Category: Rhino

Posted on

Northwest Regionals – Sunday

Revolver – Northwest Regionals – Day 2 (Sunday, October 2, 2011)

A light mist greeted us at the fields and we left trails of footprints in the dew as we congregated at the site of our semifinal against Seattle Sockeye. Next door, Rhino, back at full-strength (though still without captain Tad Jensen) warmed up for their semifinal against Furious George, who had come back from a three-point second half deficit to defeat Sockeye on Saturday morning. Unlike past years at Northwest Regionals, a win in the semifinals would not clinch a bid to Nationals, and a loss would guarantee an exhausting road toward the second berth.

Game 5 – 9:00a v. Sockeye (Seattle, WA) – Semifinal
There were plenty of local teams and fans rooting for Seattle this morning in what felt a little like an away game for Revolver, similar to the 2009 final at Nationals against Atlanta’s Chain Lightning in Florida. Our O-line had practiced against a big, aggressive four-man cup (posed by our D-line the prior weekend) in preparation for this game, but the pleasant weather prompted Sockeye to withhold their trap zone on all but one point — it didn’t really work as Robbie Cahill and Bart Watson threw several easy hammers to slice through. This game therefore featured a lot of man and transitional junk defense, with Sockeye utilizing frequent switches and extreme angles created by the mark’s force. Revolver’s defense had trouble slowing down the frequent give-go action between Seattle’s handlers that took advantage of the briefest hesitations by the marks or defenders.

Revolver started off strong by scoring on offense and then immediately forcing a break for a 2-0 lead, but things soured a few points later. After scoring on offense to make it 3-2, Sockeye’s D-line broke on three consecutive points to take an important early 5-3 lead. We traded out before Sockeye added another emphatic break going into halftime. 5-8 Sockeye.

In the huddle we reminded ourselves that we had known the road would be difficult at times, but that an excellent opportunity lay before us. The Fish’ well-coordinated defense had stymied the O-line through confusion, energy, and elimination of space that we had taken for granted most of the season. The offense needed to settle down but the defense would have to win the game by erasing those early breaks.

Out of half the Revolver D-line forced another break, but a few points later Sockeye grabbed it right back to stretch their lead to 11-7. We broke twice in a row on blocks by Sam Kanner and Mac Taylor to close the gap to 11-10. The teams traded again until Sockeye took a 14-12 lead with their O-line. Do or die time… Sockeye’s call-and-response “Sock! Eye! Spawn! Die!” cheer had been ringing in our ears all game, but with Sockeye receiving on a 14-13 lead, we heard, “Shattered dreams!” echoing between the sidelines. The hard cap sounded during the ensuing point as Revolver broke to tie the game at 14 each and set up universe point. Sockeye turned over the disc on a deep shot attempt but Mac threw a low backhand to Mark Sherwood that Sockeye’s Tim Gehret flew threw for an awesome layout block, regaining them posession about 30 yards away from the victory. A few throws later, our defense stifled the handlers and Nate Castine rifled a shallow inside-out forehand across the field that sailed over the front endzone cone. Back the other direction, Beau Kittredge came down with a bloody mouth (and two chipped front teeth) after an amazing, jostling grab over Matt Rehder on a towering blady backhand. A short throw later the 15-14 comeback was realized, sending Revolver to the finals and Sockeye via the long route to the back door bracket. We had barely escaped against a team that had performed better for most of the game.

We would face a rematch against Rhino, who had taken care of business against Furious George with an efficient 15-9 win in the other semifinal.

Game 6 – 1:30p v. Rhino (Portland, OR) – Final
After the bye round we were surprised when Rhino trotted out their first O-line of the day and, like Saturday, almost none of our pre-determined match-ups materialized. It seemed that Rhino had decided to rest their starters again, but this time in a game-to-go. Still, we were only able to post two breaks in the first half for an 8-5 lead. The D-line managed only four breaks total against a very competent Rhino offense, but our O-line was not broken once. Their stars like Eli Friedman, Seth Wiggins, Timmy Perston, Breeze Strout, Cody Bjorklund, Matt Melius, Dylan Freechild, etc. only played 0-3 points each in the final, but played a great deal and very well in the back door game-to-go against Furious. We are sad to see that we’ll have to look forward to matching up with them next season instead of in Sarasota.

When Revolver’s O-line completed the 15-10 win we were happy to have qualified for Nationals for the fourth straight year, but knew that we had dodged a bullet. We kibitzed the elimination game between Sockeye and Furious George and witnessed another unfortunate late game collapse by a talented Seattle squad, ending their very successful decade-plus streak of Nationals appearances. In some ways it doesn’t seem fair, but when the dust settled on Northwest Regionals only Revolver and Furious George advanced.

Posted on

Northwest Regionals – Saturday

Revolver – Northwest Regionals – Day 1 (Saturday, October 1, 2011)

Ten teams, including four of the top-ranked teams in North America, fight for two bids to Nationals. The weathermen forecast rain today, but the gray clouds never fell while we played and the wind was negligible until mid-afternoon. The scheduled format was a little unusual, pitting the first and second seeds against each other first. So…

Game 1 – 9:00a v. Rhino (Portland, OR)
A couple of Rhino players were suspended for three games due to roster mishaps from Sectionals and Rhino sat most of their starting line-up almost the entire game. We took half 7-2. Jonathan Hester had a nice double happiness on a deep D and then caught a huck from Mac Taylor out of half. Rhino’s Bryson Uhrig-Fox caught an impressive goal over Patrick Baylis that energized his team. Revolver up 12-5, Rhino finally brought out an O-line with some match-ups that we had planned for, so we sent a zone down on the pull. On an unlucky play, Eric Halverson laid out and snared a catch block on an attempt to swing around the cup but Rhino’s Grant Cole caught his leg underneath. Nobody heard a pop but Cole’s knee was badly injured — we all hope it’s just a sprain. Halverson threw an upline forehand to Nick Chapman for the bittersweet game-winner.

Game 2 – 10:45a v. Dark Star (Eugene, OR)
These guys jumped out to a quick, startling 2-0 lead as Dark Star broke our O-line twice, including a near Callahan. We erased those breaks quickly but then traded out to half for a 7-6 lead. They made unusual throwing choices that we hadn’t expected and caught us unaware several times. We barely recognized any of their players but their athleticism kept them in the game for a long time. Once we got a 9-8 lead we scored the rest of the points and won 13-8 after Eric Greenwood accidentally got a D with his head (it’s hard to describe…), in what would prove our toughest game of the day.

Game 3 – 12:30p v. Boost Mobile (Bay Area, CA)
Vowing not to fall victim to a slow start like the previous game, the D-line broke on the first four points and took half 7-1. Boost usually connects on their deep game but they weren’t today, so we took advantage, partly by pressing them with a zone defense. It turns out that we didn’t require much of the O-line this game as Revolver rolled to a 13-3 win.

Game 4 – 4:00p (scheduled) v. Downpour (Seattle, WA)
These guys were young, athletic, and excited but possessed little experience. We opened the subbing and pushed to a 12-0 lead before Downpour finally punched in a goal using one of their two giants. We staved off the rain just long enough to wrap up the 13-1 win.

As the sky began to sprinkle we left the fields, showered quickly at the hotel, then headed north to Bob’s Burgers for some college football and team dinner. We’ll be resting up tonight in anticipation of a brutal elimination day at Skagit River Park tomorrow, where the weather should be partly cloudy with a high of 62. Somehow we’ve managed to avoid meeting Sockeye all season, but that all changes as the rivalry renews in a breakfast semifinal. Bagels and lox? Time will tell…

Posted on

Labor Day Sunday

Revolver – Labor Day Championships – Day 2 (Sunday, September 4, 2011)

An 8:00a game time today invited an even thicker fog so that we lost track of coverage assignments a couple of times in the first game. Of course, by late morning the sun appeared and summoned a light to medium breeze over the proceedings. After suffering a migraine during the night, Russell Wynne took the day off to recover.

Game 4 – 8:00a v. Voodoo (Seattle)
Ben Wiggins, a figurehead of three-time national champion Seattle Sockeye, now coaches the young Voodoo squad, a leadership change that has already translated into improved poise and new strategic approaches. Revolver, on the other hand, was upset about unmet expectations from Saturday — unfortunately the yellow and black crew from Seattle would be the first team of the field to receive the backlash. Up 8-2 at the turn (Sam Kanner insisted on playing every D point of the half, before taking the entire second half off), we mostly traded the rest of the way for a sound 15-7 win, ending with a defensive break from Ryo Kawaoka to Taylor Cascino. Top performers: Devon Anderson (3 goals), Bart Watson (4 assists), and several players with a block each.

Game 5 – 9:45a v. Southpaw (Philadelphia)
The first half of this game featured only one break by each team, but we led 8-7 by virtue of receiving to start the game. Robbie Cahill caught a particularly nice sky goal on a floating throw from Cassidy Rasmussen. Kanner earned a nice layout point block for himself. Jake Rainwater of Southpaw also came up with a great high grab over Mac Taylor for one of their goals. After halftime, we pulled and broke Southpaw three consecutive times with some zone defense and a clean-up-the-trash reception by Jon Levy after Mac’s huck eluded a cluster of players in the end zone. Taylor Cascino helped generate another break with a horizontal layout block on a pass attempt through the cup. We won 15-10 on the strength of our efficient O-line (only one turnover in the game), and our D-line in the second half. Top performers: Beau Kittredge (3 goals), Bart Watson (4 assists), Sam Kanner (2 blocks).

Downtime
A three-way tie atop Pool A between Revolver, Chain Lightning, and Furious George resolved on point differential with Chain on top and Revolver in the other semifinal. We watched two pool play games from Pool B in our four-hour bye to determine our opponent, as a lot hung in the balance for several teams: Sockeye vs. Rhino on one field and Doublewide vs. PoNY next door. Sockeye would advance to semis for sure, but if they lost to Rhino they’d come in second in their pool; if they won, they’d go undefeated in the pool and take first (and meet Revolver). Last-seeded Rhino would take the top spot (and meet Revolver) if they defeated Sockeye (head-to-head tiebreaker) but fall out of semis with a loss and a Doublewide victory. Doublewide needed to beat PoNY and hope for a Rhino loss, as they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over Rhino. So… Doublewide won their game convincingly and then came over to watch the time-capped finish on the adjacent field. Rhino had been down 9-7, scored on offense, then broke to knot it at 9-9. They pulled to Sockeye, who worked it downwind until a turnover led to Dylan Freechild putting away the thrilling double-game point win for Rhino, meaning they would be our semifinal opponent.

Game 6 – 3:00p v. Rhino (Portland, OR) – Semifinal
Rhino has improved a lot over the past couple of years spent revamping the program. Old Revolver teammate Seth Wiggins is back and in fine form plus they have several young studs (including a couple of NexGen characters) to lead the team into the future. But why wait for the future when they can come back today from the sixth seed in their pool to win the top spot in the bracket?! We pulled to start, but Rhino turned it over upwind after a few throws. Then Martin Cochran threw a turnover before quickly redeeming himself with a Callahan goal to open the scoring! His mark cut underneath but couldn’t handle a high throw, then the disc basically fell into Martin’s chest. After that we traded and added a couple of extra breaks by our D-line, until at 7-5 Rhino broke back. We earned the halftime lead of 8-6 and cruised the rest of the way for a 15-8 victory and a berth in the finals. Ashlin Joye, Beau, and Patrick Baylis all stood out for memorable sky Ds. Top performers: Devon Anderson (3 goals), Cassidy Rasmussen (4 assists), and several players with a block each.

Game 7 – 4:45p v. Chain Lightning (Atlanta) – Final
Chain beat Sockeye on double-game point when Alex Nord dropped a tipped disc in the endzone that he couldn’t adjust for in time. Chain launched a huck deep into the wind and came down with it, yielding a pool play rematch in the finals and chance for us to avenge the dispiriting loss from Saturday. Chain broke first after a turnover by Cassidy, but we then scored and forced two breaks in our favor. At one point, Chain swung to the upwind sideline and Greg Swanson (?) turned to rip a backhand upwind, but our own Jon Levy charged and dove full-extension with both hands and knocked it twenty yards out of bounds, leading to another break. We took half 8-4 after Ashlin came down with another 50/50 block in the endzone then threw the goal to Martin Cochran the other direction. We traded a couple of points and after scoring to take a 9-6 lead the Revolver D-line decided to wrap it up with 5 breaks in a row to seal the title and successfully defend our Labor Day championship from last season. On the last two points Eric Halverson swiped an anticlimactic Callahan goal (perhaps making up for the one he threw against Rhino) on a flat dump pass after a nice forehand pull, then threw an upwind hammer to Baylis on the next point for the 15-6 win. Top performers: Robbie Cahill (4 goals), Bart Watson (3 assists).

Just like last year’s Labor Day experience, Revolver elevated its performance after a tough Saturday afternoon loss. We know that we still have not played our best game, though, and watching Chain Lightning run wind sprints after the finals demonstrated that they are already working to get better. As Coach Dutchy reminded us in the post-game huddle, “Championships are won by the team that improves the most in September and October.” Everyone starts fresh in the playoffs.

Posted on

ECC Sunday

Revolver – Emerald City Classic – Day 3 (Sunday, July 14, 2011)

Game 6 – 8:00a v. Urutau (Colombia) – Pool Play

It was an early start so we rolled to the fields at a leisurely pace, but still started warming up before our opponents from South America. The first half went quickly as we led 8-1 on the backs of the D-line. Nick Chapman and Jon Levy both caught two goals and Martin Cochran and Mac Taylor each served two assists. Nick Schlag showed his skill with an ¡imposible! 40 yard around beak-mark flick to his wingman Josh Wiseman (9-2). Joel Schlachet hit Devon Anderson for the 15-5 win. The inter-squad post-game circle was great as we exchanged compliments and the Colombians invited us to their country for a tournament this fall. Maybe we can make it happen!

Game 7 – 10:05a v. Rhino (Portland) – Quarterfinal

Our offense scored first and we broke right away after Mac notched a deep D against the super-athletic Timmy Perston (orange beanie) off a backhand by Revolver alumnus Seth Wiggins. Mac turned and went the other way, so Ashlin Joye connected with a big backhand; a quick blade over to Russell Wynne made it 2-0. Other first half highlights include Devon with awesome acceleration to run past speedy Breeze Strout for a huck D and Beau Kittredge tallying a D, a goal, and two assists, including a nice backhand huck to Wiseman in stride. 8-6 at half as Rhino kept it close, breaking our O-line once. Mac later outran Seth, no simple feat, to block an away throw, which brought the lead to 13-7. The offense closed out the game and a strong second half 15-8 on a two-throw point, the long ball from Adam “Chicken” Simon to Bart Watson.

Game 8 – 12:10p v. Ironside (Boston) – Semifinal

This was the first rematch of last year’s national championship game, so both sides were eager to hit the ground running. Boston received to start and soon broke first to take a 1-3 lead, but we broke right back to tie it at three apiece after an overthrown huck. At 5-4 Ashlin marked primary thrower Matt Rebholz so well that he was forced to chuck a stall nine blade that fell incomplete. We worked it back and Mark Sherwood threw a break-mark hammer to Martin for the 6-4 lead. Ironside’s Muffin later sent a forehand bomb off a pull play to young gun George Stubbs (who otherwise had an impressive game), but Chapman knocked it out of the air; several throws later Ryo Kawaoka ripped a low backhand huck that Dan Forseter nicely defended, but the disc popped up in the air long enough for Levy to run under with the help goal (7-4). We took half 8-5 after a gorgeous inside-out backhand huck up the break side from Schlag to Bart. Later, Robbie Cahill shot a flick over the stack, where Wiseman made an amazing trailing edge layout grab but landed hard on his knee (11-7). Somebody nicknamed “Kibs” experienced double happiness when he foot-blocked Bart’s backhand then beat him to the spot in the endzone to close the score to 12-10. We traded out, including a couple of great deep plays by Ironside to Peter Prial, as the O-line steadily held on game point for the 15-12 victory.

Some may wonder about our D-line’s unusual approach to the pull this year. Those curious should check out the UltiVillage footage. We’ll let Cassidy do the talking, here:

“The Boston coach came over and asked me about the D team’s huddle. He said, ‘How does that work? How do you know who you’re covering?’ I told him, ‘I have no idea. I had one point with them and screwed it up and now they won’t let me play on the D-line anymore.'”

Game 9 – 2:20p v. Ring of Fire (North Carolina) – Final

A rematch of our first game–the alpha and the omega! After a grade A pull by Jonathan Hester, Russell caught a deep shot for the block; a few passes ensued and Mac threw a blade forehand up the line to wide-open Ashlin for the first break of the game (2-0). We took two consecutive breaks for a 6-2 lead and they broke back once before we won half 8-5. After a successful offensive point out of half we broke three times in a row to 12-5. Hester laced another great grade A- pull and Chapman climbed the ladder for the deep D; then Chapman sprinted the other way and Hester snapped a long forehand to him for the break (10-5). On the next point both Zach Travis and Pat Baylis had highlight-reel layout blocks. Bart subbed in for Baylis after his man rolled over him and immediately bladed a flick to Mac (11-5). On the next point Devon easily blocked a hanging deep throw before Ashlin shot a perfectly placed backhand to Russell (12-5). We pushed it to 13-6 as Hester made up for a turnover by forcing a throwaway and calmly throwing through a nasty multiple-foul mark for the goal to Bart. On game point the O-line swung to Bart, who put a forehand onto Beau, in stride, to win 15-8.

ECC champions! Full results here. It’s a good start, but worth noting that the last two winners in Burlington went on to lose in the finals at Sarasota…