2009 Boston Invitational Tournament Recap
Truck Stop places 4th after a close loss in the semis against GOAT
On June 27-28, the Truck faced its first elite competition of 2009 at the Boston Invite. Truck Stop arrived at the sprawling Devens fields with a combined 4.5 hours of unified practice time under our belts and a slate of new players. We were seeded third in a pool featuring last year’s championship contender Ironside, New York’s PONY, and Canadian Phoenix.
We traded points to start the game against Boston, committing a couple turns but getting them back to convert. We also took the opportunity to work out some kinks, turning the disc over on early season mistakes – errant throws, drops. Unfortunately, Ironside is not the kind of team you want to work out the kinks against, and we found ourselves down 8-5 at half… and never recovered. Our offense struggled to connect, and we finished on the disappointing end of a lopsided 15-7 score.
We rebounded for a hard-fought game against PONY. We enjoyed much better matchups and played a more controlled game, finally starting to click on offense and pick up defensive intensity as the D spent more time on the field. We traded breaks and points before our offense scored to take a 12-11 lead… and the D never relinquished the field, reeling off three consecutive breaks to close out the game and claim Truck Stop’s first victory of the new season, 15-11.
Game three we faced Phoenix, an athletic squad comprised of identical 5’11 players who looked to run and gun. Though our offense seemed to score at will, our D struggled to produce breaks and the game stayed tight late. Facing a 13-13 tie, our offense scored to put us within one… and the D rose to the challenge, intercepting a floating deep shot in the end zone, hucking the other way, and finally connecting on a hammer to the back of the end zone to claim the win, 15-13. Another W on the books, guaranteeing a bye into quarterfinals on Sunday.
After inspirational viewings of Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Borat (accompanied by mixed drinks and bad American beer), the Truck returned to the field on Sunday to face upstart Sons of Liberty out of Boston. SOL had put up some strong scores on Saturday and came out hard. The Truck came out harder, opening up an early lead and never looking back. The Gordon brothers provided vicious layout defense, with cameo appearances from Deuce and John Agan to keep the pressure on. With a variety of defensive sets and a high conversion rate for breaks, Truck rolled away to a 15-8 victory and a berth in semifinals against perennial Canadian power GOAT.
GOAT was playing with its World qualifiers, fresh off a victory over Team USA at Poultry Days. They present matchup problems because virtually their entire team is over 6’ with several pushing 6’4. We set the tone early for what would prove to be a battle, playing intense D as each side forced the other to earn the goal. We traded points to 7-7, riding Sean McComb's lethal backhand to consecutive huck scores. In a hotly contested point, Truck came down with a crossfield backhand to break for half, up 8-7. A Truck flick huck sailed wide coming out of half and GOAT converted to tie the game. GOAT broke to go up 11-10… but Truck broke back to go up 13-12. We produced a D on the next point, worked it down the field… but an overexcited deep shot against GOAT standout John Hassell proved unsuccessful – they scored to tie it at 13.
Every good game has its drama – and this proved no exception. Game capped at 15, a long throw goes up to captain Keven Moldenhauer in the back of the upwind endzone. He makes the diving/sliding pancake catch, rolling over with the disc – goal! But wait – the impact of the ground caused him to alter his grip on the disc, and GOAT said this was a turn. Keven maintained that he had possession the whole time. After an argument, the disc went back, at which point the TD announced a hard cap at 14 – next point wins. Starting with the disc 15 yards outside the endzone following a timeout, former Tandem star Calvin Oung launches a breakmark flick to the far side of the endzone where captain Noah Eden makes the jumping two-handed grab. As he is coming down a GOAT player gives an added shove, and he lands out of bounds (twisting his knee in the process). Noah calls foul. The GOAT player admits foul, but contests whether he would have landed in bounds (even without the foul). At the time players on the field (and on the far sideline) thought it was a legitimate play at the disc that forced Noah out; subsequent reports suggest the GOAT player actually pushed (i.e. a two-handed shove).
The disc goes back. Three throws later, GOAT gets a run-through D on an over-casual handler pass, works it down the field, and scores for the backbreaking 14-13 win. The Truck stops here.
An amazing, high intensity game with outstanding play on both sides of the disc by both teams. But the bitter experience of the last point lingers, and Truck comes out flat in the 3-4 game against Boston Bodhi, never re-establishing an offensive rhythm en route to a lopsided 13-6 loss.
An encouraging first tourney for Truck Stop – lots of positives, and a shot at the finals. New guys integrated well, the intensity is starting to build… next Truck stop: DC Championships, July 18-19.