Author: Zach Travis

The US Open finals against Boston Ironside was a rematch of a great pool play game from Thursday, a tightly contested match in which Ironside broke our offense on the final point of the game to claim victory.  While we hoped the final score would be in our favor in this second bout, it seemed certain that either way the game was destined to be a crowd pleaser.  Fortunately the game (along with our semifinal against Doublewide) is available in its entirety on ESPN3, so head over to catch all the action and commentary.

First, a short aside: the huge leap in availability of high quality, live/rapid-turnaround game footage changes the nature of the tournament writeup somewhat – while fans used to rely on game summaries and photos to capture big plays and key moments for which video might only be available months later (if at all), now writeups like this one are coming out several days after most readers have already seen the game (and in fact the game footage is the primary source for this material!).  So, I’ll try and avoid rehashing what the commentators have said or doing a ton of play-by-play (except for pivotal moments) and try and provide broader impressions as well as an on-field perspective.

Back to the game – our 4pm start time was late in the day, which allowed us to sleep in and relax for most of the afternoon while we watched the other finals.  However, unlike our semifinals matchup in the evening cool, our game was right at the hottest point of the day, with temperatures pushing 90 out on the hot turf, not much cloud cover, and only a light breeze.  While the team had to deal with the east coast heat and humidity all tournament long, this was definitely the worst of it.  The turf also seemed particularly slippery and difficult, with cutters and markers sliding all over as they changed directions, and certainly contributed to several turns.

We started off on defense but both offenses seemed solid out of the gates as we quickly traded to 3-3.  Their offense was abusing our flatter marks, throwing easy breaks to open up the field behind our defenders. Our offense was patient and content to swing the disc while waiting for cutters to get open.  The first turnovers came from the Mac Taylor – Peter Prial matchup going deep – with one catch ruled out of bounds and Taylor bodying out on the second – and Sam Kanner sent hucks going the other way for two quick breaks and the 5-3 lead.  At 7-5, we put in a strong defensive line featuring Beau Kittredge to try and break for half, but Ironside connected on their first deep shot and came right back at us trying to regain the advantage.  Cassidy Rasmussen prevented the Ironside break with a great heads-up block after slipping on the turf and secured the half-break going into half 8-6.

There were several great plays made in the points coming out of half as we traded breaks to go to 13-11 – Devon Anderson toed the sideline to save an offensive point and Jordan Jeffery and Nicolai Schlag earned back possession after turns with two layout blocks.  While our offense was performing heroically to hold on to what we had earned, the defense was no longer able to come up with blocks – partly due to several pinpoint hucks from Ironside for quick goals.  This kind of late game lead can be very dangerous if the defense is unable to secure any more breaks – while victory might only be two points away, it puts a ton of pressure on the o-line to perform while the momentum of a defensive break (especially if there is any upwind-downwind nature to the game) can change the atmosphere very suddenly indeed.  While this is a situation where our offense has traditionally excelled (see e.g. semifinals of Worlds in 2012) it’s always better to get more breaks – this level of defensive intensity is something we’ll need to develop in order to pull out close games consistently. In an ending very reminiscent of our pool play game, Ironside’s late run brought things to double game point, and it took Beau Kittredge’s impressive grab between two Boston defenders secured the victory.

Congrats to Boston on two hard-fought and extremely close games (level on aggregate).  While we’re thrilled with our victory and how the team and the new players are coming together, it’s still very early in the season and there are a lot of teams out there (including a bunch not at the US Open) that will be working hard to take the next one away from us.  It’s a great start to what will hopefully be just as good of a season!

Sunday was just as windy as it had been all week, and after a morning throwing session on the beach we lounged around the house watching the streaming mixed and women’s finals.  Last year playing in the first final was much like any other tournament day – an early morning, heading straight to the polo grounds and hitting the field.  With the open final in the third slot, we could sleep in but had a few hours of trying to stay mentally focused and calm – morning cartoons are great for this…

Finals vs. Doublewide 
Be sure to check out the full game footage (first half / second half) courtesy of USAU
    Doublewide again started on defense, making our offense go upwind for the first point.  A few teams had tried this on us, and so far it hadn’t come off, with our O line working it against the wind successfully and our defense out of half converting the same downwinder against the opposition.  However, it finally paid off for Austin in the finals – after a few seconds of tentative cutting, they got a big in-cut layout block on our first throw and punched it in from the goal line.  The offense quickly found its rhythm and Jordan Jeffery made a huge grab over Tim Gehret for the downwind score.  On D, Mac Taylor converted a Doublewide deep throwaway into an upwind break with an impressive huck of his own to a streaking Mark Sherwood, and we had the break back.  We got the disc and the chance to seal the pair on the next point, but were unable to convert, and DW got the break back on their next chance to make it 2-3.  At 4-3, Doublewide got an upwinder of their own and again both teams had shots to get the downwinder – our offense held twice upwind, one coming from Johnny Hester who found Robbie Cahill with a beautiful backhand huck, but so did Doublewide’s.  The wind made for lots of jump balls and throws into big packs, and DW’s receivers did a great job hustling and coming down with a lot of them, and at 7-5 they got the second break to take half.
    We knew we had a hole to climb out of in the second half, but we’d been in similar situations before and only needed a pair of breaks to be right back in it.  Coming out on defense going downwind, we converted right off the bat with Sam Kanner finding Martin Cochran who toed the front corner for the break.  However, DW struck first upwind with a break to take a 10-6 lead.  Our offense held strong and converted twice more upwind until our defense was able to earn it back to make it 11-9 after Mark Sherwood made a great play to snatch a DW huck.  On the next defensive point, Mac Taylor made a great layout D on the goal line and Robbie Cahill snatched up a low throw for the upwind break.  After several great blocks and lots of turnovers, we punch in the downwinder to tie it up, 11-11.
    Four more points to go, and we knew that one upwind break would likely decide it.  Adam Simon got us started by pinning DW on the front cone with a great pull. Our defenders quickly smothered it, but a desperation huck found its way into the hands of a hustling receiver and, after a few quick throws Austin had escaped with the goal to make it 12-11.  Doublewide’s zone produced a footblock and a quick strike deep for the crucial upwinder, and a drop on the next point gave them the second.    Although the momentum seemed to be on our side at 11-11, windy games can change quickly, and the last few points seemed to go by in a flash as Doublewide pounced on our turns. At 14-11, they again converted upwind to win, 15-11.

Congrats to Doublewide on the victory – they played an amazing game top to bottom and showed an incredible amount of will.  This was a tough loss for us, particularly as it marked the end of Alex “Dutchy” Ghesquiere’s tenure as coach and we had hoped to send him out in style.  Still, it was an incredible season, from training in April to Worlds in Japan to Twain Harte, Kezar, Seattle, Santa Cruz, and finally Sarasota, and it’s hard to ask for much more beyond the well-deserved rest we enjoyed last week.  We look forward to seeing everyone in the Pro Flight next season…

Another early morning and another day of stiff wind to face – Thursday pool play Saturday quarter- and semi-finals saw us matching up against Chicago Machine and Raleigh Ring of Fire with seasons on the line.  We spent Friday evening reviewing our game plan for Machine and planning our strategy for Sockeye in case they advanced out of their quarters versus Ring, then got to bed early (no baseball tonight).

As Hurricane Sandy made its way up the eastern seaboard, the wind steadily grew over the second day of club nationals.  The impact of the wind on nationals-level club teams isn’t as great as you might think – good throwers can adjust and deliver sharp throws even in the worst conditions – but it does change the overall flow of the game and the pattern of breaks as teams fight for upwind breaks.  Both Johnny Bravo and Doublewide have great throwers and like to look deep, which the wind can disrupt somewhat – but we also saw a little of Doublewide’s four-man cup on Thursday and knew to expect it in the afternoon.
Game 1, Johnny Bravo (15-11)
Our morning matchup was against Boulder’s Johnny Bravo.  The wind was strong enough even early that this was an upwind-downwind game from the start.  The first break came for our defense at 2-1, with Mac Taylor finding Zach Travis deep upwind, who, after a quick dump and swing, caught the around break for the goal.  We secured the break with the next downwind point off a Martin Cochran deep D.  However, Bravo took advantage of a Revolver turn to try and force it upwind, and after making a fortuitous grab after Josh “Iceman” Wiseman tipped up a huck, they had earned back the upwinder themselves.  They quickly grabbed the second break to bring the game back on serve.  We fought to 7-6, at which point we put in a strong D-line to try and grab the break into half.  The effort paid off, with a hard Sam Kanner mark forcing a first-throw turn and a quick strike on the short field for half, 8-6.
   We were happy with the half – it was a tight game and we had grabbed a break – but we knew that one wasn’t enough, as an upwind-downwind pair was all JB needed to take charge.  Out of half, they threatened to just that as they held on O and then broke upwind to even the score at 8-8.  Our offense was unfazed, though, and held the upwind point, allowing our defense to immediately earn the break back.  We traded downwind to 11-10, along the way earning TMFs for our hard marks and our sideline (four total – 2 marking, cursing and rushing the field…) before sealing the game with a final break pair at 12-10 on the back of Martin Cochran, who had two great blocks and the goal for the first break and a Bart Watson layout upline for the downwinder.  With this late cushion, we were able to close it out 15-11.
Game 2, Doublewide (15-3)
Our final game was against Doublewide, who was also 2-0 in the pool – we had both secured bracket spots but the quarters matchups and, more importantly, the mental edge going into the final 8, were still on the line. This game was streamed live and we had friends, family and fans watching (which is always exciting) – and you can watch it all in replay (first half / second half).  We were fired up for this game, and we knew after our previous nationals matchups, DW would be as well.  Texas elected to start on offense upwind – perhaps gambling on their offense to hold giving them an early downwind opportunity, or perhaps hoping the wind in the second half would be even worse. The game started in the best way possible for us – DW dropped the pull in the wind and we had the disc on the goal line.  However, both teams were sloppy – it took us 3 or 4 turns before we could finally punch in the break.   Now, with the single break in our pocket, we came out with an offense-oriented defensive line, and it paid off as Cassidy Rasmussen hit Beau Kittredge with a long hammer and we worked it in for a second break.  We worked in the downwinder and then another patient upwind/downwind pair and were suddenly on a 5-0 lead.  Doublewide answered back with their first offensive goal on a deep look downwind, but our offense survived a Rasmussen drop in the endzone to hold.  Our d-line forced another long point out of the DW offense, who finally scored on a deep shot to Kiran Thomas with two defenders closing.  Our offense held again, and our defense got another upwinder off of great handler defense by Taylor Cascino.  Half at 8-2 was beyond our expectations, but we knew we had to continue to press in the second half.
  We were coming out on offense upwind, but although the wind was still blowing strong, our offense worked it well and held, giving our defense the chance to convert downwind again.  On the next upwinder, Russell Wynne got an incredible around layout point block, and we kept rolling – more blocks and scores both ways, as Doublewide started to let it go.  They scored one more downwind O, but we never let up on route to a 15-3 win.

Saturday marks the start of elimination games, and with seasons on the line the level of play just continues to rise.  We had a great showing today, but we can’t take pleasure in it yet.  On to quarters vs. Machine…