2012 Club Championships: Thursday Open Recap
Gene Buonaccorsi
Posted: October 25, 2012 11:57 PM
Day 1 in the Open Division had some nail biters and surprises to provide, while also confirming what many expected. As was predicted, Pool C proved to be extremely exciting, as 3 seed SubZero took down the 1 seed Sockeye in the first round of the day. Simultaneously Toronto GOAT, the 4th seed in the pool toppled Chain Lightning. After the second round went to seed, all teams in Pool C stood at 1-1 going into the final round of the day. The winners the two 4:00 games earned the top two bids to power pools, while the others would have to battle for a spot in pre-quarters. Sockeye’s zone defense, which had been stifling all day, came out in force against Chain Lightning and they were able to open up an 8-5 lead at halftime. Chain looked frantic with the disc at times, and struggled to find a rhythm on offense allowing Sockeye to maintain their lead and win. In the other game, GOAT jumped out to an early lead on SubZero and never looked back. GOAT the 4 seed and Sockeye the 1 seed moved on to the power pools.
Over in Pool A close games were the norm. Early in the day cross field throws popped up and upwind breaks were at a premium, leveling the playing field. In the first round Boost Mobile, the 4 seed went up 6-3 on Furious George, but Furious closed the gap and took the win. In the second round Rhino and Furious met in a rematch of the Northwest Regionals 2nd place game to see which team would likely take second in the pool. Rhino battled back from an 11-7 deficit to win on double game point. In the final game of the day, Rhino again had to grind out a win, this time against Boost Mobile. Boost stuck around, getting a 12-11 lead, but Rhino eventually pulled out another universe point victory to advance to power pools.
1 seeds Doublewide and Revolver shined this Thursday, both going 3-0. The name of the game for Revolver was consistency, while Doublewide showed that they could make use of energy, pulling off a comeback win against Regional rival Johnny Bravo. Along with Ironside, those two teams will go into tomorrow with a head of steam.
Other observations:
- Brodie Smith and Kurt Gibson both returned from injury to play for Doublewide today. Although Brodie played a limited number of points.
- Ring of Fire pulled off a key upset over Machine to earn second place in their pool and a bid to power pools.
- Rhino’s Seth Wiggins was all left-handed today, after breaking the thumb on his throwing hand at Northwest Regionals.
- PoNY almost pulled off a huge upset over Johnny Bravo in the first round of the day, losing 17-15. The fatigue of such a tough game was evident in Johnny Bravo’s play later in the day.
- A number of teams utilized the strategy of loading their zone with tall players in the cup. Doublewide in particular did a good job of trapping throwers and eliminating all but the most difficult options.
- As rumored, Bart Watson was on the field for Revolver. He making his impact felt on defense though and was part of the reason that Revolver’s D-line was crushingly efficient throughout the day. Ashlin Joye remained on offense for San Francisco.
Ironside only had 10 points scored against them through their first two games, leaving them fresh for tomorrow.