USA Ultimate

Pools A & B

After coming off an almost two hour bye, teams in pool A and B used their warm up time to work on different things. Thirst’ N’ Howl took their warm up as a chance to scrimmage one another and warm their muscles up. Their opponents, Old Mikwaukee, took the time to warm up their throws with a little end zone drill. DoG chose not to use their entire warm up time and got on the line quickly, forcing Scrapple to take the line as well. Teams in the A pool did a mix of throwing drills and plyos to get their bodies ready for another round at Grand Masters.

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Kotvis (f/go)

DoG (2nd seed) VS Scrapple (7th seed)
•    Scrapple did not let DoG get away with the fast start, quickly scoring on the top seeded team.
•    Early in the game, Alex de Frondeville of DoG made a nice D, which quickly lead to a score by Steve Dugan.
•    Even with DoG’s James Jim Johnston handling, Scrapple was able to go on a nice three point run which helped put Scrapple in a nice 6-4 lead.
•    After the long run, DoG picked up their defense, making for long points until Scrapple was finally able to bring it to half with a 7-5 half time score.
•    In the second half, both teams were well rested and ready to go. Scrapple’s Trey Katzenbach found his place in the end zone, quickly becoming their top scorer. He also had a great connection with Bill Maroon, which allowed them to rack up the points for Scrapple.
•    Scrapple’s ability to intermix the long and the short game helped lead them to a 13-10 victory over DoG.

Thirst’ N’ Howl (10th seed) VS Old Milwaukee (15th seed)
•    In their first appearance at Grand Masters, Old Milwaukee was ready to make some noise in their third game. The team went on an early run thanks to some nice plays by Tim Duggan and others.
•    Thirst’ N’ Howl quickly caught back up to the newbie team with help from handler Rick Colbeth and cutter Charlie Schubert.
•    The game was very competitive, and both teams kept up good spirit throughout the game.
•    With plays by Jeff Armstong and his Old Milwaukee teammates, the group moved into half leading 7-4.
•    After half it was all Old Milwaukee, who outnumbered their opponents on D’s and quickly found themselves in a strong lead.
•    With an unfortunate turnover off the pull towards the end of the game, Thirst’ N’ Howl found themselves looking at a final score of 7-13 Old Milwaukee.

T-Rex (9th seed) VS Ozark Hillbillys (16th seed)
•    This third round game found the two opponents to be equally matched. Both teams were filled with experienced handlers and strong jumpers.
•    Both teams were able to mix short and long throws together to make a strong outcome.
•    T-Rex’s John Boswell and Hillbilllys’ John Gulley led their teams offensively with strong handling skills.
•    T-Rex’s Rod Hannon and Alan Ellis found a strong connection when it came to handling.
•    The Ozark Hillbillys took a much needed time out to talk about strategy and the importance of the game when they found themselves down 2-5. After, they were able to head into a time out down only by one point, 6-7.
•    After the half, the two teams continued to trade points for most of the remainder of the game.
•    At 9-9, T-Rex decided enough was enough and went on a four point run to finish the game with a score of 13-9.

Old and In the Way (1st seed) VS Chico’s (8th seed)
•    Just like in the T-Rex VS Ozark Hillbillys game, these two teams found themselves evenly matched for the first part of the game.
•    For Old and In the Way, strong defense by Brendon Pardington and handling by Randy Ricks were matched by equally strong defense from Chico’s Steve LaCrosse and handler Mike Labellarte.
•    The game continued to be a strong back and forth when it came to scoring, with a half time score of 7-6, with Chico’s in the lead.
•    After half, Old and In the Way came out with guns blazing. They quickly took the first point of the half with no drops or turns.
•    The game continued to be close until Old and In the Way took the game to soft cap at 10-9, making it a game to 12.
•    Unwilling to continue trading points, Old and In the Way quickly ended the game with a final score of 12-9.
 

Round 4, the cross-over game:
    After the third round, the sixteen teams found themselves waiting to receive the new seeds. Then, half of them were ready to battle it out for their chance to make it to the championship battle the next day.

T-Rex VS Moscow State
•    Still thriving from their strong run at the end of their last game, T-Rex was ready to take on Moscow State. They played a nice, clean game, quickly racking up points against their opponents.
•    On the other hand, Moscow State found themselves a little sluggish and had a lot of miscommunications and close calls on the end zones. The team also struggled with their defense.
•    Amid their struggling, Adam Zagoria tried his best on defense, making several good defensive plays.
•    After several long, drawn out arguments, observers were called into the game with the score of 5-3, T-Rex.
•    After the observers were in place, the game began to pick up speed and T-Rex’s David Kaminski started to shine in the handle position.
•    The smart throws and good leads put up by T-Rex helped them secure a 7-4 half-time score.
•    After the half, Moscow State was ready on the D, putting on hard, aggressive marks. But with that came a lack of cutting on the offensive side, which made the Moscow State’s handlers have to do a lot of work.
•    Within the second half, T-Rex’ Rod Hannon was able to make a spectacular Callahan to help his team.
•    Scott VandeLinde, from T-Rex, made an amazing D near their end zone that helped secure his team a 13-6 victory. Moscow State was only able to score twice after the half.

Old Milwaukee VS Big Sky
•    This game was slow to start, with neither team really ready to play. Once it started, the teams traded points for most of the first 8 points. Both teams played smart Ultimate and had very few turnovers or D’s.
•    With great throws by Big Sky’s Paul Schiess and others, the team was able to go on a four-point run despite great efforts by handler Mike Balas of Old Milwaukee. Big Sky took half with a 7-4 lead.
•    After the half, great defense by Trent Troyer and handling by Bradley Strahan was not enough for Old Milwaukee to keep off the ever so confident Big Sky.
•    The second half was dominated by Big Sky, and included a strong layout by number 13, Brian Petteys.
•    Old Milwaukee was able to score four points in the second half, but Big Sky came out of the champions with a final score of 13-8 and a chance to play in the championship bracket tomorrow.

Pools C & D

Surly came out looking to remind everyone why they’re the number one seed in the pool and the three seed over all.  Even though they were winning, they didn’t get complacent and kept talking about what they needed to do to in order to improve their game.  Big Sky came out looking to make statements and show that they were better than a number 6 seed, saying "We’re here to put up a good fight. We didn’t come here to roll over," said Paul Schiess of Big Sky. Le Tigre and Sick Hammers came out looking to play as hard as they could and take what they could on the field.  While these two teams spent a little longer getting used to each other as players, they fought as hard as they could in the games they played

Boulder Gun Club came into their games with cocky confidence that by the end of the day they would show everyone in their pool that they should have been the #1 seed, not Ball & Chain.  As the #1 seed, Ball & Chain fought hard to keep their seed, but weren’t able to play up to their potential, eventually losing on universe in the crossover.  Both Moscow State and Iron City came out with fire to do whatever they could to break their seeds.  While they were able to hang with the teams seeded higher, they were never able to finish the game.
 

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Kotvis (f/go)

Round 1 Highlights:

Surly v. The Le Grande Tigre
•    Game Strategy: During the game Surly will be looking for quick transitions and patience. Le Tigre will be looking to play aggressively in order to break seed.
•    At beginning, Le Tigre were beating themselves on drops, which Surly had no problem converting to score.
•    The game started close, with Surly and Le Tigre trading points, but Surly went on a run that Le Tigre couldn’t recover from.
•    During game, #22 Chris Hickman from Surly threw a sick huck to #7 Paul Anderson.
•    Mid-Game Commentary: "We’re treating this game as a warm up and are using it to get used to each other as players so we can work out the kinks for later in the tournament," - #15 Marc Anievas, Le Tigre.
•    Making a final attempt for the win, Surly threw the crowd favorite, left hammer, for the win.
•    Even with the win, Surly was not happy about the way they played:
     o    "We need to pick up the intensity and grind in next game.  Run hard every point.  This is our tournament to win," - #32 Jim Mott in Surly’s post game huddle.
     o    "Surly energy matters.  Sideline, we need to pick up our players," - #24 Surly.
     o    "We made a lot of uncharacteristic mental errors in that game," - #13 Matt Spillum.

Big Sky v. Sick Hammers
•    Game Strategy: Sick Hammers were looking to use this game to get to know each other as a team.
•    During the game, Big Sky capatalized on turns made by Sick Hammers by taking care of the disc and working it up on O for the score.
•    At an imporant moment in the game, Big Sky had a 6 point run. They had no problem D’ing the Sick Hammers.
•    Mid-Game Commentary:"[The Sick Hammers] are beating ourselves on turns," - #29 Joey Barcio, Sick Hammers.
•    Although Big Sky lost, they kept their SOG high: "We didn’t realize it was going to be this hot in southern Ohio.  But the Sick Hammers were a very spirited team and we had a great game with them," - #12 Mike Gollin, Big Sky.

Ball & Chain v. Moscow State
•    Game Strategy: Moscow State looked to come out strong.  They know it’s necessary for success in the pool.
•    During game, Ball & Chain hucked to #19 Chris Showers who was all alone in the end zone, causing Moscow State to call a time out.
o    Moscow State spent the time out talking about playing tougher D and getting their heads in the game.
•    After 6 foul calls, Moscow State scored on a hammer.
•    Ball & Chain responded the next point with a full field huck from #23 Greg "Bug" Allpow, to #37 Floyd Roberts, who was all alone in the end zone.
•    #19 John Lipsky got an epic layout D to fire up Moscow State, who used this momentum to score.

Boulder Gun Club v. Iron City
•    Boulder Gun Club started the game up 3-0, and kept that momentum throughout the entire game.
•    A large contingent of Bolder Gun Club is from last year’s 2nd place team.
•    Game Commentary: "We’re armed and dangerous, we take what we can," – Boulder Gun Club.

Round 2 Highlights

Surly v. Sick Hammers
•    During the game, Surly worked out the kinks in their game and played more inspired D.
•    Hammers responded late in the game with a few D's from #4 Bernie Barcio and #85 Ian Jipp and capitalized on a few of Surly turns.

Big Sky v. The Le Grande Tigre
•    At a key point in the game, Big Sky went on a run to take half, 7-6.
•    Le Tigre had a three-point run to take control of the game.
•    Le Tigre worked the disc off the line, and then up and down the field with their handlers until they were finally able to put it in the end zone for the win.

Ball & Chain v. Iron City
•    At the beginning, Iron City started clogging on their in-cuts and turned their offense into a huck game.
•    Ball & Chain seemed to be throwing the disc away an uncharacteristic number of times, but when they took care of the sick, their offense was almost unstoppable for Iron City.
•    During the game, a foul call almost turned into a fight.  Iron City called a time out in order to diffuse tensions.
•    The game turned into a hard fought game, with Ball & Chain and Iron City trading points. Ball & Chain was up by 2 breaks when the soft cap sounded.
•    As a result, both teams put on very hard marks.
•    At the end, #25 Stephen Mueller from Iron City lays out in the middle of the point to maintain possession; and #80 Stan Marshall lays out for the score.

Boulder Gun Club v. Moscow State
•    At the beginning, thanks to some lazy D by Boulder Gun Club to start, Moscow State goes up 2-0.
•    Mid-Game Commentary: "We need to go after the disc and be more aggressive, more intense.  Everyone needs to raise their level," - #29 Bob Krier, Boulder Gun Club.
•    During game, #15 Jim Nolte from Moscow State got a huge D, which fired up Boulder Gun Club to score.  They came out with the next point, playing hard D and went on a 6 point run.
•    Mid-Game Commentary: "Lesson Learned: we need to run in our warm-ups," - #29 Bob Krier, Boulder Gun Club (Their next warm up was a 4 field jog after the bye).
•    Soon after, Boulder Gun Club started playing inspired D.
     o    #29 Bob Krier got a layout D and then assisted on the score.
     o    #00 Dave Remucal got a D protecting their end zone and then ran to score for bookends.
•    Moscow State came out with a zone to try and slow Boulder Gun Club down, but Boulder Gun Club had no problem working it up the field and threading the needle to score.
•    To sum up the Grandmasters Tournament: "Drive 12 hours.  Drink Gatorade.  Soak up the sun.  Play hard.  Or die,"- #1 Michael Costantino, Moscow State.

Round 3 Highlights

Surly v. Big Sky
•    Big Sky came out strong with a hard working offense to start the game.
•    #46 Bill Sherrerd got a layout D to inspire Big Sky, but they couldn't capitalize.  Surly used the opportunity to throw a ¾ field huck to #13 Matt Spillum who was all alone in the end zone.
•    Mid-Game Commentary: "We’re here to put up a good fight. We didn’t come here to roll over," #25 Paul Schiess, Big Sky.
•    Surly and Big Sky traded points all game.  There had been few Ds and very little turnovers up to this point.
•    All but 3 O points had been scored .
•    Big Sky seemed to be favoring the scoring combination of #25 Paul Schiess, to #1.
•    Big Sky went up by 2 with a half field huck to #25, the first 2 point lead all game.
•    #13 Matt Spillum got lucky on a huck to #36 Russ Adams, who threw the assist to #12 Matt Zupan to tie the game at 8.
•    Big Sky was able to work it up the field and got two break throws to score on universe point.

The Le Grande Tigre v. Sick Hammers
•    Sick Hammers came out with a beautiful full field huck from #11 Rick Scott to #21 Gary Breaux to tie the game at 2.
•    Tigres responded with their own huck and played smooth offense to go up 2.  Hammers responded with a huck to score.
•    Sick Hammers were once again beating themselves on turns.
•    Tigres threw a half field huck to take the game.

Ball & Chain v. Boulder Gun Club
•    Both Ball & Chain and Boulder Gun Club were containing the disc on offense.
•    #32 Tom Etchison from Boulder Gun Club skys a few players on Ball & Chain to get a D in the end zone.  Boulder Gun Club capitalized to score, helped out by Ball & Chains tired D.
•    #48 Scott Beckwith from Ball & Chain responded by laying out for a score.
•    #10 Mark Moore from Ball & Chain caught a score over #00 David Remucal from Boulder Gun Club.
•    Ball & Chain brought out their zone to try and slow Boulder Gun Club down.
•    #19 Chris Showers from Ball & Chain threw a nice threading break for a score, that tied the game at 9.
•    After 2 Time Outs, 2 injury calls, and 2 hard Ds, Boulder Gun Club was finally able to work it up the open side for the score.  Ball & Chain couldn't recover.

Moscow State v. Iron City
•    #5 David Goldemberg from Moscow State got an epic layout handblock and then threw a half field huck for the score.
•    Moscow and Iron City traded points for a while, before Moscow used their huck game to go on a run.
•    #18 Doug Parent from Moscow State got a D, #31 Scott Miller from Iron City responded with a D of his own, and the point ended with #17 Linwood Lewis of Moscow State getting a Callahan.
•    Iron City turned the disc over on the end zone line, and Moscow scored on a short pass to a lone receiver. 12-9.
•    #14 Mark Schultz from Moscow got a D from between the hands of an Iron City player, Moscow got the disc 10 yrds from the end zone for game point. They threw the disc away, but #15 is able to get a D and Moscow worked it up the field to score the game point.

Crossover Game Highlights

DoG v. Le Tigre
•    #86 from Le Tigre was able to sky 2 DoG players near the endzone that the Tigres needed to score in.  Later in the game he was able to sky 3 DoG players for the score.
•    #15 from Le Tigres got the first D of the game.
•    #22 from Le Tigre was able to sky a DoG player for a score.
•    #86 from Le Tigre followed a disc down the line from the score. Le Tigre was then up 4-2.
•    Le Tigre started the game with a better long game than DoG.
•    DoG made a comeback to tie the game at 5-5. 
•    Le Tigre took half by walking the disc up the field.
•    DoG proceeded to make a comeback to win the game.

Ball & Chain v. Chicos
•    #11 from Ball & Chain threw a half field huck to #33 for a score over 2 Chicos players.
•    #20 from Chicos kept proving he’s ambidextrous by switching hands (but not pivots) to break Ball & Chain’s mark.
•    #20 got fouled throwing a huck. Afterwards, he got the disc back and Chicos worked it up the field with a few hammer swings and then threw the hammer for the score. 6-4.
•    #2 from Ball & Chain threw a beautiful I/O flick for the score.  6-5.
•    Ball & Chain brought out their zone again, but Chicos found the holes and worked it down the sideline to score. 7-5 .
•    Chicos put the pressure on to get a D on a ¾ field huck and responded with a full field huck.  #00 caught the disc just short of the endzone, but thought he was in and celebrated by dropping the disc. This is called a Turnover on the field and Ball & Chain worked it down the field to score.
•    #44 from Chicos layed out to catch a disc thrown behind him to grab the score off a B&C drop.
•    #50 from Chicos had a disc bounce out of his hand as he went for the grab, but was able to catch it. #00 skys a Ball & Chain player to score. 12-10.
•    Ball & Chain had a player have the disc bounce out of his hands when he tried for the catch, but #23 is able to catch it and B&C works it in for the score. 12-11.
•    #00 from Chicos caught an easy openside flick in the front corner of the endzone to win the hard fought universe point, which allowed each team at least one other chance to score.