2013 South Central College Regionals Recap (Open)
Aaron Swaney
Posted: May 1, 2013 03:47 PM
Event recap by Missouri's Aaron Swaney, as a part of our 2013 Regionals coverage.
When teams woke up on Saturday morning at South Central Regionals in Kansas City, the slow, consistent rain that had greeted them upon arrival on Friday remained. With the fairly substantial amount of rain received over the past couple of weeks, the prospect of using the planned field site looked a little grim. Backup fields were completely flooded, and rounds got pushed back from the scheduled 9am start time. Luckily, the city cancelled a soccer tournament that was supposed to also take place at the original site, allowing our games to be spread out across the park and minimizing damage to the fields. Regional Coordinator Calvin Lin and local organizers Valley Renshaw and Brian Taylor did an excellent job handling the logistics and making it possible for rounds to start at noon.
Saturday
The first round of games was largely comprised of higher seeds taking care of business, though Oklahoma and Texas A&M’s games were both a bit closer than expected. The exception to the rule was Colorado State’s upset of Kansas in the 6 vs. 11 game. Kansas jumped out to a 3-0 lead with big Ds, sideline energy and their persistent break-side offense. However, Colorado State would dominate the rest of the game en route to a 14-11 victory. Defensive adjustments shut down KU’s break side, and Colorado State was able to convert on turnovers behind the handling of Stephen Gross and athletic plays from their cutting core.
Quarterfinals
In the quarterfinals, the top four teams once again held seed. Colorado College kept their game against Texas very close, down only 13-14 after a huge layout grab in the endzone. But when TUFF received the disc on the next point, a beautiful flick huck from Will Driscoll out in front to Mitchell Bennett sealed the deal at 15-13.
Colorado State played a close second-round game against Texas A&M in their own matchup of Colorado and Texas schools. Big plays from CSU allowed them to stay in the game, but they could not keep up with the pinpoint throws of Matt Bennett, who strategically picked apart the defense, giving Dozen the win 15-13.
Missouri was able to keep the score close against Colorado in the first half behind their huck-heavy offense and was down just one break at half time. The second half was a different story, however, as Mamabird’s discipline and depth allowed them to pull away from Mizzou’s tight lines for a 15-9 victory. In the other quarterfinal matchup, North Texas handled Oklahoma in a 13-8 win.
Backdoor Bracket Play
The third round of the day gave the semifinals teams a bye while teams in the backdoor bracket continued to plug away. Colorado College and Colorado State took care of business against Kansas State and Texas State, respectively, guaranteeing them each a top seven finish and a break of seed.
Kansas recovered from their first-round loss to CSU and rolled through Oklahoma 15-9. Prior to this match up, Kansas was 0-2 versus Oklahoma this season after tough losses at Centex and Conferences. In the closest game of the round, Washington University, who like Kansas had fallen twice to their opponent this season, jumped out to an early 5-0 lead against Missouri. Mizzou tightened their screws in the second and third quarters of the game. With some big plays on defense and persistent offense running through effective under cuts and dump throws, Missouri was able to tie the game at 10-10. Hard cap went off just seconds after WashU scored to make it 12-11. Mizzou followed up by taking care of their offensive point to force double-game point. WashU was quickly able to find an open deep look and caught a huck on the goal line, but a huge layout D on the dump pass gave Missouri the disc back. They proceeded to work the disc up the field with short throws and punched in the goal to cap off the comeback.
Semifinals
With the semifinals of both the championship and backdoor brackets starting at 6pm, light was starting to fade, but the gray sky held out, and darkness did not become an issue. In the championship bracket, the one and two seeds, Texas and Colorado, continued their run toward the finals. Texas took care of North Texas 15-12, and Colorado held off A&M 15-13 in their second meeting (and second Colorado win) of the year.
In the backdoor bracket, Missouri and CSU played a tight first half. Mizzou opened up lines in the second half, and the fresh legs of young players made all the difference in their 15-8 win. On the next field, Kansas and Colorado College were duking it out in a back and forth game with big plays and loud sidelines from both teams. The hard cap sounded, and on double game point, a huck floated over the head of both the KU receiver and CC defender. Both players turned and gave chase, laying out in the back of the end zone – KU came up with the goal and the win.
Sunday
On Sunday, the gray skies turned bright blue with just a slight breeze hanging around for the games. The day began with the semifinals of the backdoor bracket, featuring Mizzou v. North Texas and KU v. A&M. In the Missouri v. North Texas game, U-23 National Team member Jay Froude set the tone with several skies, big layouts on defense and a huge Andrew Flemming-esque bid on offense, carrying Missouri to a 15-11 win. Next door, KU kept it close against A&M behind strong play from standout Brett Hidaka and was down 12-13 when the hard cap went on. KU needed a score to force double-game point, but A&M took care of business and wrapped up the game 14-12.
Finals
Sunday’s second round, finals and the game to go to the game to go, saw both teams from the Lone Star State earn big early leads that proved insurmountable. In the championship bracket finals, Texas tallied several breaks and got back the only two turnovers they committed in the first half, to jump out to an 8-3 lead. Coming out of halftime, the teams traded points to 13-8 before Colorado scored three in a row, the last after a huge D by Jackson Kloor in the back of the end zone. Texas converted the next point and stopped the bleeding. The two teams traded again to a final score of 15-12, and TUFF came away with the first Nationals bid from the South Central Region.
In the game to go to the game to go, Missouri came out flat-footed against A&M. A combination of drops, throwaways and an inability to adjust to Dozen’s clam or generate a D led to a quick 6-0 lead for A&M, all break points. Despite having been in the same situation earlier in the weekend, Mizzou was unable bring it back. A&M got another break in the second half, leading to a 15-8 win and landing them in the game to go.
Game to Go
Not surprisingly, the game to go was a hard-fought battle with Colorado and A&M making plays on both sides of the disc. Matt Bennett controlled A&M’s offense and used hucks and quick throw-and-goes to under cuts to keep Colorado off balance. But Colorado’s big downfield cutters Jackson Kloor and Hidde Sneider consistently brought down their deep shots, and Mamabird went into half with an 8-7 lead. In the second half, Colorado managed to get a couple more Ds on A&M’s upwind hucks and held a 13-11 lead when the soft cap was signaled. Mamabird quickly converted the next two defensive points to finish out the game 15-11 and secure the region’s second bid to Nationals.
Regional Parity
On the whole, it was a really exciting weekend in Kansas City. Wonderful conditions (aside from the rain that forced Saturday’s late start) made it an ideal weekend for ultimate, and each round of games provided its own twist. In the end, the powerhouses of Texas and Colorado held seed and earned the right to represent the region in Madison, but I think the bigger storyline is the parity of teams within the region. For the second year in a row, I’d like to think that next year the South Central will earn three bids, given A&M’s youth and talent. Mixed results from the teams ranked 4-12 and their ability to keep it close against the powerhouses show that the region’s strength is growing. I’m really looking forward to next season.
Best of luck to Texas and Colorado in Madison!
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