USA Ultimate

Open Division Central Regionals Recap

Sunday morning, after the fog had lifted from the Milwaukee polo fields, Machine and Sub Zero faced off for the Central Regional Championship. Sub Zero’s swarming defense flustered Machine’s offense early on, putting Minneapolis up by a couple of breaks. It seemed that on many Machine offensive points, turnovers were the name of the game, as both teams often resorted to risky hucks that flew off target in the slight crosswind.  Nonetheless, Machine kept it within reach for their defense.  Sub Zero’s offense, on the other hand, looked extremely comfortable early, as NexGen studs Eric Johnson and Greg Arenson and captain Kyle Gill methodically walked up the field time after time.  Behind this offense, Sub Zero went into half without getting broken and ahead, 8-6.

Sub Zero received the pull after half, but Machine’s defense came out hard and rallied off two breaks.  Tied up at 8-8, the intensity got turned up a few notches.  Behind a layout block and a footblock by AJ Nelson, Machine got their chances to take the lead back.  However, some miscommunications on the dump led to turns for Chicago, and Sub Zero took advantage to get their first point of the half.  After a long, well-fought point, Machine’s defense looked spent after this point, and could not convert for another break the rest of the game.

The rest of the second half saw plenty of turns on ill-advised hucks from both sides, but Sub Zero’s defense put the disc in the endzone a couple more times to win the game and the region, 14-11.

One field over, Madison Club fought Madcow for the right to play for second place.  Madison’s defense consistently overwhelmed Madcow (who seemed exhausted after battling Climax to universe point) and handily won, 15-8.  At the same time, Prairie Fire and Climax competed to keeps their Club Championships dream alive, and took the game to universe point.  Despite a couple iffy calls, a few individual efforts stood out during this last point:  Prairie Fire’s Brett Hidaka made a beautiful layout grab off of a Vinny Ciaramitaro break, only to see the disc go back to Climax after a travel call.  Climax’s Paul Graverson toed the sideline to bring in the final score.

With only two bids to Sarasota left, Machine and Madison Club played for second place.  Throughout the first half, the story was tight defense, this time by Machine.  Early breaks, sparked by playmaking by Mike Egan and Dane Olsen, allowed Machine a comfortable halftime lead, 8-4.  Although Jon Gaynor and Brian Hart forced some turns for Madison Club as well, the defense by Machine’s o-line, specifically Walden Nelson, allowed them multiple chances every time they took the field.  The second half saw more of the same, as Machine’s offense often proved too fast and had too much flow for the Madison defense to stop.  Machine’s lead was never threatened, and they locked up another trip to Nationals with a 15-9 win.

Madcow defeated Climax for the rights to play Madison Club for third place and the final bid out of the Central.  It should be noted that Climax played five consecutive games that were decided by two points or less at Regionals, including tight losses to Sub Zero in the championship bracket and Madcow in the second place bracket.  Finally spent, they could not keep up with a deeper, better conditioned Madcow team in their final game of the season.

Madcow and Madison played the final game-to-go about as you would expect two top-level clubs to play.  After starting the game with a break, Madcow’s offense looked far more comfortable in this meeting with Madison Club than the previous one, and only threw one turn in the first half.  Behind one more break, Madcow took half 8-6.  Led by smart handling by Nick Kolderman and tight cutting by Kevin Ryan and Kevin Baumann, Madcow’s offense looked unstoppable going into half, marching down the field by taking under cut after under cut.

However, there is a reason that we play second halves.  After receiving the pull to start the half, Madcow’s offense kept their breakneck pace, and the offenses exchanged points to 10-8.  Madcow finally gave Madison Club a chance to break, which they quickly converted.  On the following point, Madison’s defense finally cut into Madcow’s flow.  With the extra effort being given by Ben Feldman and Andrew Meshnick, Madison broke the Columbus squad again to tie the game, 10-10.  From here on out, the Madison defense turned the intensity up, no longer settling for layout blocks but instead shutting down every option and forcing high stall count turns from Madcow.  The game finally reached universe point, 12-12, with one final point to determine who would go to Florida and who could go home.  After receiving the pull, Madcow’s offensive jitters finally showed up and gave up an early turn.  Madison converted for the score and the win behind a beautiful layout grab by Hector Valdivia and a hospital throw sky by Alex Simmons. 

Congratulations to Sub Zero, Machine, and Madison Club for earning the right to represent the Central Region at Sarasota!