So I told myself I would wait another day to let the Furious game go, but I can't. I got to work, started something, and then found myself here, back at the computer. Anyway, it appears as though I am like the only person who thought the Furious-Zero quarterfinal was a good game (ok, I am done with my bitterness).
Saturday am, get to the fields and start warming up. Everyone is loose and ready to go. We start on d with the monkey receiving downwind. They score on 3 or 4 passes easily 0-1. The O comes out and answers the challenge 1-1. Another short d point, furious 1-2. The O hits a snag and the first break of the game sees us down 1-3. Then a blading pull, hits off Naz, goes out the back. I take the disc at the backline. 95 yards later and about 30 or so passes upwind, 2-3. HUGE point. I thought we could have been crushed there, but instead we go from the back of their endzone to the front of ours. They answer upwind on o 2-4. We come right back 3-4. We tie it up at either 4s or 5s. I am not sure what. Goldstein caught it though. We are tied and our O has began to hit stride.
I do not remember many of the goals. Rupp was throwing beautifully deep and I believe TO hit a longshot deep. Both Berkseth and Boardman were great deep threats. And even AB got into the act with some nice deep cuts.
At 6s, Shane gets a titanic layout d on lugsdin. We work it a little and I launch a moonball hammer to a wide open Heijman. Except it takes ~15 seconds to get there, lugsdin is able to chase it down and get a piece of it. He also hits Heijman and discussion about whether it was a foul or not. No foul, they score it. CRAP. On our endzone, upwind, with a chance to go up 7-6 and pulling downwind for half, I throw a piece of tin hammer. Especially after an amazing d by Shane. Anyway, they end up with the score.
The O ties it at 7s. I was going to call timeout at 7 all b/c we had both timeouts and it would give a chance to really think what we wanted. BUT they had used a d line with all their guys, grant, lugsdin, savage, best of the west, etc. I felt making them all play O with little rest helped our cause.
Maybe I was correct, because they huck it away and put on a 4-man trap cup on Paco. Timeout (we had both left), briefly discuss it. We leave Paco hanging with the disc, ends up trying to pinpoint a hammer. No go. They get the d and the halftime lead. 7-8. But on serve, one break a piece. And we have forced the last 2 or 3 turns. We were feeling it.
On O to start the 2nd half, we score it 8 all. We may have turned it during this point, no matter, we got it back and scored it.
This begins a string of trading points all the way to 12s. During that span, Truesdale has a nice backhand goal to Boardman. We also had 3 break marks in a row where I caught the final shot for the goal. A couple of other solid plays. We turn it maybe once in this span.
During this d run of ours, we get the disc twice. Once, they put the zone on us. We get it to Paco for an open shot, but he hucks it too low and Heijman basically ds his throw. Right near their endzone, they convert it. Another chance, Charlie and I have a miscommunication, I zig, he throws the zag. Drops right in front of me. I hope this is not on video, it will look ugly. We had another chance for a d. On the pull, they iso the backhand side (we are forcing forehand). Lugsdin has Shane beat under and I thought the guy was going to throw the break. Well, good fake gets me to poach. My man busts and the disc is up, but Pbo reads it immediately. He takes off. Chases it down and hits it... But it just pops up and my man still gets the goal. Ugh.
12-all. They huck it away past my man. Foul on Shane on the mark. Another huck away, another foul on the mark. Finally, a third huck again to my man, incomplete. We get the disc on the endzone. 70 yards to break them. They come out in their little 4-man cup. I break it with a backhand invert. And the gates are open. About 10 throws later, we are ~15 yards from the endzone with the disc and a timeout. We call a scoring play and Paco gets it 2 yards out and gets it to RG for the goal. 13-12 Sub Zero. Heck yeah.
We pull downwind, they are working it and then a huck. I feel that either Dan or Pbo d'd it. We get the disc a couple of dump and swings, not much going. I get the disc, being forced forehand. Stall is starting to get high, but Pbo is behind Lugsdin by ~5 or 10 yards. I like Pbo as a receiver. We make eye contact and I get it too him as fast as I can. I am pretty sure no one was expecting it. Goal. 14-12. Game to 15. wow. We got them.
We pull with them going downwind. A couple throws later. 14-13 furious has answered. Of course, they were not going away easily. these guys are good. Cap is on, 16 is the cap.
This point will stay in my head for awhile. We do have a deep shot called. Through me. I forget to remind everyone that if we are in trouble bomb it. Do not turn it on our own endzone. As a captain of this team, that was, I think, my biggest mistake all weekend. Forgetting to remind everyone of that.
Anyway, shortish pull. I take it, do not try to force it to Berkseth. Hit Rupp underneath. Squirrelling around, we screw Rupp and I stand and watch. Man oh man, why did I not bust in to get the disc? I thought he was going to throw an earlier backhand to me, he did not, and I guess, I just froze. Anyway, high stall d on the dump. They have a fast break and they score it 14s.... Crap.
But we still are getting the disc. Deep pull, work a couple of throws out of the endzone. And try to hit Dave, low throw (I think I threw, but I actually forget). Hits Dave and is down. Right on their endzone, 14-15 Furious. Crap.
We are now receiving downwind. A couple of throws I get the disc and Berkseth is gone. And open. My man fouls me, fouls me again, and then I throw the flick. Complete to Berkseth, just short of the endzone, high backhand to TO for the goal. 15 all. Double game point. Universe point. If I played for Jawbone, I would call this Universal point.
Nice pull. We run down. Somehow Nichols gets open deep. Big throw. Big completion. Big goal. They win 15-16.... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. We had them and I just brain-farted.
I am very angry with myself for my line call at 14-13. I could have been a lot smarter. Maybe I should have just jacked it to Berkseth and see what happened. But you know, this is the first time that we (this current version of Zero) has been in a position like this against a team that has as much talent (and very arguably more). And we did pretty well. And still had 2 or 3 chances to win the game.
I mentioned in another post, that my poor play motivated me for this year's nationals. Well, my team's great play and the opportunities we had are a huge motivation for me now. November will be off. But December will see me trying to get in shape earlier in the season.
I am very proud that our team had a good weekend. And I can't wait to have more opportunities to succeed with these guys. I really feel this is the start of something rather than the end. Very encouraging.
More on nationals tomorrow or Wed. This was a very good stress relief for me. Hopefully, I will stop thinking about this game and get back to work.
Happy Halloween.
Saturday am, get to the fields and start warming up. Everyone is loose and ready to go. We start on d with the monkey receiving downwind. They score on 3 or 4 passes easily 0-1. The O comes out and answers the challenge 1-1. Another short d point, furious 1-2. The O hits a snag and the first break of the game sees us down 1-3. Then a blading pull, hits off Naz, goes out the back. I take the disc at the backline. 95 yards later and about 30 or so passes upwind, 2-3. HUGE point. I thought we could have been crushed there, but instead we go from the back of their endzone to the front of ours. They answer upwind on o 2-4. We come right back 3-4. We tie it up at either 4s or 5s. I am not sure what. Goldstein caught it though. We are tied and our O has began to hit stride.
I do not remember many of the goals. Rupp was throwing beautifully deep and I believe TO hit a longshot deep. Both Berkseth and Boardman were great deep threats. And even AB got into the act with some nice deep cuts.
At 6s, Shane gets a titanic layout d on lugsdin. We work it a little and I launch a moonball hammer to a wide open Heijman. Except it takes ~15 seconds to get there, lugsdin is able to chase it down and get a piece of it. He also hits Heijman and discussion about whether it was a foul or not. No foul, they score it. CRAP. On our endzone, upwind, with a chance to go up 7-6 and pulling downwind for half, I throw a piece of tin hammer. Especially after an amazing d by Shane. Anyway, they end up with the score.
The O ties it at 7s. I was going to call timeout at 7 all b/c we had both timeouts and it would give a chance to really think what we wanted. BUT they had used a d line with all their guys, grant, lugsdin, savage, best of the west, etc. I felt making them all play O with little rest helped our cause.
Maybe I was correct, because they huck it away and put on a 4-man trap cup on Paco. Timeout (we had both left), briefly discuss it. We leave Paco hanging with the disc, ends up trying to pinpoint a hammer. No go. They get the d and the halftime lead. 7-8. But on serve, one break a piece. And we have forced the last 2 or 3 turns. We were feeling it.
On O to start the 2nd half, we score it 8 all. We may have turned it during this point, no matter, we got it back and scored it.
This begins a string of trading points all the way to 12s. During that span, Truesdale has a nice backhand goal to Boardman. We also had 3 break marks in a row where I caught the final shot for the goal. A couple of other solid plays. We turn it maybe once in this span.
During this d run of ours, we get the disc twice. Once, they put the zone on us. We get it to Paco for an open shot, but he hucks it too low and Heijman basically ds his throw. Right near their endzone, they convert it. Another chance, Charlie and I have a miscommunication, I zig, he throws the zag. Drops right in front of me. I hope this is not on video, it will look ugly. We had another chance for a d. On the pull, they iso the backhand side (we are forcing forehand). Lugsdin has Shane beat under and I thought the guy was going to throw the break. Well, good fake gets me to poach. My man busts and the disc is up, but Pbo reads it immediately. He takes off. Chases it down and hits it... But it just pops up and my man still gets the goal. Ugh.
12-all. They huck it away past my man. Foul on Shane on the mark. Another huck away, another foul on the mark. Finally, a third huck again to my man, incomplete. We get the disc on the endzone. 70 yards to break them. They come out in their little 4-man cup. I break it with a backhand invert. And the gates are open. About 10 throws later, we are ~15 yards from the endzone with the disc and a timeout. We call a scoring play and Paco gets it 2 yards out and gets it to RG for the goal. 13-12 Sub Zero. Heck yeah.
We pull downwind, they are working it and then a huck. I feel that either Dan or Pbo d'd it. We get the disc a couple of dump and swings, not much going. I get the disc, being forced forehand. Stall is starting to get high, but Pbo is behind Lugsdin by ~5 or 10 yards. I like Pbo as a receiver. We make eye contact and I get it too him as fast as I can. I am pretty sure no one was expecting it. Goal. 14-12. Game to 15. wow. We got them.
We pull with them going downwind. A couple throws later. 14-13 furious has answered. Of course, they were not going away easily. these guys are good. Cap is on, 16 is the cap.
This point will stay in my head for awhile. We do have a deep shot called. Through me. I forget to remind everyone that if we are in trouble bomb it. Do not turn it on our own endzone. As a captain of this team, that was, I think, my biggest mistake all weekend. Forgetting to remind everyone of that.
Anyway, shortish pull. I take it, do not try to force it to Berkseth. Hit Rupp underneath. Squirrelling around, we screw Rupp and I stand and watch. Man oh man, why did I not bust in to get the disc? I thought he was going to throw an earlier backhand to me, he did not, and I guess, I just froze. Anyway, high stall d on the dump. They have a fast break and they score it 14s.... Crap.
But we still are getting the disc. Deep pull, work a couple of throws out of the endzone. And try to hit Dave, low throw (I think I threw, but I actually forget). Hits Dave and is down. Right on their endzone, 14-15 Furious. Crap.
We are now receiving downwind. A couple of throws I get the disc and Berkseth is gone. And open. My man fouls me, fouls me again, and then I throw the flick. Complete to Berkseth, just short of the endzone, high backhand to TO for the goal. 15 all. Double game point. Universe point. If I played for Jawbone, I would call this Universal point.
Nice pull. We run down. Somehow Nichols gets open deep. Big throw. Big completion. Big goal. They win 15-16.... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. We had them and I just brain-farted.
I am very angry with myself for my line call at 14-13. I could have been a lot smarter. Maybe I should have just jacked it to Berkseth and see what happened. But you know, this is the first time that we (this current version of Zero) has been in a position like this against a team that has as much talent (and very arguably more). And we did pretty well. And still had 2 or 3 chances to win the game.
I mentioned in another post, that my poor play motivated me for this year's nationals. Well, my team's great play and the opportunities we had are a huge motivation for me now. November will be off. But December will see me trying to get in shape earlier in the season.
I am very proud that our team had a good weekend. And I can't wait to have more opportunities to succeed with these guys. I really feel this is the start of something rather than the end. Very encouraging.
More on nationals tomorrow or Wed. This was a very good stress relief for me. Hopefully, I will stop thinking about this game and get back to work.
Happy Halloween.
posted by sometallskinnykid at 1:33 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry, man.
PS. For some reason, I thought your semis against the Condors in 1999 was the quarters against Furious.
Thanks for the comments. Hopefully, you did not learn too much and take that back to regionals next year.
I hope there is some good video of the game on whatever dvd comes out.
Sorry about the plane ride to Atlanta. LT was just upset that you were not coming to the cities that is all.
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