Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Sectionals: Weekend Two
The second weekend of the UPA Club Series saw less competitive action than the first. Throughout the country the heavy favorites showed why they were heavy favorites and made short work of their Section.
Chain Lightning (East Coast), PoNY (Metro New York), Backhoe and Ring of Fire (North Carolina), Mischief (Northern California), Sub-Zero and Alpha Cobra Squadron (Northwest Plains), Doublewide (Texas), and GOAT (Upstate New York) all easily took first in their Section.
The one big story this weekend came out of the Mixed Division in the Northwest Region. Seattle’s Shazam, defending UPA Mixed Champions and this year’s Team USA, lost in the Washington/British Columbia Finals to D’oh!, a longtime, newly reunited Seattle squad.
We get a recap of this double-game point victory from D’oh! captain Gabe Pedersen:
D’oh! came out really hot. We got a break on the first point with Joe “BJ” Sefton, and Bert Abbott playing out of their mind D. After trading a few points to 4-4, D’oh! up a break, D’oh! struck again going up two breaks. D’oh! had the chance to take half up two breaks at 8-6, but the reigning national champions would not see it happen. Led by excellent defense by Jon Ladd, Will Whitwell, Mike Schwin, and Megan Zdancewic, Shazam breaks twice to end the half on serve 8-7.
The second half begins with D’oh! receiving the disc. D’oh! was moving the disc, but an unfortunate drop leads to a fast break and long huck to Will Whitwell for the goal to make it 9-7, Shazam up a break. After scoring quickly, D’oh! saddled up a strong defensive effort and gets the turn only for Emily Grad to get a D near the Shazam goal line. Two throws later, Shazam was up 10-8. The following possession, D’oh! would score quickly when James Evans would score on a 65 yard huck from Greg Shiring.
The next Shazam O point saw many turns by both teams, but D’oh! answered the call, and put the disc in the endzone for a 10-10. D’oh! would add a break on the following point to make it 11-10, and then two points later to go up 13-11 before Shazam would make their final push to victory. Up 14-12, Shazam scores a really easy O point to bring the score 14-13. After a Shazam break, D’oh! is left what was thought to be double-game point, at 14-14, but after a captain’s meeting at the middle of the field, the SC and both captains decide it will be a game to a hard 16.
Both D’oh! and Shazam score easily on their next O possessions, so D’oh! received at 15-15, double game point. D’oh! works the disc up field and James Evans gets off a nice huck to Joe “BJ” Sefton for the apparent winning goal, only to have his heel stepped on by Jon Loeffler. After an injury sub, Pat McCarthy comes in and throws the winning goal to a diving Greg Shiring for the victory.
So D’oh! supplies the first and only real upset of the Series thus far. It will be interesting to see what sort of noise they make at Northwest Regionals, and if they can get a surprise bid to Sarasota. We’ll be watching.