2009 UPA Club Ultimate Championships
Truck Stop Finishes 9th at Nationals
Thursday:
Day 1 brought an exciting first-round matchup against #1 seed Revolver. Despite a well-executed defensive game plan, essentially neutralizing Robbie Cahill and limiting Beau’s ability to catch goals deep, early miscues put Truck in a hole. Down 9-3 after half, mostly on jittery mistakes, the Truck finally launched a run with a layout D from Brian Stout and a hammer to brother Michael past Cahill for the upwind break. The Truck D kept the pressure on, riding huge throws from Ben “Jammin” Cohen and stellar play from D handler Jake Horowitz to reel off several more breaks and bring the game back to 11-10. Revolver finally scored again and put the game away, 15-11.
The second round would prove determinative – a win vs GOAT would position the Truck for a trip to the Power Pools. Again, defensive strategy proved huge. The Brothers Stout took turns guarding GOAT standout John Hassell while the Brothers Gordon rotated on deep threats Sam Kennedy and Andy Ochterluny. Also, a new GOAT-slayer was anointed in the form of the younger Stout. Frustrated at his inability to get open underneath, Hassell made the mistake of testing the Boy deep – and a massive sky D resulted. Going back the other way Jammin hung an overly-ambitious hammer in a pack, and again the Boy went up big to come down with it, setting up a crucial break. The offense worked smoothly, with the lefty handlers moving the disc well and finding space deep to continue the scoring onslaught. Hassell did not score, threw for maybe one assist… and the GOAT fell victim to the rampaging Truck, 15-10.
Third round matchup vs regional rival Pike started slow. The Jersey boys came ready to play, and the D had difficulty taking the disc away. Offense kept the Truck in it through half before the D finally caught fire, eventually closing out the game 15-11 and securing a spot in the coveted Friday Power Pools.
Friday:
Truck Stop started the day where it wanted: against the best teams at the tournament with multiple chances to play into the quarterfinals. The first round pitted the Truck against 2008 finalist Ironside. Ironside presents tough matchups for the Truck with a combination of height and speed, but ultimately we knew it would come down to possessing the disc on O and taking advantage of limited turns on D. Things started well, with the offense working the disc smoothly. The combination of Damon Taylor, Sean McComb, and rookie Alan Kolick in the backfield kept Boston off-balance, while the deep throws of Jammin opened up space, repeatedly finding Brent Bellinger for goals. Calvin Oung announced his return to the Open scene with a monster sky over Boston giant Colin Mahoney, tearing down a crossfield backhand in traffic and earning appreciative gasps from the crowd. Truck took half 8-6 on a beauty touch backhand from S.S. McComb to captain Keven Moldenhauer laying out into the upwind endzone. But unfortunately, the Truck came out flat after half, giving up three consecutive breaks… and never recovering. Huge defensive play from captain Noah Eden kept the Truck in the game, but not enough – 15-12, bad guys.
Game two: a rematch of an early season battle at Colorado Cup vs Doublewide from Texas. On D we knew we had to shut down dynamic cutter Kiran Thomas, and we also keyed on tall Jake Anderson to take away his deep game off a turn. Unfortunately, we only executed half of that plan. Doublewide spread the field well and called on a number of players to get in the endzone. Despite another big D by Noah, the defense struggled to produce breaks. The offense meanwhile was plagued by inconsistency and silly drops, and got punished repeatedly by Anderson on the turn. After six or seven straight deep shots to Anderson off the turn, Truck almost won the matchup in the form of a gigantic sky by Bobby Gordon, who jumped way too early, got up higher than one would have thought possible, and nearly made the catch amid contact before falling horizontally from about six feet up – the ensuing injury would take him out of the game. However, that brief bit of fire would prove insufficient, and we ultimately fell to the Texans 15-11.
The big one: the pre-quarters. A win over defending champs JAM would send us into the Top 8 with a chance for glory, a loss condemning us to the far fields and the nine-als. The Brian Stout-Bart Watson matchup trended Truck early, with Stout earning a huge handblock and subsequent goal as Truck opened up the scoring. A massive layout D by rookie Daniel Kantor resulted in another break, leaving Truck up 6-4 and in control of the game. And then the wheels came off, as the Truck gave up an unprecedented 7 straight breaks before finally stopping the bleeding down 11-7. This forgettable stretch was interrupted only by a jaw-dropping defensive sky by rookie Michael “Jraffe” McAndrew over JAM’S Jeff Eastham to take away a goal – the sky fired up the sidelines and left a number of veterans wondering what had just happened. Unfortunately, it didn’t get better from there, as the Truck suffered a disappointing 15-8 shellacking at the hands of the savvy old vets.
Saturday:
After the disappointing Friday results, the mighty Truck found itself in the 9-12 bracket competing to hold seed. First up was Boston’s Bodhi, a team that seemed to have our number during the regular season. They’d handed us our worst loss of the season in Boston (following a devastating DGP loss to GOAT), and emerged on top in Chesapeake on DGP. Truck warmed up loose, messing around and looking to have fun… and promptly brought it, big time, to Bodhi. 8-4 lead at half turned into a 15-7 stomping as the Truck made plays all over the field and consistently won matchups deep.
Madison fought off GOAT next door to earn a spot in the 9-10 game. We were looking forward to the game because we wanted to end our season with a W over the hated guys from Central – they had consistently been the worst-spirited team we’d seen all season. They called a terrible game in Colorado that we pulled out, were less contentious but still obnoxious in Chesapeake… and this game proved no different. Inventing travel calls and intentionally fouling the mark, they set a poor tone for the game… but the Truck would have none of it. Rookie Linc Verlander had a couple big plays, launching a massive flick huck for a huge break and putting Truck in the lead for good. Gorgeous George Hughes-Strange caught an outrageous goal, dragging one foot while extending for the one-handed grab… but of course the travel call rendered it moot. Alan Kolick played a strong game, fighting through numerous calls to throw goal after goal. In the end, even a bad call on the game-winning goal wasn’t enough to stop the Truck, as we promptly checked it back in, worked it around, and found Tommy Nicholson for the win. Game, tournament, season: Truck Stop triumphing in the 9als.
Outstanding play all tournament from D handler Jake Horowitz, big-time plays from Noah Eden, Tommy Nicholson, and John Agan at crucial points. Good presence and deep play from youngster Sean Keegan, and fundamental all-around play from Linc Verlander. Joe Cuneo played big, connecting on crucial throws in big games, and Keven Moldenhauer played with confidence and fire throughout the whole tourney. The handler contingent of Damon/Sean/Alan showed the kind of grace under fire that carries promise for the future, while the relentless cutting of Brent Bellinger and Bucknell pickup Jeff Wodatch constantly created opportunities for the Truck. Late season addition Michael Stout had a breakout tourney, dominating the GOAT game and consistently winning important defensive matchups. Calvin “the Goatherder” Oung flaunted his playmaking ability on multiple occasions, and Jraffe announced his presence (especially to JAM) on the Open scene. Great weekend, tons of fun… and strong play all around.
An up-and-down season for the Truck. Encouraging wins against good teams – GOAT and Ring prominent among them – and a solid record against the second tier. Next year the Truck will look to break into the top ranks of elite Ultimate and pull out the close ones. Truck won halves against Revolver, Ironside, Chain, and Doublewide in 2009. In 2010 the Truck will look to build on those bursts of greatness to establish itself among the premier teams in the country.