The Mixed quarterfinals were all very close, as the wind made most games a battle of hucks and upwind/downwind points. Mischief excelled with this kind of play, as the wind hardly affected their general strategy of putting up deep shots and winning matchups in the air. CLX caught on and began playing huck and D but Mischief was fired up and putting strong pressure on the downfield cutters, generating turns. Matt West and Kevin Smith excelled with hucks upwind to make CLX work it all the way down the field again. Mischief would keep rolling on and take the game 15-13. The Polar Bears and The Ghosts had an exciting game as well, with many upwind breaks. On the first point, The Ghosts broke upwind after a confusing pick call. The Polar Bears would then keep fighting back until 6s, when they went on a roll of breaks to take half 8-6. However, The Ghosts weren’t done, and they worked it back to lead 9-8. The game was full of calls which slowed down play, so the teams played until soft cap, where Polar Bears eventually pulled out a win 14-12 with some great snags from Greg Marliave and a D from Paige Kercher on one of The Ghosts men. Polar Bears found success with changing up their lines to put their D line on downwind points and O line on upwind regardless of if they started on offense or defense. Drag’n Thrust went up in the first half against Cosa Nostra and didn’t look back, taking that game 15-12. Odyssee fought hard against Blackbird, but that game was strongly affected by the wind. Blackbird went up a break in the first half, and the teams traded downwind points until hard cap, when Blackbird won 13-11.
Like last year, the two semifinals games included 3 Bay Area teams: Polar Bears vs. Mischief, and Blackbird vs. Drag’n Thrust. Blackbird went up early in their game, getting two upwind breaks in the first half. Drag’n Thrust did well by breaking the Blackbird zone to swing around, but playing zone worked out in the long run for Blackbird as their cup forced a couple questionable throws which led to turnovers. Additionally, Blackbird was able to score in the upwind endzone enough times to create some distance from Drag’n and take an 8-5 half. On the other hand, Drag’n couldn’t seem to do the same, even having three different red zone attempts in one point. It seemed like Blackbird’s experience paid off the most in the game. Though there were a lot of Ds by Drag’n Thrust, the Blackbird throwers remained patient and confident in the strategy they had selected, and rallied on to take the game 15-9.
Polar Bears looked like a completely different team in their Semifinal from the morning’s game. They were making good decisions, but more importantly, they were finally executing difficult throws in the strong wind. Their turnovers came less from their own drops and more from the teams making them throw things away. Consequently, Mischief’s strategy of hucking and playing defense wasn’t working, as Polar Bears were able to frequently capitalize on these turnovers. They took over both upwind and downwind, and though Ethan Brown had some defensive stops in the endzone, Polar Bears took the game 15-7.
Notes:
• Tomorrow’s finals game will be a rematch of last year’s Blackbird vs. Polar Bears.
• Three teams in the semifinals were from the NorCal section. With the Triple Crown Tour awards, they do not have to attend sectionals next year.
• The wind made some of the games go so long today they were capped by time. Blackbird beat Odyssee 13-11, and Polar Bears beat The Ghosts 14-12.
• Best matchups of the day: Andrew Hagen on James Hron, Jeff Graham on Greg Marliave, and Lisa Pitcaithley on Cami Nelson