by Nic Colasurdo & Chris Lehman

On a day that started with bright sunshine and later saw torrential rains - back to hazy blazing sunshine again, thirteen teams from all over New York State competed in the 2004 UPA NY State High School Championships at Wheatland-Chili High School on June 13th, 2004. With this year’s event being held “upstate” for the first time, nine teams made their first trip to the State Championships. The more established teams certainly entertained thoughts of taking home the first place trophy but some of the upstart teams had ideas of their own.

In the B Division Pool, the Beacon JV team and 4 brand new teams from the Rochester area played a round robin format. Play was very spirited and showed a lot of potential as these new teams struggled to establish themselves. Close games were the norm as very evenly matched teams struggled to find their offensive groove - usually with deep throws rather than by patient steady-“O”. The daylong pool play ended up with a three-way tie between the host team from Wheatland-Chili, the Rush-Henrietta team and the Webster team. After head-to-head record didn’t produce a winner, point differential came into play to crown Wheatland-Chili the B Division champs with the Rush-Henrietta team right behind.

In the A Division, the A pool held seed with very little surprises as Beacon H.S. (Manhattan) cruised to three victories: beating Canisius (Buffalo) 13-4, Irondequoit (Rochester) B 13-1 and reigning state champions Scarsdale 13-0 to qualify for the semi-finals.

The B Pool of A Division held more drama as first-year team and 7th seed Fayetteville-Manlius upset Stuyvesant 13-7, Irondequoit-A 11-6 and nearly upset 2nd seed Pittsford-Sutherland 15-13, as both Pittsford Sutherland and Fayetteville qualified for the semi-finals. Pittsford-Sutherland entered the semis undefeated for the season and they were looking for a chance to win a state championship so close to home.

The A Division consolation bracket saw Canisius produce the next upset of Stuy, who didn’t seem to bring their same “game” as past years. On the other side of the bracket, Irondequoit-A downed a very undermanned Irondequoit-B team in what amounted to a team scrimmage. The consolation crown went to Canisius who chugged their way to a hard fought 11-8 victory over Irondequoit-A. Both of these teams are brand new to the NY State Championships and we look for them to step up to A Division in the next couple of years.

In the A Division semi’s, Pittsford came out strong against Scarsdale, going up 2-0 and trading points until a few unforced errors gave Scarsdale the momentum and half at 7-5. With the score 8-6 and the specter of a roll-over repeat of last year staring them in the face, Pittsford shook off the mental haze by focusing on hot D to tie the score at 10’s. Due to the lightning delays the semi’s were to be played to 11 and a timed soft cap was now on to 12. Intense D and some poorly considered throws had the teams maneuvering to an 11-11 tie. A couple of questionable calls, the most flagrant of which occurred during match point, betrayed the fraying nerves. Both teams had several chances to win the game but Scarsdale forced a turnover near the Pittsford end zone and punched it in for a hard fought win and rematch with Beacon. This game was definitely the game of the day.

Beacon qualified for the finals with a win over a very tired Fayetteville-Manlius team in the other A Division semi. Fayetteville, who only had two subs all day, tried to rely on zone D to conserve what limited energy they had left, and use a long game in the wind to put up points. They couldn’t sustain the effort against the Blue Demons who used a smart, patient offense to work the zone and win the game handily 11-6.

The finals were almost anticlimactic, mostly due to Scarsdale’s epic semi with Pittsford having severely tapped their remaining energy reserves. Beacon used the experience gained at Nationals this year to come out strong and cruise to half at 7-1. Scarsdale tried to fight back in the second half, but the lack of a real challenge to Beacon’s romp through pool play and semi’s allowed them to use “fresh legs” to firmly put the New York State Championship in their grasp.

The tournament was a success for all the participants because of the efforts of Tournament Director Judy Lombard-Newell and the Greater Rochester Disc Association (GRADA) who organized the event. A special Thank You goes out to Jude and all of the GRADA volunteers who put on an amazing tournament. Congratulations to Beacon as the 2004 New York State Champs, and congratulations to all of the teams for their great play!