Masters Saturday Writeup

            The day dawned with only 4 teams remaining in the hunt.  Not exactly fresh young faces on the scene, everyone but Idaho’s KAVU had won a championship within the last 5 years.  Old and in the Way won in 1999, Kegworkers of America in 2000 and ’01, Old SAG in 2002.  But everyone felt like it had been a bit too long, and all 4 teams thought that they had a chance at finishing the day in glory.

            KAVU is one of the few masters teams that seems to have imported some of the most recent strategies from the open divison, the most common being the horizontal stack.  Old and in the Way runs this occasionally, but not to such good effect, and when the offense breaks down you see people ending up in a vertical stack set almost by default.  KAVU, on the other hand, runs it rather well.  They space the field and it really opens up their deep looks, especially to Chase Fetter and Trent Stumph.

            Old S.A.G. still runs a more traditional style of offense-a vertical stack, with cuts coming primarily from the back.  They run a standard zone defense occasionally, but mostly play a man-to-man style, relying on help and communication to avoid getting burned deep.  This strategy played pretty well into KAVU’s hands, as the man-to-man allowed them to use their superior athleticism to get fairly easy open hucks.  Although Old S.A.G. played well, with big plays from such old-time Philly legends as Big Rick Atkins, Mark ‘Nacho’ Cornacchio, and Paul Minecci, they just didn’t have the horses to keep up with KAVU in the first semi.  KAVU opened up an early 2 goal lead, which they extended to a 8-5 halftime lead.  The wind had pretty much died out completely, and KAVU was taking advantage by putting up big hucks time and again.   Kib Dacklin in particular was having a field day, completely all four big hucks that I saw him put up.  Kavu built an 11-7 lead, then 13-8.  A third pass throwaway made it 14-8.  David ‘Rosie’ Rosentsvayg put up a quick strike to David Williams to make it 14-9, but Kavu easily worked in the offense to score and put themselves into the finals.

            Old and in the Way has adopted some of the recent developments from the open division.  They run a lot of zone for 5 to 7 passes.  They run a straight-up mark, attempting to deny hucks.  They also run a horizontal stack offense, although as I wrote earlier they just aren’t as comfortable in it.  Watching the masters division games is sometimes an interesting study in contrasts, as the older players are more comfortable playing a combination of ‘jam it up the line’ and big break mark throws, while the younger players were raised on a steady diet of dumps and swings.  Anyone who has seen college Ultimate lately knows that the dump-and-swing can be taken a little too seriously sometimes, but when combined with a big strike offense it can be devastating (see: Pike, 2004).  Old and in the Way does this part very well-although some of their more senior throwers like Randy Ricks and Buzz Ellsworth are less likely to dump than force an unwise pass upfield, most of the team is very much on the same page offensively speaking.

            Kegworkers of America probably has the best teamwork of any of the teams in the masters division.  You can tell this squad enjoys playing together, and a lot of them have been doing so for a long time.  Going back to their time as Sockeye players, these guys bring a familiarity with each other and the way the game is played at the highest levels.  Picking up Frankus Flores, last seen winning the mixed division with Donner Party last year,  improved both their athleticism and chilliness on the field.  There are some famous names on this squad, and they proved leading up to this point why those names are famous, as they can still get it done on the field.  Mike Glass, Tom Barnouw, Frankie Morrow, Jim O’Donnell.  It’s a real who’s who of open Ultimate in the mid-90’s, and they play well together.

            KWA used some of their flow and a few big hammers to build an early lead.  But Old, on the strength of a big huck from Randy Ricks and a big block from Jeff Bryant, climbed back in to tie it up at 4’s.  Points were traded until KWA took the half 8-6.  Old then put on a 5-point run, on the strength of blocks from Dave Smith, Jim Glynn and Brendon Pardington, along with a huck to KWA’s Frankus Flores that sailed too far, and a throwaway by Frankus. 

            I spoke with Old rookie Taro Ramberg on the sidelines, and he told me that he had pulled his hamstring fairly severely, and was probably done for the weekend.  This was a big blow to Old’s offense, as Taro’s throws certainly opened up the field.

            KWA finally stopped the bleeding by showing some good patience, looking off several questionable long cuts and working the disc up for the easy score to climb back within 2, 11-9.  Points were traded to 13-10.  A throw across the middle couldn’t be caught, but KWA forced another turn in the endzone.  But then Fred Holmes dropped an in-cut and Old quickly converted for the 14-10 lead.

            Old came out in a zone, which quickly transitioned to man.  KWA worked the disc to the endzone, but Mike Glass’s throw was d’ed up by Old’s Brian Hicke.  But a huck was eaten up by KWA’s Pete Barnouw, who had mad ups on the play.  KWA’s Steve Fina threw a hammer to the endzone, but Old’s Jeff Bryant got the D.  Old took a timeout, looking to seal the deal.  Coming out of the TO Dave Smith sent a big throw to Bo Esrey, who hauled it in and hit Brendon Pardington for the easy score and the 15-10 win.

            This set up a final that was a rematch from pool play and had all the makings of a great game.  The game started quickly, as Old hit a huck to take the open lead.  They traded to 2-1 Old, when Old’s Dave Smith D’ed a huck.  But it spun to the back of the endzone where Walter Van Der Schraaf pulled it in for the goal and the 2-2 tie.  The first break came at 3-2 Old, when Heath Mackay got a layout block in Old’s zone defense which was converted for the 4-2 lead.  But KAVU scored and then got the break right back, as a leading up-the-line pass sailed a few inches out of Jeff Bryant’s reach and KAVU converted for the 4-4 tie.  A big hammer to Geir Kvaran was too high, and KAVU’s Scott Runkel got the D, which KAVU converted for their first lead, 5-4.  Old worked it up the open side for a 5-5 tie. 

            A long point ensure.  Old came out in a zone, and Heath Mackay got a layout D on an attempted throw around the cup.  But then he threw it away on an attempted dump.  A hammer does up to Mike O’Dowd, but it floats and Heath gets another D.  Old calls a timeout.  After jamming 4 straight throws up the open side, Old finally dumps and swings around, but Randy Ricks tries to throw around the mark and puts it out of bounds.  Trent Stumph tries a bladey flick huck, but Bo Esrey gets the D.  Old comes out in their horizontal stack, but a huck floats and Stumph gets the disc back.  Andy Petroff throws a high release backhand, but Chase Fetter can’t hold onto it.  Old turfs a forehand, and then Buzz Ellsworth gets the poach D and Old fastbreaks the disc to Brendon Pardington in the endzone for the 6-5 lead.

            Old forces a turn on the next point, but Bob Pease miscommunicates with his receiver and throws it away, KAVU throws two consecutive hammers, the second one by Kib Dacklin for the 6-6 tie.  Several more long points ensue, but the teams exchange points to 8-8, next point takes half.  In a fairly anticlimactic point, KAVU’s Tony Crane hauled in a huck for the 9-8 halftime lead.

            KAVU opened the second half playing D.  Each team turned the disc over twice before KAVU put it in for the 10-8 lead.  Phil Lohre hucked on the open side to Jeff Bryant to bring Old back within one, 10-9.  Brendan Pardington got a D on a huck, and Old hucked back for the goal to tie it at 10’s.  KAVU scored an easy one, then on the ensuing point Joel Mallett hit Old’s Jim Glynn in the head after Glynn caught a floaty swing.  As Glynn walked around holding his eye, Mallett followed him around, marking and stalling.  Glynn finally realized what was happening and called ‘injury’, complaining about the quality of the bid.  This was the second time in the game that Mallett had hit someone well after they caught the disc, a point of some contention with the Old sideline.  But his aggressive D helped, as he forced a tight throwaway and Toby Johnson hit Andy Petroff for the 12-10 KAVU lead.  But Old put on a two-point run to tie it up at 12’s.  Jim Glynn got another D on a floaty huck, and Old’s Bo Esrey called a timeout.  During the timeout the horn blew, announcing the time cap.  Coming out of the timeout, Heath Mackay is a decoy, dragging the last defender in the stack over to the break side.  Dave Smith streaks up the open side, and Esrey hits him with his lefty backhand for the 13-12 lead.  The game would be capped at 15.

            Suddenly, both teams discovered their offenses again.  KAVU’s Eric Rogers puts up a big flick huck that is dragged in for a goal to tie it at 13.  Jeff Bryant had to make a leaping lefty catch to keep the disc alive, and eventually Mackay hit him for the goal and the 14-13 lead.  Walter Van Der Schraaf threw a big blade over most of the defense to Andy Petroff for the goal and a 14-14 tie, next point would win.  On the ensuing possession Jeff Bryant tried to dump it to Phil Lohre, but it was a little low.  Lohre laid out for it and got two hands on it, but couldn’t quite hold on.  Toby Johnson picked up the disc and called timeout.  Out of the TO, KAVU set up a vertical stack in the endzone.  As Dacklin drew attention at the front of the stack, Walter Van Der Schraaf cut up the break side from the back of the stack.  Johnson hit him with an I/O flick just inside the goal line for the goal and the win.

            This is the fourth consecutive year that Old has lost in the finals of Nationals.  Just call them our sport’s version of the Buffalo Bills.  But you have to give them their credit-they played fairly well on this day, but lost to a very good team.  Of course they are going to be disappointed, but you can assume that they will be back again next year competing for the gold. 

            The level of play in the masters division continues to improve as more and more talented players become masters eligible and start playing as soon as they are.  The athleticism is very high, and as the strategies from the open division continue to leak upwards, you can assume that this trend will only continue.  I know that Old participated in at least one competetive open division tournament this year, the Colorado Cup, and did reasonably well, including a win over Open nationals qualifier Kaos.  Of course it’s hard to know who will be good from year to year, as the teams and the personnel change every season, but it seems safe to assume that the level of play will only continue to go up.

-David Samuels