2004 UPA Minnesota High School State Championships

by John Sandahl, Tournament Director

What a weekend it was. All the things you could want in a state tournament. Great weather with only a hint of clouds or rain. Beautiful lined fields at St. John’s University. And 18 of the best high school Ultimate teams that Minnesota has to offer.

Last year there was a clear cut favorite headed into the weekend as Hopkins had dominated all regional competition and made such a strong showing at Nationals. With the loss of a strong bunch of senior men and women, Hopkins took a slight step back towards the pack. Or was it that other teams took a step forward? Either way they were back in action and looking towards the elimination rounds on Sunday.

This year’s other title contenders included several different styles of play. Nationals competitors Cretin-Derham Hall brought their extremely diligent and patient offense along with some seriously strong women. They’re a team that knows how to score. Sure they could huck it…but they’d much rather wear you out underneath. Joe Moravec (brother of Coach Wade) and Patty King (Junior Captain of the MN Misces) led a very talented (and deep) squad.

Armstrong (last year's 2nd place team) looked hungry and more athletic than ever. With a sort of bionic transition offense of full field hucks to faster stronger and higher “dudes,” they were a force to be reckoned with. Led by Brad Ingber and his team of bionic men.

South High Squall of Minneapolis brought a league team that went undefeated in the regular season and during the preliminary tournament, based largely on a defensive style that made everyone else’s offense adjust. Senior captains John Schmit and Liz Pipkorn anchored a team of players looking to finish above their 5th place finish of last year.

Eden Prairie – new, athletic, understaffed (on the female side) and relying on a couple of tall, fast and fearless athletes led by diaper dandy Carter and his forest of tall players.

Other teams looking to make some noise:

Southwest High of Minneapolis – Sam V and Adam K bringing the Swuft attack to your door.

Minnetonka – Dan Stedman’s squad has taken a step forward and is looking for more steps to take.

Blake Danny Wexler’s fire and leadership are usually enough to get them over the hump.

Mounds View/Irondale…made huge strides throughout the spring and will kill you with more than kindness these days.

Edina – Less talented than last year's semifinalist team…but still hard to beat because of solid coaching.

Cathedral – Nate Maddux always gives his players a chance to win. Give them a year or two and that program will be dominating

School of Environmental Science – A little out of sync without their captain and huckmaster (Paul Hirte) who went to Alaska on a school trip. Luckily his brother and sister were there to keep the team going.

Como Park (St. Paul) – This team is another that has obviously learned lessons from last year's state experience. They are much more focused and disciplined and have developed into a team that can score on anybody.

Central (St. Paul) – a smaller team at state but still hungry nonetheless.

Northfield – our one non-spring league team who made the trek up just for the tournament. Northfield is the home of Carleton and St. Olaf college teams and so they should have no shortage of coaching candidates in the coming year.

Saturday’s play left all four top seeds (CDH1, South, Armstrong, Hopkins) unscathed and basically left the seedings where they were at the start of the day. Northfield was the only unknown coming into the weekend, and they easily earned a spot in Sunday’s pre-quarter matchups. One observer noticed that across the board the level of play was up from last year. Teams were more experienced and more disciplined. Last year there was a fairly large drop off in talent after about the 10th team. This year the dropoff was much harder to see. Credit another league season with developing teams.

Sunday’s prequarter matchups pitted Eden Prairie against SES, Blake against Como park, Northfield against Edina and Southwest against Minnetonka.

With no real upsets in the pre-quarters or quarters (South over Blake, CDH over Edina, Armstrong over Minnetonka and Hopkins over Eden Prairie) we were down to our top four seeds and two long awaited semi-final matchups.

South vs. Armstrong. South takes an early lead 5-3 with a solid cup zone and then gives up the lead when Armstong's throwers start finding the crossfield gaps. Half ends 8-6 Armstrong. South switches to person defense and gets right back in the game with a 9-8 lead. Armstrong's transition hucks were defensed well by South throughout the game, but South got a little stagnant on offense (tired?) and gave up two easy scores to give up a 10-9 lead. Armstrong’s hucks finally start connecting and they extend the lead to 11-9 when the cap goes on. Game to 13. South gives a gutsy effort to bring the disc within five feet of tying the score at 12’s, but a nice D and full field huck from Yonni to Marcus seals the deal when the disc hangs in the air just long enough to allow a sweet layout catch by Marcus to win the game 13-11.

CDH v. Hopkins. Hopkins who had the hardest quarter battle and who seems to have more polish but less athleticism that last year's team keeps the game relatively close. I was coaching South in the other semifinal but I saw both teams trading punches. I don’t think Hopkins ever held a lead however and couldn’t really get past CDH who seems to be the team of destiny during this tournament.

Finals. CDH vs. Armstrong. Played in front of a couple hundred fans and players in the hallowed St. John’s University football stadium complete with press box and scoreboard.

Armstrong is tired and hurting after an emotional and hard fought semifinal game.
Star thrower Yonni is working hard to loosen up his leg cramps on the sidelines and Marcus “the Dude” isn’t looking much bette,r though he puts in a tremendously gutsy game playing almost the whole time with obviously painful injuries.

CDH comes out a little flat, gives up an easy goal when they are surprised by Marcus’ (from Armstrong) athletic goal scoring efforts. They quickly wake up and take tenuous control of the game near half time.

The fans seem to be rooting for CDH with the exception of the large group of Armstrong parents who have decided to do their own team cheer in response to the Raucous “Raging Safari Cheers.”

The second half goes much like the first. Except Armstrong plays some zone in an effort to slow down the CDH offense and save their legs a bit. CDH is generally regarded as the best zone O team in the state and so this seems like a mistake to many observers, but it seems to work as the CDH offense bogs down a bit and lets Armstrong tie the score back up.

The rest of the game is big play after big play, like two boxers who refuse to let up. Both teams make some silly unforced errors but then both teams make some amazing plays. Game gets capped at 14 and when CDH gives up an easy score while leading 13-12 the table is set for a HUGE final point. 13-13 universe point. Fans are on their feet. You can tell that everyone really appreciates this game.

Both teams have their opportunities. Both teams make big strikes towards the end zone with poaches all ready for them. Finally CDH manages to pull the Armstrong zone in enough to let one of their female players (Katie?) sneak behind the last back. The huck goes up and the crowd is already on their feet. It hangs in the air just long enough for the Armstrong defender to look beaten. He makes a great run but can’t get closer than shouting distance. The disc settles in her hands and CDH has won the double trophy…state title and spirit award. That’s right folks…for the 3rd year in a row, CDH has earned the spirit trophy to continue their unbeaten run of spirit hardware. Now they finally have another piece of hardware to go with it.