomorrow. His team takes advantage of a Vicious throw into the ground, and Mark Stone throws a 25 yard forehand to Jeremy Cram to go up 5-2.

Boss turns over on the goal line after working it down the field. Neil Pallaver picks off a poor throw but Boss turns over off the hands of its dump. DW turns back over and boss gets the break mark from Ben Friedenson to go up 3-2.

Vicious goes to a zone after a midfield huck brings the score closer at 5-3 vs. Sockeye. Roger Crafts one hands a Josh Monaghan lefty hammer to the delight of the crowd. It's a difficult catch with the defense on, but Sockeye's up 6-3.

Don Tom catches a mid-length pass with nice touch from DW's Max Cook. Boss drops at the 20 yard line from their own endzone, and play stops play on a mark that's counting from more than 10 feet away.

Sockeye goes up 7-3 after a Vicious turn, then plays zone transition as Andrew Fleming pulls down a deep D.

A short wobbly forehand from DW just short of a score gives the disc to Boss, but there's another turnover from Boss. Calvin Lin starts the disc out for DW quite a bit, but a later throw turns over on a nice defensive bid from Dan Forseter. Zone from Boss again with a 4 man cup, but Neil Pallaver catches a disc just out of reach of his defender to have Boss go up 4-3.

Cheers of "Luke" come from the next field, and Sockeye's taken half at 8-3 of f a score to the always popular Luke Smith. Vicious is never able to get back into the game, so I'll drop the rest of that game from here on out. Some notes: At 10-5, Dennis Karlinsky lays out in the endzone for a six point lead and Vicious shows signs of internal tension. Barney Ahouse plays some good dump defense, Vicious gets a couple hammers in, Sockeye goes up 14-6, Vicious fights to stay in with #48 from their team pulling down a great grab between two taller defenders, the Vicious sideline starts to make some noise, but Chris Page gets a deep D and Sockeye closes it out.

Back to the DW/Boss game. A throw behind a DW player on the endzone line is a turn, Boss goes to a dominator for half the field, starts to include the rest of the team, but throws to no one (or more positively, space), and a double layout leads to a D from Jason Conrad. Tal Tversky throws over Vicious to the 5'7 Max Cook, and a short pass later and we're at 4s. Boss throws in front of a receiver just 2 yards short of the endzone, as both teams give up any pretense of playing zone. Sean McCall uncharacteristically throws into the ground, but DW gets it back with a fingertip layout just averting a Boss score. DW calls timeout half way back up the field. After the time, DW works it down to go up 5-4.

Boss turns over on a break throw, and DW needs only 20 yards for 6-4. They take it. Boss comes back with a Dan Forseter huck to Hunt Allcott. I speak to soon, as Boss again shows the zone, but DW works it through to go back up 2. Boss throws over the top of DW again as Mike Jones makes it 7-6. Sean McCall throws a long forehand and Cook brings it down again to regain the 2 point lead. At this point, and for much of the game, almost all of the goals are being scored in one endzone. The wind is cross field, let's call it East going West, so all the scores are occurring in the South Endzone (closer to the field house). Forehands are the main long throws up the Western sideline.

DW's David "Nacho" Salisbury breaks to Sean McCall after a Boss sideline call of "no break." Mike Laub answers back to Mike Jones with a break as the DW sideline echoes the "no break" call.

Forseter gets an interception for Boss as he goes through McCall for the disc, but the interception stands and Boss takes time 10 yards from the score. After the time out, Boss turns. DW gets stuck on the line with no cuts and throws into the ground with a forehand break. DW's David Melancon gets a forehand handblock, and I have a deadline to make, so I'll skip ahead some. Boss finally breaks the Northern endzone drought to get to 11-10, But DW gets the disc on a later drop and goes back up to 13-10. Boss hucks it out of bounds, Don Tom puts it up to Patrick Eberle for the score, but no, it comes back on the travel. Tom tries again and Eberle gets way above his defender but the disc comes out in the endzone. An uncontested foul puts the disc on the line, and DW goes up 14-10. I take off to go find the Master's teams as I think the game is over. When I get back, Boss has come back to 14-12 on a Lin throw to Josh McCarthy. DW drops early in their next series, and Hunt Allcot scubers for the short score. It's 14-13 and we have a game again.

DW turns it over on a cross field pass near its own endzone, Scott Berens gets a hot goto layout D and Don Tom encourages Stew Ford to take the timeout. Stew does, but it's a timeout that DW DOES NOT HAVE as its still regulation, even though the cap is on. Boss works it up the field, has a score come back on an earlier travel, then scores for real as Casey Recupero breaks the mark to Neil Pallaver. Tie (flat)ball game at 14s, hard 16.

Each team now has (just a few minutes too late for DW) a timeout as it's overtime.

Boss pulls out of bounds at midfield, DW scores, but it comes back on an early travel call. DW's Kevin Gaffney burns his Boss defender with a simple in out cut to the force side and DW is up 15-14. Or (1)5-(1)4, as you'd rather I say it. The wind, by the way, has settled down a bit in the second half.

Boss scores, but it comes back on a pick cal, then Forseter hits Friedenson with a forehand huck and we're tied again, this time double-game point.

Boss starts with junk, but transitions into man after a few throws. Scott Berens throws it deed to a seemingly not very wide open receiver, but that receiver is David Salisbury, and he goes up over two Boss defenders to win the game and the last quarters spot.

Whew. What a game.

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