UPA Score Reporter

Mixed Championship
by Bil Elsinger

Mixed Division Day 3
by Bil Elsinger

1. Things haven’t changed much.  Coming in, people might have believed that things have changed from last year, but look at the Quarterfinalist.  Three NW? Check.  Barrio? Check.  Two NE? Check. Amp? Check. Add CLX historical plus Flaming Moe historical = Quarters, not semis.  Check. Either the South or the Central with one quarterfinalist.  Historical trumps all.

2. The wind is a lot more like the first day.  It starts out mild – maybe 5-8. At times it may get up to 10 – which results in a bit of an upwind downwind – and a lot of scoring in the south endzones – but it doesn’t change the games as much as yesterday. 

3. Where is the parity.  Only one of the quarters games is interesting.  The others are more or less decided at half.    

Quarters

ACS v Barrio

Out of the ACS huddle, “Nobody’s guaranteed anything [at the Championships].  Nobody’s guaranteed any opportunity.  You’ve got to take the opportunities when you have them.”  Certainly true – for some – making the Championships is a rare opportunity. Even amongst those, getting to Quarters is even rarer.  This is the first experience at Quarters for several of the ACS players – Barrio however was here last year – losing then to Shazam.

In a match-up of two athletic hard-running teams, ACS starts out  pulling to Barrio.    Jen Pashley, Jim Morrison Austin Gregerson start off handling for Barrio.  Not surprisingly, Gregerson hits Grobe coming under, as Joe Brisbois makes a nice D bid.  Robyn Fennig also brings a nice bid – Barrio scores though.  The teams trade – at 2-2, a Barrio drop turns into an ACS conversion. ACS goes up 3-2.  ACS looks pumped up – a far cry from their last game yesterday.  They celebrate their goals – something I didn’t see earlier.  Gregerson hits Penny going away (to some nice field space, but ACS forces a turn on a dump close to the goal line.  ACS works it back down, and takes the hammer for their second break in a row.  4-2.  Barrio then comes down with an error free O point – ACS doesn’t get a bid in.  4-3.  ACS works it down, no problem. 5-3.   A miscommunication on offense (cutters stops coming under, throw goes up anyway) and on a break around the mark, ACS Taiwo Anjonrin-Ohu hits a wide open receiver for 6-3.  A few point later, Barrio is zoning with two women on and Gregerson in the middle – switching to the mark on the trap. ACS messes around with the handlers, not creating any opportunities for themselves, and turns.  Barrio then scores without too much trouble for the break back.  7-6 and it’s a close game again.  ACS handlers Alicia Hermes, Jon Staron and Jo Abramowski help work the disc down the field – but ACS turns the EZ with Erik Gafni putting some pressure on.  Barrio has no one cutting on the open side – and ACS Ds the upline throw.  Hermes goes across the field to Alex (Moss) Stanislaw for half. 8-6.

At half, Barrio tries to change things up.  They came out a bit flat – and perhaps having looked too closely at the ACS point results from earlier – might have looked past ACS to the Flycoons.  ACS meanwhile is maintaining its intesnsity.  Out of half, ACS takes a bunch in a row – their defense is pumped.  They get at least one layout D, but Barrio also makes some uncharacteristic turns.  Usually the Barrio offense works pretty smoothly – and can get the disc back on turns, but here, ACS is taking a throw or two, jacking it, and coming down with the goal – Barrio isn’t able to stop the conversion.  It’s 12-7 by the time I get back to the field.  Barrio doesn’t step up as the breaks start happening.  The rest of this game trades out, ACS winning.  

Flycoons v Slow
Slow receives to start out.  On the first throw, there’s a drop.  This is a story that does not end well, and finishes like it starts.  Flycoons score.  Same thing different point. Etc.  At 4-1 Flycoons, Slow finally starts to attack a bit more.  Slow works it to 4-2 then throws on a traditional zone with two women in the cup – and the Flycoons cooperate by turning over near their own EZ.  4-3.  In the next point, Flycoons have no trouble, and I should pay more attention to this game, but it’s 8-3 at half.  Slow has had a tough couple days, and the Flycoons haven’t, and on top of that, the Flycoons are just much deeper than Slow this year.  It’s great that Slow has made it this far, but they have too few weapons.  Slow has gotten by based upon their experience on this stage – a 7/8^th place finish is pretty decent for the team this year.  15-5. 

Puppet v Shazam
Mickey Thompson lays out into the lane to get a block, but Shazam turns.  Shazam gets the disc back, and Eddie Feeley hits Megan Zdancewic for the break. Another Puppet turn. Another Shazam goal.  Shazam shows some standard zone w/ two women in the cup, and gets another break.  Puppet hucks as the zone transitions, but there are two receivers – there’s a turn. There’s probably another Shazam score – they go up 6-1.  More goals –and there’s nothing really interesting in this game – the results are determined fairly early on.  It is difficult for Puppet, whose offense easily gets stuck with no downfield cuts.  Shazam runs to quickly and too efficiently for Puppet to adjust.  All the tricks in Megan Randell’s basket won’t work.  Shazam 15-6..   

Amp v Mischief
Mischief pulls. Amp turns near their own EZ, but Mischief can’t get the disc from the dump.  Amp scores.  Mischief answers back..  Mischief sticks the defender on Amp’s woman handler into the lane.  The Amp female handler wisely takes off downfield, and Amp has three guys back for a while.  Their flow gets a bit interrupted, as no male really fills in for the downfield woman.  They huck out of bounds. But have another opportunity for a turn. Both Amp and Mischief are working way too hard for their offensive goals – although both eventually get them.  At 3-2, Tim Gaulton (all 6’4 of him) gets a big D on a Mischief huck, but then Amp drops the disc coming under.  3-3.  The game is chippy as a couple of calls see significant disagreement – there was supposed to be an observer here – but the observers sent were refused.  In any case, the teams are clearly unhappy with each other.  Showing zone transition, Mischief’s Adam Leventhal gets a D over a shorter Amp receiver as Amp tries a cross field backhand into the endzone, but then Mischief throws to a poach (as the guy he is supposed to be defending streaks deep uncovered, but Mischief gets caught looking under).  Amp keeps the lead, 4-3. Going the other way, Mischief turns and Gaulton gets just beyond one of the Smith brothers using his long body for what would otherwise have been a 50/50 disc – and Amp goes up 5-3.  Amp’s D line gets another upwind off of some nice work by Jeff Laarz, Mari Oshiro, and Harrison Treegoob.  6-3 and Mischief takes a time out in hopes of stopping the run.  Amp is excited – their cutters are getting open without much trouble – and Mischief looks flat.  Amp gets a turn and has a chance to go up 7-3, but turns and Mischief scores 6-4.  Mischief zones again. Parikh’s scoobers over the cup (Parikh uses this throw as an out quite against the cup – and occasionally vs. person), breaking the zone – but as Mischief transitions to person, Mark Smith gets a go to D – they finally convert after a few throws with Mark Smith catching the goal.  6-5.  Parikh hits Amp’s David Brandolph in one long shot for 7-5. Mischief gets the downwind (wind is there, but it doesn’t dominate play), 7-6.  Mischief is definitely getting their looks, but isn’t converting.  What looks to be a goal results in disagreement on the field, as all the Mischief players firmly think Kyle Smith dragged his foot, and all the AMP players think his other foot/knee was also down out of bounds. Only men were involved in this discussion.  In any case – what would have been a 7-7 goes back to the thrower, who makes the exact same throw, but with different results, and Amp keeps its lead, 8-6. 

At half, Mischief’s Mark Smith (who threw both the disputed goal and the turn) says to the Mischief huddle, “The intensity is good on defense. I’m not a good example to anyone on offense.”  The rest of the day – Mischief reminds Mark of this whenever he has the disc.  Out of half,  Amp scores making it 9-6.  Then Mischief gets on its horse and turns things up a bit. Mischief scores.  Amp turns – but it’s offense’s defense is pretty good – getting some nice bids.  Kyle Smith, however, goes up over Jeff Loperfido to get a break off a risky, arcing forehand from Ryan Gerlach.  9-8.  On the next point, AMP can’t get its offense started – they turn right away and Mischief ties at 9s. Parikh, who up to this point has been golden as a handler, delivering pretty hucks to mostly male receivers, throws to one covered by two Mischief defenders.  Quinn Kennet hits Kyle Smith with a huck – and Adam Brown scores for the lead.  Throughout this series of events – AMP is playing too tight – and doesn’t up its game as Mischief really puts a lot more effort into their D. Parikh’s scoober finally fails him, and there’s a turn near the EZ.  Mischief takes at time out, then scores at a high stall count with a breakmark throw.  11-9 Mischief.  Amp turns again – but Mischief throws too high to an under.  Then Adam Brown gets a hand block.  Brown throws an ugly forehand to Kyle Smith for 12-9.  Cap comes on – hard to 14. 

During this run, AMP takes too long to change up what it is doing.  The offensive line is fairly similar for many of these points – and Mischief is able to use some of the matchups in the transition.   Finally, Amp starts to blend their lines – putting in folks like Alex Peters, Jeff Laarz and Eugene Yum.  This results in a multiple turnover point – as AMP has trouble hitting folks – but does a better job of stopping Mischief’s O.   Peters upts a 50/50 to Yum, but a Smith Bros. gets the easy D.  Kennet hucks the other way and the other Smith Bros. gets a hand on it – but a catch would be spectacular – turnover instead.  Mischief scores eventually, 13-9, but Amp finally gets some flow and gets its second point of the second half, 13-10 (a 7-2 run). AMP’s defense – finally able to take the field takes away Mischief’s options – and there’s a turn on a high count.  Sean  Murry tries to hi Tim Gaulton who looks open, but Mark Smith makes the play.  Amp gets the score a bit later despite a Mischief hand – which pops the disc up and makes it available for a goal, 13-11. Amp’s defense is still bidding strongly on under cuts – Amp’s Raha Mozaffarri gets a D and Laarz hucks to Gaulton for 13-12.  Amp finally having figured out, with just a bit of life in them, that they are on the ropes.  Amp calls a time out.  Unfortunately, while Amp gets the D on the next point, Laarz overthrows a lady on a break mark, and Mischief finishes the game 14-12.    

Semis
Three NW teams hog semi spots – and ensure that at least one finalist will be from the NW.  ACS is the new kid on the block (sort of), but time will tell whether they have the staying power of Marky Mark (but which one?).The mixed semis – normally staggered – were staggered even more than usual because of field use issues.  Thanks to the staggering, the first semi and the second did not coincide.  Also, the Mischief-Shazam game went by quickly.   Mischief v Shazam.            Mischief pulls to start.  They show a standard zone – with a fairly flat stack.  Shazam finds Pam Kraus at mid-field, and she hucks over the male deep defender to Jane Kaufman for an easy score (Does Mischief learn from this? Nope).  1-0.  Shazam has a short pull – and comes out with person D.  Mischief puts to Andi Coleman, but Carla Fowler is there – a call is made.  Even though the game is observed – neither goes to the observer – and the disc goes back to the thrower.  On O, Mischief’s Sunya Ojure ges some yards – later on a swing she makes a big layout to save a throw put too far.  Later – Shazam’s Mike Schwindeller anticipates an up the line throw and steps in for the D, only to have Shazam turn.  Shazam’s D does a good job of stopping the open side, but Kennett finally finds Ojure with a cross field hammer.  1-1.  Shazam goes four women, but turns on a drop.  Kennett hangs one up, and Smith comes down with it for a break. 2-1.              Mischief  then zones and Schwindeller, Emily Grad, and Mickey Thompson handle.  Thompson tries a (crazy) cross field to the far wing – this turns (as it should).  There are a lot of calls in this time frame, especially from Mischief.  A couple of travels, and some “disc space” calls followed by “violation” calls (all from one Mischief player – who is enforcing the disc space rule more technically than most – correctly of course).  This stops the flow a bit – perhaps Mischief’s plan – alternately, they may just be trying to establish early on the type of game that will be played (a technically correct one). Shazam doesn’t do a great job of valueing – Nora Carr hucks to a male deep – but it turns.  Mischief’s Steffi Wu drops a disc (the Steffi and Shirley Wu don’t have very good games – that makes a big difference for Mischief as they usually contribute a lot to Mischief’s success).  Finally, Swindeller hits Hall Walker to tie, 2-2.            Shazam then brings the zone – a 1-3-3 that becomes a 4 person trap on the sideline – they have three women in the front wall much of the time (when zoning upwind).  The 4 person trap stays very close to the disc – with the mark going to whichever side is the biggest threat.  A Mischief dump miscommunication leads to an Eddie Feeley throw to Megan Zdancewic goal.  Break for Shazam, who is now up, 2-3.  Mischief then works it down – there aren’t any Shazam bids – and Mischief scores – 3-3.  Shazam plays four women again on offense – there’s an early drop on a dump at midfield, and Mischief’s Leventhal hits Kyle Smith tog et the break.  Shazam goes to three women – and works it up the field with Scott Causey hitting Erin Gallagher for the goal – the throw goes right by Gallagher’s defender – who is looking at Gallagher and not the disc (up call, anyone?).   4-4.  Shazam again comes down with a 1-3-3.  Mischief’s Ojure throws a big 20 yard loss as she tries to hit the dump from the trap position.  Jonathan Loeffler uses his 6’5 frame to get an around break to Arnie Larson – as Shazam breaks back. 4-5.  Obviously – the wind isn’t effecting things that much.  Shazam stays with what works – they use the 1-3-3 (this time with men in the front wall) and there’s a drop on a wild swing.  Zdanceic hits Schwindeller for 4-6 (Shazam) and Mischief takes a time. Mischief uses the time out to figure out Shaam’s zone –  David Pickett of Mischief figures out how to throw through the cup – breaking it easily for 5-6.  Shazam works it down – going to a vertical stack near the EZ – and Kraus gets a big break mark throw to Gallagher who hits Ladd 5-7.  Mischief not challenging on D.  Shazam then runs a standard zone – Mischief’s Andy Crews and Pickett handling – they break the zone – but an upline throw to Crews doesn’t get caught.  Feeley tries to hit Charlie Ellis, but overthrows.  Shazam runs a zone transition to person D – and a swing pass goes too far.  Shazam then hits Zdancewic for half.             Shazam again uses zone transition out of half - and Annie Banks throws too high – Shazam turns without any pressure – but Mischief turns trying to go over the zone - Hall hits Zdancewic for 5-9 (Shazam).  Shazam’s offense is very patient during much of this – they move the disc quickly (not allowing the stall count to get very high – automatically take their dumps at 3, and because the disc moves so much – the cuts are often open.  Annie Plank and Arnie Larson work it back and forth a bit – finally Ben Secord gets hit for 5-10.  Mischief’s offense gets on track – also working it nicely – to go to 6-10.  Mischief tries zoning (and hopes to force more Shazam women touches), but Kraus gets the disc as a wing – and again takes half field throw into the EZ that Lindsey Wilson lays out for = score.  6-11. Mischief gets back on track with its offense, and manages to get a break back at 8-12,  and another at 11-13.  They don’t seem entirely out of it with the 11-13 break, but Shazam scores the next two to finish the game out.              Defensive run by both teams set the early tone – but once Shazam got a two break lead – they did a good job of not letting Mischief back in.  Since Mischief had come back from down midway through the Quarters – they never really panicked, but Shazam really looks like they are peaking – their offense just moved too quickly for Mischief.  There just weren’t enough turns for Mischief to possibly convert.  Perhaps Mischief’s long (and tense) game against AMP hurt them too. Flycoons v ACS.            Flycoons pull – they come out with a standard zone.  ACS swings back and forth, then they go over the top. The first = good. The second time – not so good as Kevin Seiler gets caught not looking.  ACS gets it back on a foot block by Alex Baker.  A flurry of turnovers ensue (don’t these teams know what they’re playing for?), then finally the Flycoons downfield cutter Will Sutton hits Skyala Sisco for the break, Flycoons 1-0. The Flycoons zone again – but ACS moves it quickly with the Flycoons not even being close to any Ds – ACS scores no problem. 1-1. The Flycoons’ Mark Aagenes hucks, but ACS has Kevin Seiler there for the D.  But a miscommunication by ACS results in a turn.  Josch Hemmesch gets the disc back for ACS with a block, but then there’s an out of bounds huck. The Flycoons initiate from three flat handlers and a vertical stack.  Several throws later and Andy Neill (formerly of Rhino fame) connects with Sisco (the only person that can stop Skyla Sisco is Skyla Sisco – although the Sisco-Zdancewic matchup should be interesting) for 2-1.  Chris Mayne tries a huck – but Will Sutton is there. Off a contested foul, the disc goes back.  Despite a Flycoons hand on the disc – Robyn Fennig pulls down the 2-2. goal.  Aagenes answers with a deep throw to a streaking James Kennedy.  Flycoons 3-2. The Flycoons play some zone transition – although it doesn’t look great.  For ACS, Erica Baken does a lot of handling  along with Joe Abramowski and here Chris Mayne.  They hit Matt Ellsworth who finds Amy Sheldahl up the line – there’s a bit of a bobble between Flycoon defenders – but she holds on 3-3. The Flycoons tall Sarah Meygesi (5’10) really dominates the middle of the field – taking yardage and quick dumps.  Aagenes hits her over a shorter defender – 4-3. The Flycoons try a 1-3-3 with Tim Murray as the chase – this doesn’t work.  Matt Ellsworth hits Joe Brisbois, 4-4 with no close D after transition to person.  Kurt Brorsen for ACS gets a D on a low huck, but ACS turns it quickly.  Sisco saves a throw put to space as Fennig laying out with her.  5-4. After a few yards gained by the ACS offense, Jeanine Kooman tries to hit Laura Steinkraus, but instead turns.  Jen Nichols beaks the mark to Kat Neal, getting the first two point lead of the game 6-4.  Lana Seiler hucks to Kevin Seiler (so cute!), but Sisco poaches over - Seiler calls a foul and the disc comes back off the contest.  ACS moves the disc down the field  but Alicia Hermes hucks the disc away (obviously, the ACS women aren’t afraid to put the disc out there).  A bunch of under cuts – with James Kennedy doing some good work – and Conway hits Sisco for 7-4.  Andy Neil catches a D (surprising the thrower after catching up after the pull).  He hits Murray who gets it to Kat Neal for half, 8-4.  For the Flycoons, Daphne Evans, Meygasi, Conway, Smith, and Eric Rassmussen get some mentions in the 2^nd half. For ACS, Joe Brisbois, Fennig, Abromski, Pat Niles and Erica Baken do good work.  At 11-8, Brisbois gets a break mark assist for a break bringing it closer.  Fennig is on the receiving end of a huck for 12-9.  Abramowski crosses the field with a big throw to a lady for 12-10. During this period – ACS really steps up its dump defense – forcing the Flycoons handlers to work a lot harder to get the disc – but this isn’t enough.  The Flycoons takes some chances that don’t work out – and ACS does a better job of converting.  They also maintain positive energy throughout the game – even when down.  They don’t, however, force the turns that they need, and near the end – the Flycoons get a couple breaks to take it 15-11.   Finals Preview.These are clearly the two best mixed teams playing right now.  The scores for their last three games were very similar – with two blowouts earlier and strong showings in semis. Both teams have Championship experience (the old Donner Party/Triggerhippy connection for Fly – two UPA championships and a World’s experience for Shazam).  Both teams are peaking at just the right time – but maybe for different reasons.  For the Flycoons – it’s a matter of having successfully incorporated their hired guns.  For Shazam – it’s probably about re-invigorating themselves after a long season – and expressing their own identity after the departure of Steve Finn – of course there’s also the matter of the 9-15 loss to Fly on Friday – but that loss helped focus Shazam – they’ve really stepped things up perhaps partly because of the loss). The systems are different, but each works really well – each team does a great job of integrating all of their parts.  Whether that be the more north-south game of the Flycoons – or the quick movement of Shazam - this has been a great Championships – the teams that they’ve played and beaten have been worthy – the foe here a respected one.  And of course, the NW wins for losing either way.

Mixed Division Day 2
by Bil Elsinger
Photo - Matt Lane

The wind.  It came blowing out of the North East. It gave us gifts.  It cooled the fire of the day. It saved tired legs from the constant running that is necessary w/ person Ds and nothing stopping throws.  Also, it made the games a battle for upwind scores.  That’s boring because the runs that result come in threes. If they come at all.  And, in the close games, it’s all gritted teeth, waiting for the worst.  It’s not pretty ultimate. 

And for mixed, it negates, to some degree, the difference that women make (smaller windows, less mobility to make up for wind pushed throws = less use).   For first two rounds – assume, unless otherwise noted that teams A) jack the disc as soon as possible when going downwind (in order to not turn near the upwind EZ) , B) jack the disc going upwind because it just doesn’t work out taking the unders all the way up the field and C) hang the disc going upwind, making for a lot of ugly macs going to third party receivers D) or in other words, there’s very little valueing going on here – mostly just field position and E) there are a lot of turns on these points – enough that any individual one doesn’t really matter – the occasional successful offensive play, even downwind, is not the norm. 

The upper power pools.
Round One. 
Winds are 10ish mph, fairly constant but gusting a bit too starting out.  Mostly cross, but a little North to South = forehands not so great and pushing backhands down. 

Mischief v D’oh.
In the first all-NW power pool game, Mischief receives going downwind.  Daniel Olstein, Andy Crews and Annie Banks are back as the Horizontal handlers for Mischief.  A dish or two and Crews puts up an ugly huck to Quinn Kennet heading away.  Mark Smith (inexplicably since Mischief is going downwind and this is an O point) tells Quinn to take a time.  Quinn does what he is told. A couple of swings out of the time, and Crew is wide open.  1-0 Mischief.  This sort of thing (scoring) happens multiple times (see D’oh’s struggle with its offense).  Five times in a row, in fact, and using both zone and person D to get turns.  Mischief is perfectly efficient after the Ds.   

That’s the game, basically.  Mischief and D’oh trade for much of the rest of the game…  My notes: At 6-1, Mischief takes a time out on the EZ line. Their third.  Turnover – but somehow Mischief gets it back and gets the goal anyway.  The 6-2 point lasts forever, ending with Anthony Cacallori hitting Jackie Williams.  Cac plays a big role doing everything – but more as a receiver.  Jackie gets a lot of stuff under.  Sara York joined D’oh this year (coming from Schwa previously).  She gets a lot of handler touches – taking some very nice break marks and making strong handler jukes for late bails when needed.  At times in some of these games, she plays some give and go, and isn’t really shut down by any defender. Around 9-6, D’oh throwing upwind hits Andy Crews in the head – the disc spins there for a second, and the Cac scoops it up.  Crews called a pick on the call (a bit more head’s up and you get that D, Andy).  Finally, Chris Hyde for Mischief – big body downfield – nobody’s getting by him for the D..  

Puppet v Barrio.
Puppet pulls and shows zone transition.  Barrio drops an easy swing after working it up without too much trouble.  Puppet has its Asian males in – they’re getting separation.  On an ugly upwind huck, there’s an incidental collision, and the Puppet player behind grabs the 1-0 break.  The teams then trade a bunch. An example of Barrio – say Brandon Palmer and Jess Thoms are handling – Palmer hits Jeff Grobe coming under (Liz Penny also one of the middle cutters). Grobe puts it into the EZ to Grant McCall streaking the sideline. Puppet 3-2.  Puppet looks a bit more efficient today, at least in the early going. Their D’s offense looks fairly patient with lots of dumps – the cutters don’t really look upfield much – they seem to take the quick dump.  At 4-3, Barrio uses a Puppet drop to get the break to tie it.  Barrio then zones with a tight four person cup – Liz Penny circles the mark.  They trap Puppet on the line – Puppet punts for the turn.  Barrio then works it downfield – really nice field spacing with receivers 5-10 yards open. 

Dan Yi gets his hand on what would otherwise be an uncontested Barrio goal – causing the Barrio receiver to lose focus and drop the disc, but Puppet turns and Barrio gets the downwind to get back to the natural 5-4. Barrio then puts on a downwind zone.  Puppet’s Alex Bellows and David Reynolds handle as Megan Randall fills the far side occasionally.  The four person cop keeps trapping the sideline, but puppet gets better movement – at least for a while – they turn on an easy throw.  Barrio drops in the EZ and the zone is on again – with a flatter and looser the cup sometimes – but depending upon field position – they tighten up.  Puppet isn’t really turning because of the zone – they’re dropping or making bad decisions.  But Barrio has trouble converting.  Simrat Khalsa gets a great grab for Barrio on an upwind floater, but with a little help from the nearby male Puppet defender who uses good body control to avoid her – he probably would have taken the D in Open. Penny gets the disc close the EZ and has a wide open throw but gets fouled – the disc goes OB.  Barrio turns at some point.  Finally, with Barrio playing person – Puppet finally scores to get to 5-5.  This point, while long, is within the normal range for turns and length.  Barrio gets another break, taking half 8-6.  Out of half, Bario pulls to Puppet – more zone two handlers ( Heng-Scheng Chuang and Dan Yi) – Randall popping. Barrio’s handlers turn on some short stuff – but Puppet hucks and turns right back.  Finally, Yi dumps to Chuang who swings to Baker and Yi heads up the field to grab the goal.  Barrio 8-7. 

Barrio then gets two in a row – there’s an upwind break (even though the wind picks up to 15-20 mph) off of Puppet defender confusion.  Barrio 10-7.  Later, Austin Gregerson goes over the Puppet zone to Grobe (this is a common way for Barrio to break zones) to another receiver.  Barrio wins – not much changes after this. 

Shazam v Flycoons
Scott Causey of Shazam on their 3-0 record yesterday in light of their regionals (4^th place) finish, “Yesterday was good for us.  It built a lot of confidence – something we needed.” It’s funny to think that the returning champion would need confidence, but the season hasn’t been a perfect one for Shazam.  Of course – that confidence faces a mighty test in the regional rematch against the Flycoons.   Shazam and Flycoons start out trading.  Then, off a Shazam turn, the Flycoons go up the forehand side (pretty easily).  They get the upwind break 2-1.  Shazam then drops on an easy under cut with no defensive pressure, but Lindsey Wilson lays out to stop a Flycoon score – even though this is offense – Shazam has a pretty good defensive line in. More turns. 

Scott Conway (formerly of Donner Party – and yes formerly of the World Games team) adds a lot to this team – he distributes the disc to all parts of the field.  He is in a good number of points.  Shazam gets a lot of opportunites for the upwind, but the wind keeps pushing the forehands down.  Finally, Shazam’s Charlie Ellis hits Arnie larson for the upwind goal. 2-2. Shazam follows with the downwind – 3-2.  The teams trade back at forth.  The Jon Loeffler – Mark Aagenes matchup is a good looking one – (although of note is the height that teams are bringing these days.  The Flycoons are tall.  Hooray is tall. Chewbacca and Barrio are tall. Amp can be tall.).   At 6-7, Mary Burke gets a break mark to Conway to tie at 7s, and the Flycoons get a break into the half upwind.  Flycoons 8-7.  Shazam has a chance at an upwind goal, but throws too far. Aagenes takes a big looping backhand that Conway comes down with (no defender close), and Conway hits Aagenes for the goal.  9-7.  The Flycoons follow up with the downwind to 10-7.  And that’s basically the game. Oh yeah. Tim Murray shows up at the end of the round.  Hello Tim.  Here’s Scott Conways’ description of the game, “That’s the first time I’ve seen us at 100%.  To win this tournament, we have to be at 100% all of the time.”  With this year’s teams – he’s right. 

Amp v ACS
Amp and ACS start out playing ugly.  They are still on their first point long after the other teams have started their second. Or third.  Amp takes a time out as I arrive – then score out of the time.  That’s for a natural, and downwind. Amp then zones (standard) all point – they get a turn but can’t convert.  Still on serve.  On O, Amp’s Loperfido, Bhavin Parikh, and Raha Mozaffari start out in the horizontal.  Loperfido hucks to Sean Murray after Murray comes under hard, then goes away.  Murray throws a goal after catching just short of the end zone.  Parikh is just as likely to throw the same goal (although with a bit more arc, and more often from the check-in.  2-1.

There’s a bunch of trading that happens – this game catches up to the others eventually.  By 7-6, Amp is playing a traditional zone with two women in the cup.  It’s downwind – and it’s very flat and very loose.  ACS is patient – the wind is really picking up around this time – and ACS scores to tie at 7s.  ACS takes a time out.  In the ACS huddle, Lou Abramoski encourages his teammates, “If you have it, it’s time to do it.  Let’s have a party up in the upwind EZ!”  Amp’s Parikh picks the pull up on the sideline – there’s nothing there (this looks like a vertical stack?), so he’s forced to punt it = turnover.  ACS has people open – they huck it and benefit from a defensive misread  with the disc near the endzone they take a time out.  They dump to Abramowski, who Lindsay Pastor, but her throw into the EZ gets D-ed by a male poacher, and Amp eventually scores. 

Out of half, ACS gets the downwind, then Lana Seiler gets the crossfield forehand to Ben Lyons to get the break, ACS 9-8.  Amp hucks upwin, then ACS turns, and Parikh finds Alex Peters without a defender – another ACS defender touches it, but Alex picks it up off the mac for an upwind break.  The next point a bunch of turns happen.  ACS’s offense around this time includes Pat Niles, Kevin Seiler (he often starts out as a cutter, comes in for an under, then jacks to another guy going away), and Amy Sheldahl with David Bequette, Erica Baken, John Misra and Jon Staron cutting.  Eventually, ACS gets to 11-10 scoring after Amp drops on a layout swing.  ACS takes a throw that gets caught in the wind – goes over two sets of players, then Taiwo Anjonrin-Ohu picks up the trash.  Amp’s Loperfido floats a disc into the EZ – the best receiver there allows another person behind him to call him off – only to have that person D-ed by a woman poaching.  This either gets called back or is called a turn.  ACS turns way down the field.  All of Amp’s men get caught behind the disc – they’ve been looking to each other upfield (and not so much the ladies (smaller window – and harder to keep the throws controlled) and without those cuts – they turn – maybe folks are tired.  ACS is also playing tough D.  Amp tries the small ball, but this doesn’t work out – ACS scores eventually 12-10, game to 14 (cap came on).  A couple unders, and David Brandolph  picks up the huck to get to 12-11.  Bequette tries a huck off the pull play to Pat Niles, but ACS turns.  Amp turns on a dump and ACS scores quikly. 13-11.  The wind really neutralizes some of Amp’s strengths (i.e great field positioning – strong under cuts – good use of women – and ACS seems to be more of a risk-taking team – so the situation that the wind puts the teams in works to the advantage of ACS. Amp’s Murray hucks to Brandolph to bring it to 13-12.  Amp gets another opportunity as Murray gets it on the EZ, but after a swing, a throw into the EZ is caught by the wind and goes too far.  ACS hucks away, then finally Murray finds Eugene Yum and a goal is eventually scored, 13-13.  Yum’s been a bit quiet – but he really starts to stand out in power pool play.  ACS spreads the disc around evenly, hitting its women as they come under – they patiently work up the field as Amp’s defenders aren’t in the hip pockets of the receivers.  Finally, Seiler gets a backhand break to an open person in the EZ, and ACS wins 14-13.   

At the end of the first round, Pool F is tied at 1-1 all around.
Pool E: Mischief 2-0, Puppet 1-1. Barrio 1-1.  D’oh 0-2. 
Mischief is in the brackets, regardless

The Second Round.  
Shazam v Amp & Flycoons v ACS.

Amp receives going downwind.  A 15 minute point ensues as Shazam’s defense says no to Amp again and again (half a dozen turns each), but fails to convert.  Finally, playing controlled small ball, Shazam works it up the field and a backwards falling Eddie Feeley hits Hall Walker for the upwind break.  Shazam then puts on a either a trapping Will Whitwell four person cup (three women) and Amp turns.  Downwind = 2-0. Shazam’s defense gets another upwind – working it up no problem as Amp seems tentative.  Amp, trying small ball itself (against the zone), turns and the game is over. Amp doesn’t really try to huck over the zone until late.  Too late. 10-3 Shazam.  15-5 Shazam.             

Meanwhile, Flycoons have been trading to 3-2 Fly.  ACS has, at least for a moment, three male handlers – they take some short under cuts, but then eventually punt.  Eric Rassmussen of the Flycoons hits Emily Smith (the Flycoons ladies are tall and healthy looking) – Smith bodies out her defender to grab the half field backhand, then hits Will Sutton who finds John Russell in the EZ. That’s the first break. The Flycoons get the downwind too for 5-2. Using some zone and some transition – the Flycoons continue to build on their lead.  This game too is over early. 15-3.  It seems like ACS is a bit soft – once they get where they want to be (Power Pool, Bracket), they roll over.  Knowing that they have the head to head over Amp, and that Shazam is rolling, they can afford to sit back once there’s a lead.  

Mischief v Puppet
Mischief starts out decently, but drops in the EZ.  Luckily, Puppet takes a huck that doesn’t come close to anyone.  A fairly clean offense by Mischief gets them up 1-0. Puppet takes a wide open guy under off the pull play. Then there are no cuts.  Maybe twenty seconds of no viable cuts.  Really.  Lucky for them, after a turn, and after Mischief turns back – they’re able to punch it in off the transition before the D sets up.  With a  moderate amount of turns from each team, we’re at 4-3.  Puppet hucks after a swing and scores – they’re looking more efficient now.  Puppet zones a bit, Mischief turns, but is still able to score eventually to 4-4. Mischief takes a timeout after Chris Doyle hits a receiver at the EZ – Mischief takes a time out – but throws out of bounds afterwards. Upwind, Puppet relies heavily on its handlers, dumping and swinging back and forth (more than other teams).  They don’t have good looks upfield however – and aren’t able to get far upwind. Mischief’s Kyle Smith gets the disc on the far line near the EZ – and he gets the disc to his intended receiver but no catch is made. Turn 1 near EZ.  Mischief gets the disc back – and Smith tries again.  Not close this time.  Finally, Smith gets the disc five yards, and takes a over the stack cross field bladey throw to Doyle standing all alone.  Mischief’s first break 7-5.

Mischief then shows zone – a four person cup – which isn’t very aggressive but puppet turns anyway.  Mischief gets the downwinder for 8-5.  That’s basically the game.  In the second half, and with both teams hucking in an attempt to get by the wind, Mischief manages to come down with more 50/50 discs – and they add to their lead, finally closing their game out 15-10.  (OK DanO – you had a nice hanging backhand for 9-6).  

D’oh v Barrio.
After a couple turns each, Barrio’s Austin Gregerson hits Erik Gafni with a  high forehand to go up 1-0, natural. After D’oh scores, Barrio hits Liz Penny with a nice throw – still natural 2-1. More trading.  At 3-3, D’oh’s Cory Lyngaas finally hits BJ Sefton (who is not 6’7). for the upwind prayer (with the help of a backhand mark that allow’s D’oh to get more controlled hucks off – the wind is coming from the forehand side – pushing the forehands down). D’oh follows with the downwind, going to 5-3.  D’oh does some zone – four person cup, and gets the D plus an upwind for 6-3. Barrio brings it back to 6-5 after getting their own breaks.  Mischief and Barrio both score for 7-6.  Then Barrio gets a huck off of its flat stack to a wide open Chris Shepard from David Husid (a UofA player).  D’oh turns and Barrio works it down for half – 8-7. Out of half, D’oh scores – 8-8.  Barrio 9-8. 

Barrio takes a time with a chance to score upwind the next point, but then a Barrio lady drops the disc coming under on an easy catch – D’oh escapes trouble, 9-9.  Barrio’s taking a lot of quick hucks. D’oh’s Josh Lang is doing a lot of work for them under.  The trading continues. As noted above – Barrio is lanky (does lanky imply tall? – I mean it to).  They have some height on D’oh. Around this point, BJ Sefton comes off the field.  He’s told to take his shoes off.  This hurts D’oh significantly – Pat McCarthy is already injured, as is Cody Bean and Jon Hamaker – leaving D’oh very thin in the ranks.  Nevertheless, D’oh keeps scoring (Drew Silar to Christian Lloyd).  Both teams turn a bunch.  The Gregerson – Grobe pipeline continues.  At 12-12, D’oh works it to within 15 yards of the EZ.  Barrio’s D is off a bit, and D’oh gets some nice women touches, but D’oh’s men look tired and there isn’t much upfield movement.  It’s a hotly contested point – D’oh turns, then Barrio takes a time out just short of the goal.  Barrio scores off the time – 13-12.  Barrio’s defense shuts D’oh down – getting a stall. They then work the disc up the field to the 20.  A Barrio guy shows the scoober.  He shows the scoober again. He takes the scoober. It lands well short of its intended destination.  The crowd rejoices.  D’oh works it down to tie.  Cap went on at 12, so this is game point.  The G-G pipeline takes Barrio to within 15, then there’s a goal and D’oh is sent down to pre-quarters.  Wait, Penny made a call prior to an earlier throw – so the disc goes back.  Same result. 

 Results: Pool E: Mischief 3-0, Barrio 2-1, Puppet 1-2, D’oh 0-1.

Pool F: Mental Toss Flycoons 2-1 (first per win head to head against Shazam), Shazam 2-1, ACS 1-2 (third per head to head against AMP), AMP 1-2. 

The lower pools.
Meanwhile, out in the boonies –the lower pool teams were fighting for their lives. 

In Pool G, Chewbacca started out with a clean win against Bucket. They went up 4-0, then maintained that lead the rest of the game to 15-11.  Hooray had a more difficult time of it, going up initially, 5-3, but then the Cougars tied at 6s, and took half 8-7.  They lost the lead at 9s, with Hooray going on a run to 13-10.  Hooray pulled it out, 15-12.In the second round, the Cougars Bucket game made little difference. Neither could move up.  The Cougers came out strong, going up 3-0, but Bucket brought it back to 9s.  They then took the lead 11-10, but couldn’t hold on, losing 13-11, and have to figure out how to get out of their O-fer record. 

The big game in this pool was the Chewbacca – Hooray game.  Moving up depended upon the results here, and just on the head to head – no point differential today.  Hooray started out up, then Chewbacca got the break to 3-2, then 8-6.  They came out of half to get another 9-6, but lost some of their lead at 14-13.  Surely a hard fought game – they were still playing at the hard cap, but Chewbacca made the move up winning 15-14. 

Pool H made mincemeat of my predictions with a round robin win-loss that had some funny results.  What fun.  Guillermo went out and got their second win of the day, going up a couple breaks early, 6-3, and taking half 8-4.  Their lead increased and decreased, but Quiet never got back into, losing 15-10.  Slow White, meanwhile, messed things up by losing to PBB.  The game was back and forth for most of its length, with PBB having a slight lead.  They closed Slow out at 15-12.   Slow had a better showing the second round, although Guillermo had the lead into half.  Slow went on a run after half to 10-8, and in a slow crawl to the finish, won 12-11. 

This set up a funny situation.  Here’s an email from Melissa Stamp, who talks about how Quiet Coyote, up to this point winless, stepped up and did their part for the NE strength bid.  “In the last round of the crossover games, Quiet Coyote was down 8-13 against Peppermint Bon Bon, then somehow pulled it out (8-2 run) to win 16-15.   With that win, Coyote kept Bon Bon from being in a 3-way tie w/ Slow White & Guillermo, which meant Slow White wound up H1 instead of H3.  So, Slow White's in the quarters because of Coyote's big comeback win....good chance D'Oh would have done better in the play-in against Bon Bon or Guillermo [I agree with that assessment - Bil], so the whole quarters picture got revamped because of that game between 2 teams that will finish in the bottom 4.” Thanks Melissa.  The Prequarters.While the wind gusted a bit, it otherwise tailed off significantly after 3:45 pm.  These games started out feeling like they would be windy, but in fact the wind was only occasionally a factor, especially after the first half hour.  The wind, nevertheless, stayed in people’s minds – and for the first few/several points after the wind dropped – it was a bit difficult to adjust.

The prequarters are interesting – they feature two teams who have done more poorly than they expected today coming down from heavy competition, and two teams that have had some good wins (or win) coming up from weaker competition.  It’s hard to say which is preferable.  The results tell us nothing.  They make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

D’oh v Slow White. 
D’oh starts this game out in trouble, and things only get worse – even though on the surface, D’oh looks pretty good for the first half.  Starting out, Slow’s Tim W-H hucks to Peter Prial, but James Evans from D’oh gets his hand on the high disc or a D.  A huck from Evans goes too far, however – then a turn each (D’oh drops).  Slow’s vertical stack doesn’t pan out as D’oh’s defensive line continues to make trouble.  D’oh finally hits Christian Lloyd with a huck from Josh Lang (thanks to a defensive mac). D’oh up a break.  Slow hits Meriden D’arcy going away – a short throw later and it’s 1-1.  D’oh hits Dean Stevens with a long throw, but York takes an inside out that goes just beyond a receiver.  Slow doesn’t value – and a series of turns results.  D’oh eventually scores even though they are playing deep into their roster (I haven’t seen some of their male players in this game playing all tourney).  After some back and forth, Miller takes a crossfield to Evan Patisteas who dominates his defender, 3-3.  Lloyd puts up an ugly hanging throw, the intended receiver misses it, but Cory Lyngaas slides in to save the goal.  D’oh 4-3.  D’oh starts playing their zone – with a very tight cup – and often Jackie Williams on the mark.  Slow takes a series of short throws to get the goal.  D’oh turns, but gets the disc back and stays up, 5-4.  Then something interesting happens.

D’oh has a nice pull – the disc lands – rolls – and a Slow White person touches but doesn’t stop the disc.  It keeps rolling – out the back of the EZ.  Whoops. Disc on the back line.  Slow can’t get out of the hole, and D;oh scores, 6-4.   On the next point, York takes the full brunt of a hucked disc midway through its flight – she gets the credit for the D – but D’oh can’t convert and Slow gets within 1.  Even though Slow has opportunities to tie, D’oh scores 7-5. Slow answers, then Cassidy Edwards has a great come to D after D’oh had worked it down.  Miller throws a break mark for the throw – and we’re tied 7-7. D’oh takes the half off a misread by a defender.  8-7.  Slow’s zone gets a D – they go up a break.  D’oh drops coming under, and Miller takes a time out.  Slow works it up after the time, Slow 10-8.  D’oh turns on a swing close to the EZ – and Slow breaks the mark to get to four in a row since half.  At this point, another interesting thing happens.  Miller puts up low half-field throw.  Stevens goes to get the D.  Patisteas waits for the disc to come.  As Stevens runs to where he thinks the disc will be, he and Patisteas collide.  Patisteas is holding his arms over his chest (probably to protect himself), but it looks like he would if he were setting an aggressive pick – his arms are just a bit extended from his body.  There’s contact – the disc comes in and Patisteas catches it by moving his arm up.  Stevens calls a foul – probably claiming that he couldn’t jump because of Patisteas’ arms.  If Patisteas had just held his arms straight up – this would never have been an issue – he wasn’t moving anywhere – so no foul on Patisteas.  But the forward set of his arms seemed like an aggressive movement – and while I might have called it incidental – I could certainly understand the observer agreeing with the offensive foul call. Note: I think that both players were perfect fine in their conduct here – their actions isn’t what is interesting here. The observer did agree with the call, ruling it an offensive foul.  She said something – and a Slow White player told her that it should go back to the thrower.  She agreed – saying that yes – it should go back to the thrower.             

Both players went to the observer on this call. She ruled that it was an offensive foul. What result? It should be a turnover.  What actually happened – the disc went back to the thrower (with her approval), and was played over again.  Slow White scored.  As the teams walked toward their endzones – D’oh players (also certified observers) realized what the call had been – some folks assumed that the observer had made no call – and had sent it back to the thrower.  Upon realizing that the observer had approved of an inappropriate resolution – the other observer was appealed to.  A discussion ensued – David Raflo was brought in – and the ruling was that the play had to be redone, with the correct result being a turnover.  Good times for all. This seems like the correct result – the observers are supposed to get us to the right result – not the wrong one. In any case, D’oh scored the point – but D’oh was on their last legs.  Slow goes on to finish the game out 15-9. 

Chewbacca Defense v. AMP
Chewbacca must have been prescient – choosing to play defense over choosing a side.  It was still windy when they flipped – but despite choosing to start out going downwind – a prudent choice in any of the earlier rounds – they stuck with D.  Of course, as the wind dropped, they proved to be right. 

AMP started the game out with a Parikh jack to Sean Murray.  1-0.  Chewbacca turns, but eventually scores after Amp messes up a dump.  Amp then runs a clean offense, with Dugan Lawrence getting some good yardage, and finishing with a few breaks for the goal, 2-1.  Amp plays their traditional zone – two women in the cup, very flat, and very passive.  There’s hardly any energy there – and yet Chewbacca turns. Amp’s Jeff Laarz gets around his mark for a break to Kevin McCormick to go up 3-1.  Note: both of these teams have a lot of height – the breaks come easy when you’re 6’3.Chewbacca hucks to some of its height, trying to get Patrick Mackie in the EZ  Amp’s Jeff Laarz gets the D, however.  Amp hucks too deep – but Chewbacca has trouble, and off the turn, Amp jams it in for 4-1.  The Chewbacca energy from this point out is pretty low.  Amp gets within 20 challenging another break, but underthrows.  Against the loose Amp zone, Chewbacca drops, then Amp attempts a dump off the back of an unintended receiver.  Amp’s Marc Stachowski occasionally flashes to the middle Chewbacca handler, trying to get a poach D – Chewbacca looks non-plussed, which is a bit strange given how lax the zone is – but Amp also seems to lose a bit of focus – they aren’t able to convert.  Eventually, Chewbacca figures it out, 4-2.  Amp’s Laarz then hangs one in the EZ from 20 out, the receiver and the defender collide (incidentally), a third person catches it – goal.  Another Amp huck on the next point deflects off the 'efenders hand, but it’s still caught, and a give and go with Yum makes it 6-2. Finally, Chewbacca looks better as Don Tom directs the O – getting lots of short gains and quick dishes.   6-3. Chewbacca shows zone – a traditional one with tall markers circling the mark.  Amp attempts some ugly upside down upwinds – they turn and Chewbacca’s Hugh Daschbach breaks the mark for the goal, 6-4. Chewbacca zones downwind the next point – and AMP has no trouble. 7-4.  Chewbacca shows why AMP is zoning – getting a huck off without any difficulty 7-5.  Amp’s Alison Cameron picks up some trash off a huck, and AMP has half 8-5.  In the huddle, Chewbacca’s Tal Tversky tries to raise his team’s spirits. “Let’s not waste this opportunity to play up to the top bracket.”  Don Tom, a bit later, says, “We have to fight – we have to fight for our spot.  We have to believe.” 

Out of half, Amp zones some more – Chewbacca takes a bit to figure it out, but eventually gets to 8-6, and it feels like something could happen.  Chewbacca gets a D playing person, they look like they’re playing a vertical stack (maybe something Hangtime-ish?), but then they get stuck without good cuts, and there’s a turn. Amp scores, 9-6.  Chewbacca brings Matty Clark under – no defender is close so he gets a free look downfield – and he puts it to Ryan Pickens who has a big catch over his defender.  9-7.  From the brick, Parikh hits Murray for 10-7 (the huck is pretty obviously going to happen).  Chewbacca tries the same bac, with Mackie putting to Clark again, but Amp’s Dan Furfari gets up at the last second for a D.  Both teams work it, with turns at the end – there’s  very male feeling to the Chewbacca offense – although they do hit their women coming under sometimes – this seems to stall the offense a bit.  Amp does a better job of spreading the cuts around, but they turn.  Yum lays out on the goal line to stop a score.  Judy Le of Chewbacca gets some yardage, but throws too far for Ryan Pickens, and as Chewbacca’s defense sags, AMP gets the break, 11-7. This one probably signals the end.  AMP gets the next, 12-7.  AMP wins eventually 15-9.   Preview of Bracket play.   

Mischief vs. Amp and Shazam v Puppet, winners meeting in semis.  

After stumbling to Chewbacca, Mischief really has been playing well.  Today they outscored their opponents 30-18.  Not a bad day.  And they’re playing a team that has had a tough couple days – and an extra game.  Amp has a lot of players, but rides some much harder than the rest.  Amp’s height, however, is something that Mischief will have to deal with (Mischief is pretty short, barring handful of people).  Both teams have good offenses – the game may be a matter of who wears down first.  Given Amp’s very mixed results, I’ll go with Mischief.   

Shazam and Puppet are two unlikes – Shazam’s got efficiencies built in – where Puppet seems to prefer taking the long hard road.  Shazam’s dump defense is a lot tougher than other teams – this may sorely test Puppet’s handlers – and Puppet’s getting stuck sometimes on offense isn’t great.  Their losses in power pool indicate that Pool C was not the strongest pool (with only 1 team in the brackets).  That raises doubts – and doubts are enough to go with the returning champion.   Should the Shazam – Mischief game happen – it should be good times for all.  I can’t call it – I wouldn’t be surprised either way. 

Flycoons v Slow and Barrio v ACS, winners meeting in semis.
Slow hang on today by the slimmest of threads.  It’s had quality losses (AMP), but more importantly it’s also had a non-quality loss (PBB).  Barely making it out of the lower pool (12-11 vs. Guillermo) doesn’t bode well.  And look at the Flycoon results for today – 15-9 (vs Shazam) and 15-5.  The Flycoons are fresh – and deep.  It’s not likely that Slow will be able to continue to upset. Barrio has been consistent. ACS inconsistent.  Perhaps that gives us the answers that we seek.  On the other hand, ACS occasionally comes out strong.  This match-up should be a great one – with both teams capable of a lot of athleticism – good things should result (Matt Lane).  For now – let’s go with consistency, and Liz Penny’s will to win. Whoever gets to the Flycoons will have an uphill battle.  The Flycoons would love to see ACS, probably.  But I’d like to see Barrio – I think because of the match-ups.   

Mixed Division Day 1
by Bil Elsinger
Photo - Matt Lane

Thursday is definitely the best day.  Especially before the games begin.  Every throw still potentially a completion.  Every decision still maybe good.  Every game a win waiting to happen.  Thursday is the best day because everyone is still in it.  Everyone is in high spirits and no one is disappointed.   

It was a good day.  A fun day. A warm day (from mid-morning on – the cold night’s effects lasted until after 9 am) - with winds gusting in the 8-12 mph range.  Most games saw an upwind downwind (although often angled).  In some games the wind made a difference.  Maybe not a lot of difference, but in a close game, maybe difference enough. 

Mixed Division Preview
by Bil Elsinger

I will be tweeting from the fields (hopefully). see: www.twitter.com/upamixed

Welcome to 2008, the Year of Parity.  Also, the year of very large rosters. 

Teams are taking advantage of this, their last year of wide open rosters (next year only 27 will be allowed per roster).  The norm this year?  Bloated. Five years ago twenty eight was big.  Today twenty eight is normal.  More than thirty is big.  Enjoy it while it lasts, kids (but what does the trend mean for chemistry, especially for the lighter practicing teams?)  

I'm excited about a lot of the teams this year.  As more “elite” open and women’s experience makes its way into Mixed, the talent spreads out, and the rising tide floats all boats. Add to this the trickle down as colleges programs improve and produce more folks ready to play = more teams than ever seem to have a shot.  There are at least ten teams that have an outside shot at making semis, and not because there isn’t strength at the top.  

And yet, teams can still qualify without much practice. Here’s this year’s Sweet Sixteen, analyzed by pool.  

Pool A -1. Mischief  2.Barrio 3. Chewbacca  Defense 4. Cougars 

Mischief comes in with the overall number one seed thanks to uncertain results out of the rest of the country and the NW’s perceived strength.  Coming out of the Bay Area, and under the leadership of the Smith brothers, Mischief has built itself into a consistent contender through a combination of hard work and fair play (although I’ve never thought the team particularly mischievous).  Mischief has lost some a big name or two this year, but despite previous things that I’ve said in the past, Mischief has a lot of depth.  Their quality goes all the way down and as much as any team, they’ve got a great system in place.  Having A) home grown a lot of their talent, B) picked up people that work well in their system, and with C) the coaching of Andy Crews, they will win a lot of games, and there’s no reason that they won’t take this pool.  Mischief may even win by losing as the departure of Tyler Grant allows the disc to get spread around.  Some doubt, and the season’s results indicate that this may be true, that the ceiling for this year’s team may be a bit lower than previous years, but on the other hand, Mischief may merely be peaking at the right time.

Out of the SW, Barrio doesn’t get any respect.  They finished 6^th last year, after all. And changed little. Except some of their players had a pretty good college season.  That doesn’t deserve a lower seed, does it?  I guess it does – Barrio comes in seeded 8^th.  Returning are the consensus Big Three, Liz Penny, Jeff Grobe (of yellow shorts fame), and Austin Gregorson.  Not returning (or not playing at least)  are several women (including Gretchen Kiehlbaugh and Julia Tenen who are doing international aid work – rock on Gretchen and Julia!). This has been a tough season for Barrio wear and tear-wise, especially for the men coming off of Arizona’s college season, but it looks like everyone will be able to suit up. Last year Barrio surprised.  This year, teams will be ready.  But with the extra experience, Barrio should continue to make noise.  After all, knowing how to win consistently is a big part of winning consistently.

The Cougars are an interesting pick-up team that has tried to qualify for a few years, but who often ran short of people by the end of regionals.  With old school Rare Airers like Julie Wolfe, Carrie Thrasher, Kristin Ovens, Suzanne Jones, (recent mothers) Marley Steele-Inama, (and) Fran Carson and Johnny Bravo players like Dave Remucal, Dan Revelle, Wes Williams, Jason Brask, Curtis Manning and Kevin Moyers, this could easily be a masters team.  As noted in the intro, the second tier of Mixed has really filled up recently with people moving over from Open and Women’s, and the Cougars is an excellent example. Given the nature of pick-up teams that don’t travel, these teams are difficult to seed (explaining why the Cougars are 16^th – although I don’t have much sympathy for a team that in previous years was beaten by Bad Larry).  With some thought to lasting long enough to make it through a tourney, the Cougars added some youth this year, picking up a couple Mamabird and Michigan players. The Cougars look to be Rival/Ror$hack type team – the reliability of their women may get them past some less well-balanced foes.  Depth and conditioning may still become a problem for this team on the second day, but at least early on, they still should be able to give the younger teams a run for the money.  The 3-4 game against Chewbacca is a great like meets like match-up.  My guess is that the Cougars shouldn’t be seeded 16^th, but also aren’t going to make their way too far up the seedings, although the Cougar-Chewbacca game could go either way.  The Cougars will also try too hard in one of their first two games, not realizing that the game is unwinnable, and will end up tiring themselves out needlessly.  If Chewbacca has learned anything, hopefully it is to win one game on Thursday.  

Pool B: 1. Alpha Cobra Squadrom  2. Shazam Remains 3. Peppermint Bon Bon  4. Guillermo y Compania

This may be the easy pool (where easy means how difficult is it to get to the power pool).  There are two teams here that belong in the power pools, and unlike the other pools, not three.

Alpha Cobra Squadron (ACS) is more ex - Flaming Moe (a dozen players or so) than ex-CLX (a handful).  That’s not good news. In previous years, Flaming Moe brought great intensity and youth, but couldn’t put things together in any kind of run.  They didn’t win the tough games.  CLX, meanwhile, took a lot of sketchy looks, but had the receivers to come up big.  They won most, but not all of their tough games.  Maybe the Flaming Moe folks bring the depth that CLX previously lacked, and the CLX veterans contribute the leadership that Flaming Moe lacks. What do they call that? Oh yes – synergy.  Interestingly, CLX split up last year and qualified as Open and Women’s teams.  Flaming Moe, meanwhile, looked to be a lock to qualify, but couldn’t get past Carleton.  Flaming Moe attempted to restart their program this year, but the restart had troubles.  Luckily, Kevin Seiler and the remnants of CLX stepped in to lend a helping hand. The result? ACS starts off with strong defense seems to follow in the CLX tradition of taking lots of chances.  They have had a pretty good season so far despite not practicing. With a good deal of mixed experience from earlier years, ACS should continue to beat the teams that they should beat (including here both PBB and Guillermo). The Shazam – ACS matchup should be a good one, with both teams bringing gritty defense and the ACS run and gun matched against a more patient Shazam offense.

Shazam Remains is also not the team they were last year.  Gone is Steve Finn (xth team in x years, where x continues to increase – watch out East Coast!).  Gone is Dave Bestock.  Gone is Ayron Jones, and Britt Atack and Tim Laverty and tall handler Mike Leech.  Otherwise, there’s hardly any turnover. But the guys who left were in the top half of Shazam’s male lineup – and thus the reduced results and expectations.  This version of Shazam knows how to win, but the unresolved issue is whether they can find the right kind of field leadership to step up in the key moments. As captain Jon Ladd notes, “Following a disappointing showing at Worlds, our roster had some turnover and the remaining team is looking to prove that we’re still the team to beat.”  It sounds like Shazam has thought about what it needs to do to reinvigorate itself.  We’ll see if those efforts have been successful. The Remains of Shazam shouldn’t have too much trouble with PBB or Guillermo, especially since the strengths of Shazam (a miserly defense, lots of big game experience, a long season of practices) should result in early leads against the less experienced lower seeds.  Coming in as a lower seed should mean that Shazam will start out with a bit more fire than if they had come in seeded high.  This doesn’t work out to benefit ACS.  At the same time, Shazam has in the past shown vulnerability on the first day with upset losses (Rival, Slow White, etc.). 

Peppermint Bon Bon has finally ended the reign of the central Carleton alumni team (who have qualified out of the Central for several years in a row).  Itself a pick-up team, and under the leadership of Dave Truesdale (formerly Sub-Zero), PBB draws players from a variety of local Minnesota colleges (most significantly, Northfield’s blonder and better at singing half, St. Olaf), other club teams, and folks who were once local junior talent.  Other Sub-Zero talent includes John Sandahl, Matt Berkseth and Ben Nalezny. Ross Cram comes off of some Van Buren Boys experience.  There are a couple of ex-Brute Squaders (Meryl del Rosario and Anne Lightbody) and a Small Rackager (Kara Marlatt).  As a pickup team with quiet different lineups for each of its previous tourneys, and given the variety in background, it may take a couple games for PBB to figure themselves out.  My guess is that PBB goes a bit soft in the warm Florida air, and ends up slightly lower than its seed. (I hope that despite my saying this, they’ll still share some of their mint chocolate chip ice cream that they’ve promised).

Nashville’s Guillermo y Compania brings one of the youngest line-ups to this year’s Show, with most players ranging from 15 (Jesse Shofner just got her learner’s permit) to 22. "Salsa” Dave Turrel and Yusi Turrel nee Wang (I see you Yusi, trying to hide between the Turrel name) provide some veteran leadership.  Prior to last minute cuts, there used to be more of a Deliverance presence on the team (and as a result, there’s even less Championship experience). The youth of this team can not be underestimated.  That youth makes it unlikely that they’ll be consistent enough to take down Shazam, and while the ACS game should be a good show there’s too much mixed experience on ACS to lose to Guillermo. Guillermo may have a chance in the PBB game, although, PBB seems like a few years older version of Guillermo.  Those few years may make the difference. 

Pool C 1. Hooray for Coed, Hooray! 2. D’oh 3. Bucket 4. Puppet Regime

When observed at first glance, Pool C seems to be significantly stratified.  I wouldn’t have been particularly worried if I were either Hooray or D’oh about not finishing as the top two (and I’m fairly conservative when thinking about my odds for the day).  But after looking at Bucket’s roster, and after hearing that Puppet might be underseeded, Pool C may be not be the walk through the park that I originally envisioned.

The Hooray improvement should make for a good 1-2 game against D’oh.  D’oh has had a long existence, but recently that existence has been limited to Seattle League play.  In the early 00s, D’oh was on the verge, once just missing qualifying by losing a game to go against the then dominant Brass Monkey.  Previously known for a tight rotation, and “gritty” play, D’oh has reformulated after many of its players tried single gender play for the fall series in the intervening few years.  Bringing a new focus on fun (and more maturity), D’oh has definitely shaken things up this year (beating the Sockeye/Riot combo team at Potlatch). D’oh has benefited from the trickle down wealth of Seattle and from the University of Washington’s improved programs.  Half of the team is original D’oh, and half = new recruits.  Folks like James Evans, Ester Katsaros, Jackie Williams,  Gabe Pederson, Dean Stevens, Drew Silar, and Greg Shiring, and the injured but still tall Cody Bean hail from earlier versions of D’oh.  The addition of folks like Christian Lloyd and BJ Sefton make for a deeper team. One of the benefits of being around for this long is that this team really knows itself.  The efficiency that results helps account for D’oh’s strong performances all summer.   Also, D’oh really knows how to play mixed.  That will get them a game or two. 

Recently of Chain Lightning, Chris Gooden didn’t start the season thinking mixed.  But after a  successful Club Terminus, the ex-Chain and ex-Ozone players of Bucket decided to throw in their lot through the fall series, and suddenly Chris was the captain of a mixed team. With only a couple of practices, Bucket has focused on development through tournaments, and as is the nature of a pick-up team, Bucket has yet to play at full strength.  Half of the team brings the exuberance of youth (coming out of Emory, UGA, Georgia Tech), and the other half (folks like Laura Gold, Martha McLain, Angie Alquist, ,Amanda Strout, Ben Bain, Ryan Balch, Alan Reeves, Matt Trapp, Kyle Weisbrod, Brian Cornielison, Adam Boyd and Nick Fiske) bring their single gender “elite” experience. This was probably a good choice – as the balance again results in some good synergy. Bucket’s women will be of the (Ror/Rival/Gendor) type (i.e. reliable with the disc, more aggressive on the throws).  As noted in the Cougars’ section, this strength will often win a mixed team a couple of games. Perhaps Bucket is where Hooray was a couple of years ago – which means that it may take Bucket a bit to adjust – and by the time this happens, Bucket may find itself out of the running, with losses to both Hooray and D’oh. 

Puppet Regime has maintained a certain level of consistency by qualifying in every even year since 2003. This year, however, the Regime has changed masks.  After finishing 10^th in 04 and 06, and after not qualifying last year, Puppet flipped its lineup, and in the process recruited more broadly (bringing in some NJ club players, some NYU women’s players, and some Cornell and Rutgers folks, etc.).  A few Pike men have moved over (Heng-Scheng Chuang, Dan Yi, and Malcom Baker) and Fiona McKibben (USA Jr. Nat from Seattle) has switched coasts.  The new, larger team has been a necessity this year as Puppet has had trouble with injuries.  Monica Heger was lost to an ACL/MCL injury, Jen Lau tore her ACL on her first point back after breaking her knee (?) earlier in the season, and others have had significant injuries that are still being fought through. Puppet has had mixed results during the regular season with some good wins. They beat both Tandem and Bashing to qualify with no indication that either of those teams were playing at a lower level than the year previous.  What does that mean?  That there is a logjam in the NE, and that the seedings are not predicative.  There’s no reason to think that Puppet would finish better than middle of the pack, but they may do better than 13^th.  Although with their pool draw, the move up may not happen on the first day.   

Pool D  1. Amp 2. Mental Toss Flycoons 3. Quiet  Coyote 4. Slow White 

Talk about killer pools.  I don’t envy anyone in this pool. 

Amp, a semifinalist last year, can’t be happy about drawing the consensus underseed (Slow White) along with an improving Flycoons.  Amp has had exactly the kind of season that they should have, but failed to make seeding more obvious by failing  to win their region.  Much of Amp returns from Amp’s semifinals roster, but despite this, Amp somehow managed to pick up 16 new players (pushing the roster to well over 30 – although this may be necessary when you have ten couples on your team).  Brian Felt was the biggest individual presence on the team last year, but his loss, like Mischief’s loss of Tyler Grant, may well benefit the team as a whole. Some notable additions include Amanda Davis (Loose Cannon), Jeff  Laarz, a couple of Canadians (JS Merette and Christine Lord), Mari Oshiro (Wicked) and out of college Tim Gaulton and Jon Tew.  As always, Eugene Yum, Dan Furfari and Castle Sinicrope will lead the defensive charge with Raha Mozaffari and Sean Murray doing a lot of offensive work.  Amp’s offense will continue to be consistent, and they’ll keep winning the games that they should (against the third and fourth quartile teams).  With the new parity, however, it’s going to be a grind.

Mental Toss Flycoons, who have earned their way up a couple spots over last year’s finish (9^th – good enough for the second strength slot) by placing well in NW regionals can’t be happy either.  Earlier, I thought that perhaps the Flycoons had benefited from a weaker NW, but after taking a look at their roster, I’ve been turned into a believer.  They’ve lost former captain John Maclean, but have picked up Andy Neill, Mary Burke, Scott Conway and a few others.  By adding to an offense that already made great use of Marky Mark’s hucks to Skyla Sisco and Sarah Megyesi, and a lot of guys coming hard under, the Flycoons have upgraded. Sort of like how the Yankees upgrade (i.e. not getting any younger). One of the Flycoons strengths has been performing consistently based on good team chemistry.  Add a couple others in, even if they are former Donner/Trigger folks, and who knows what happens to that chemistry.  On the other hand, the Flycoons’s success has always been limited.  Maybe shaking things up will result in a move up the standings.

Finish first in the NE (who has shown strength in the last four years (2^nd, 2^nd, 5^th, 3^rd)) but no, no quarters spot for you.  In fact, you’re almost regulated to the fourth quartile.  Woop woop. Wow.  And you get last year’s finalist as your fourth seed.   Welcome to the Club Championships, Quiet Coyote.  Not that you haven’t been here before.  With what looks like half of Twisted Metal’s roster (14 from the 2005 roster), last seen as an Open qualifier a couple of years ago, Quiete Coyote probably won’t be sneaking up on anyone here. Add to that a few Brute Squaders, and we’ll see whether the transition to mixed will be a smooth one – as Amp, the Flycoons, and Slow all have lots of practice at bringing gender balanced attack compared to Quiet’s two mixed players.  After not practicing and failing to make the show last year, Quiet put more effort in this year (including attending a workshop together) and included more tourneys in their preparations.  Though win-loss results weren’t always great, team Coyote has quietly developed itself into a threat. Quiet has also recruited some youngsters, and unlike some of the other teams who draw heavily from open and women’s, almost all of Quiet is still its prime (only five players in their 30s).  This looks like a deep team – and a dangerous one should it figure out how to best play mixed.

Slow White may have, in the words of Mike Miller, “lost more talent in the last year than any other team,” but they know how to win, and at least some of their big names are still there. Gone are Dan Patisteas, Miles Montgomery Butler, Rusty Ingold-Smith, Rosie Ano, Cristal Chan, Meagan Schoellhamer, Seth Mann, Mike Rozinsky and Rob Spies.  Whew. Added are a bunch of college/recently graduated folks. And another Patisteas.  Rumor has it that Slow has made some changes corresponding to their change in personnel.  We’ll see whether that  means that the big bomb immediately after the turn is gone. Unfortunately for Slow White, this pool features two returners who have slowly been working their way up the rankings each year.  Both Amp and the Flycoons know how to beat the teams that they should beat.  Neither strikes me as a team likely to get upset, but with three tough games in three tough rounds, who knows. Slow White has yet (in its three years of qualifying) to lose a game on a Thursday.  It’s a tough uphill battle for them to maintain that record, but bigger surprises have happened.  In any case, it seems pretty unlikely that a team who has lost something like 3-4 losses over all of its Championship appearances would match that total in one day.