Hey everyone, Andy here.

So Nationals are less than two weeks away and I have yet to procure a place to stay over the duration of the tournament. I was wondering if there any players, spectators, or officials who are looking to share a room or add another guest to a house or condo. I am open to any arrangement (distance or money-wise).

Or if you have any ideas of good places to stay, that would also be welcome.

Hit me up at The Huddle email address at info@the-huddle.org.

Thanks, and I hope to see you in Sarasota. If you want to talk shop or have a beer in Florida, let me know. That could be cool.

UPDATE: Thanks to the guys on El Diablo. I’ll be staying with them.

This past weekend the final round of Regionals took place, finishing off the qualifying for Club Nationals in Sarasota. Below are the lists:

OPEN
- Sub Zero
- Machine
- Ring of Fire
- Truck Stop
- Ironside
- GOAT
- Bodhi
- PoNY
- Sockeye
- Revolver
- Jam
- Doublewide
- Chain Lightning
- El Diablo
- Johnny Bravo
- Condors

WOMENS
- Pop
- Nemesis
- Backhoe
- Loose Cannon
- Lady Godiva
- Brute Squad
- Captials
- Ambush
- Fury
- Riot
- Traffic
- Ozone
- Showdown
- LaYuma
- Rare Air
- Box

MIXED
- Alpha Cobra Squadron
- Peppermint Bon Bon
- Hooray
- AMP
- Quiet Coyote
- Slow White
- Puppet Regime
- Mischief
- Flycoons
- D’Oh
- Shazam Remains
- Chewbacca Defense
- Bucket
- Guillermo Y Compania
- Barrio
- Cougars

MASTERS
- Surly
- Old Style
- O.L.D. S.A.G.
- Chesapeaked
- DoG
- Glum
- Troubled Past
- Throwback
- Mileage
- Anejo
- Old And In The Way
- Double Black

Let the seeding speculation begin.

The other big surprise coming out of South Open Regionals this past weekend was El Diablo, out of Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia. Many spectators expected Ronin out of Florida to capture the third bid to Nationals. In the end, El Diablo came out on top.

We caught up with Mike Nash of El Diablo to hear more about their weekend and find out more about his relatively unknown team.

Last weekend in Austin, TX, El Diablo was able to scratch and claw their way through the backdoor in the tough 3-bid, 16-team format. After a fairly quick opening game against Turbodog, Diablo faced the 5th seed, Ludicrous Speed, in quarters. Ludicrous Speed is a club team formed by players in and around the University of Arkansas program, and a team which we had never seen before. Knowing that the losers of quarters had two more backdoor games on Saturday (lasting until 9:30pm), we knew the game was a must-win if we wanted to advance to Nationals on Sunday. As such, we treated the game like the finals—bringing our full array of defensive and offensive looks. In a slight upwind/downwind game, we were able to go up comfortably 13-7 before finally closing out the game 15-11.

Our next game was against Chain Lightning, who no doubt wanted to exact some punishment for their near-loss against us at Sectionals. Chain came out fast and took advantage of offensive miscues with quick deep strikes to take the lead 4-0. After the slow start, we traded the next 4 points to half, down 8-4. At halftime, we decided to conserve our offense a bit to prepare for the potential 4-game day on Sunday. Chain was very hungry and continued to take advantage of mistakes until the game ended 15-6.

Sunday began with a 5:45am wake-up call, as warm-ups began in the dark Texas morning at 6:45 for a 7:30 game with Grit. We have never faced the Dallas opponent, but we were able to take them out of their comfort zone by denying their swings and playing a flat-mark until mid-field to prevent their hucks. We took the game 15-10 and headed over to see the end of the Ludicrous Speed/Ronin game two fields away. In a very exciting game with lots of deep throws, Ludicrous Speed brought a zone defense at double-game point that forced a dropped hammer 20 yards away from the end zone. One incredible catch later, the boys from Arkansas had secured a major upset.

While Chain played Doublewide in the finals, the four remaining teams battled in the backdoor. We dispatched Ludicrous Speed easily 15-6, while Ronin was entrenched in another tight game – this time with Grit. Dallas held the lead most of the game, but was broken near the end to bring it to double-game point. After two turns by both teams, Grit proved to be the more patient team and punched the disc into the endzone. Meanwhile, Doublewide had defeated Chain in a 17-16 affair; that set up a rematch between us and Chain for second place while Grit and Ludicrous Speed fought to advance to the final game-to-go.

We decided to attack early in the Chain game and hoped that they would be caught off guard after a tough finals loss. Quickly, the game was tied 5-5; however, Chain awoke and amped up the defensive pressure to take half 8-6. Again, at halftime our captains convened and decided our best shot to advance to Nationals would be in the 3rd place game, so we decided to rest our offense and allow our defense to take some upwind reps. It would not have mattered, however, as Chain was not to be denied and played with some furious defensive passion to close the game out easily in the second half.

Finally, we had arrived to the final game-to-go, the game which we planned to be in all year, except with a different opponent. We would face Ludicrous Speed for a third time, and despite my comments otherwise, the outcome of the game was not in doubt. Ludicrous Speed relied on a short rotation and could not handle our defensive pressure in their 4th game of the day. Even with some sloppy play towards the end, we were able to close out the weekend with a 15-8 victory and a mob scene in the middle of the field complex.

Our team runs primarily horizontal stack offense, with occasional side-stack looks. Eric Olivier and Stephen Salley are the primary cutters, with Michael Spear providing the truest deep shots. On defense, expect Ryan Archibald and Wes Hall lined up against opponent’s main cutters, with Ben Slade providing explosive offense after turns. We are young, with an average age of 24 and 7 players involved in the college series next spring. However, we are continuing to improve at every tournament, and the trip to Nationals will be extremely valuable for future recruiting.

El Diablo’s victory is a breath of fresh air in a club scene dominated by a handful of entrenched elite teams. We’ll see if they continue to shake things up in Sarasota.

This past weekend Doublewide, the club Open team out of Austin, Texas, was the surprise winner of the South Region, defeating favorite Chain Lightning from Atlanta, Georgia. Doublewide standout cutter Kiran Thomas has graciously given us a recap of this past weekend’s events:

The weather for our Semifinals game against Ronin saw winds of 10-15 mph creating a slight upwind/downwind situation. Initially, Ronin ran a man defense but it became apparent that our cutters were having their way downfield. Midway into the first half Ronin started to run a 4 man cup to slow Doublewide’s offense. This generated a few turns for Ronin but their transition offense had no luck in putting the disc in the upwind end zone.

In the second half, their zone was eventually neutralized by the play of Doublewide’s handlers who were able to go through and over the cup. Essentially this game came down to Doublewide’s ability to generate and convert turnovers and Ronin’s inability to score upwind. Final score 15-10 Doublewide, to setup yet another Regional Final with Chain Lightning.

Sunday’s weather could be best described as a gusty cross-wind. The game started out great for Doublewide as our defense continued increasing our conversion efficiency by capitalizing on a Chain miscue to take a 1-0 lead. After Chain put in their first score, the first offensive point for Doublewide was a grinder for our cutters, as it seemed like nickel and dime in-cuts were all that was available. Chain’s defense clamped down in the end zone and generated a turn on a dump getting a break back to make the score 2-1 Chain.

The two teams continued to trade, showcasing different styles of offensive play. Chain’s athletic and tall defensive deeps and sagging handler marks forced Doublewide’s offense out of our horizontal stack to a vertical stack. This allowed our offense to swing the disc and hit open under cutters for big gains. Those big in cuts opened up the deep space for 20-25 yard scores. On the flip side, Chain’s offense seemed to somehow always run the disc up the sideline eventually putting up beautiful 50 yard hucks to answer back. Both offenses traded points until right before half when Chain had an errant first throw. Doublewide’s defense was again able to capitalize on Chain’s mistake to take half 8-7 with our offense receiving.

In the second half, after some efficient offense by both teams, Chain was able to close the 2 point deficit and go on a 3 point run because of their defense’s ability to generate blocks off of great bids. One of these great bids was a nasty Callahan on an in-cut to take the lead 11-10. Doublewide’s offense was somewhat rattled but settled down to start trading points again with Chain’s offense. Doublewide’s defense began to apply more pressure on Chain’s offense by consistently pinning them deep in their end zone with well placed pulls and zone crumbles. Although Chain was able to work their way out of the end zone multiple times, it seemed as if they were a throw away from giving Doublewide the lead back.

Eventually, Doublewide got the turn they were looking for based on this end zone pressure and capitalized with a cross field hammer to take the lead 15-14. With the cap on, both teams traded points for the rest of the game. DW’s offense punched in the double-game-point score with what got them there in the first place: swinging the disc and great cutting.

Doublewide’s victory shakes things up for National’s seeding. Chain Lightning was expected to be a top 5 or 6 team, but with their loss the seedings look to be more up in the air. We’ll see how things pan out in the Central, Northeast, and Southwest Regions this coming weekend, and we’ll get a full picture of what to expect in Sarasota.

The final weekend of Club Sectionals wrapped up this past weekend with a small handful of tournaments, including the Capital Open Section which was postponed from Weekend One due to wet weather and field concerns. That Section was handily taken by Washington, D.C.’s Truck Stop.

Of other note, Boston’s Ironside ripped through the competition of the East New England Section.

Next weekend we look forward to the Mid-Atlantic Open Regional where we’ll see Ring of Fire, Truck Stop, Forge, and Pike battle for the two or three spots for Sarasota.

We’ll also see the strongest Women’s Region, the Northwest, battle in Burlington, Washington with Fury, Riot, and Zeitgeist competing.

Finally, the Open Division of the Northwest Region will see some of the country’s best fighting for three spots. Not Sockeye, not Furious, not Jam, not Revolver are a sure thing to make it to Sarasota. It will be interesting to see which of these teams will be left out of Nationals.