The morning started hot and humid, with a clear sky and barely any wind.  Sockeye and Ring kicked off with a bang, as Sockeye took the pull and put up a big shot to Chase Sparling.  He caught it and hit a dump, then took the I/O backhand for the 1-0 score.  The second point brought a moment many of us Ultimate fans had been waiting for for several years.  When Carleton met Colorado in the finals of the College Championships in 2001 in Boston, everyone was looking forward to the matchup of Carleton super-stud Alex Nord and Colorado's giant, Mickey Madzinski.  But both players played exclusively on the O squad for their teams, and the anticipated matchup never happened.  But with Nord now putting in points on Sockeye's D squad, it would occur on the second point.  The matchup wasn' t quite as electric as hoped, as Mickey declined a few chances to run deep to instead come in, taking open swings and working the disc.  But Ring easily moved the disc up to score. 

Ring then ran off 3 straight D points to take a 4-1 lead.  Sockeye wasn'

t doing anything horribly, just one little mistake per point was enough as Ring looked to be running away with the game.  They recovered and used a few short runs to climb back to 6-5.  A strange play where a Ring player threw to seemingly empty space finished a 2-point run that gave Sockeye the 7-6 lead.  Then, in a disgusting display of good spirit Jared Inselman of Ring retracted a foul call after being convinced that he didn't have a bid on the disc.  Sockeye' s disc, two quick throws to the 8-6 halftime lead.

Ring pulled back to a 9-9 tie on the strength of a few big defensive plays.  But then play started to get a bit fiery.  Some arguments, and the observers were brought in several times.  Usually Ring thrives in a game like this, but today it fired up Sockeye and they responded.  Chris Hinkle, who had not played many points today thanks to a tweaked hamstring, was given a red card for mouthing off for an observer, meaning he would miss the remainder of the game and the first half of the next one, if there was one.  But it would not be a worry, as Sockeye got out to a late two point lead and traded points for the 15-13 win.

Johnny Bravo knew that they had to win their quarter with Jam on intensity more than anything.  Bravo does not have the disc skills that the top-tier teams do, although throwers like Parker Krug and Steven Rouisse are second-to-none.  So when Bravo forced 3 turns on the first 4 Jam O points, no one was surpirsed.

When they only converted one of them, that wasn't too much of a surprise either.  But Bravo kept it on serve to 5-5, and "JV" Gottlieb hit a big flick over everyone to take a one-point lead.  Then Jam scored their O point, and got a quick block on a junk D, which they converted to take a 8-6 halftime lead. 

Jam realized at halftime that the only thing that was really hurting them from Bravo' s arsenal was the big shot.  They switched to a straight-up force to midfield in an attempt to slow this down, and it worked to perfection.  Bravo'

s hucks started sailing wide, or hanging too long, and Jam started to roll from there.  11-7, then 13-9, then 14-9, and a big huck to Dan Eisenberg finished Bravo' s season with a final score of 15-10.  Bravo has to be frustrated-even a win over perennial foil the Condors at Regionals did not give them any better results at Nationals.  They didn' t score an upset on the weekend according to the original seeding, and didn' t win a game by more than 3 points.  It's hard to be disappointed with a finish in quarters, but if Bravo wants to be considered a top-tier team they are going to have to make semis someday.

Somebody forgot to give DoG the memo that told them that their season was about over.  Furious' s offense was struggling to get moving.  A drop on a swing pass, a turfed forehand, and two throws into poaches or unseen zone defenders gave DoG more than enough opportunities to build the early 7-4 lead.  They traded points through halftime until DoG had a 10-7 lead.  Furious was just not on their top game all weekend, and today was no exception.  A few missed shots-an I/O flick to Mike Grant that was just out of his reach.  A loopy backhand that the wind carries over everyone' s heads.  A dump that sticks in the throwers'  hand and falls to the ground untouched.  Their D and desire of their top players was enough to keep them in this game, as they climbed back into the lead at 9-8.  They pulled ahead 12-10, but Furious forced a throw to Kirk Savage in between 3 defenders.  DoG ran an absolutely hectic offense which was described to me from their sideline as the " Wednesday night pickup"  O.  But you can' t argue with success, and DoG scored to tie it at 12's.  But then they ran off 2 straight after a down-the-line pass was a bit too far, and after DoG scored Furious was reciving to win.  A quick strike to Lugsdin and Furious was on into the semis.  DoG is certainly in a rebuilding year, and I was surprised at how much fight they put up in this game, although I think it was a combination of their abilities and Furious not playing at the top of their game.

Anyone who has been watching the weekend knows that Pike is a dangerous team.  Their offense is absolutely fantastic-Jude Travers-Frazier and Bailey Russell are fast and move the disc well, and Danny Clark is a 6'1" speedster with MAD ups.  The fact that they score nearly every time they receive the disc is enough to keep them in any game.  So the fact that they were on serve with the Condors for the entire first half shouldn' t be surprising.  While the Condors were solid on O, they could not force many turns on Pike' s O, and when they did force them they couldn't convert.  Pike worked their dump-swing-huck magic to perfection, while the Condors used their seemingly never-ending supply of hard-cutting receivers to move up the field.

Pike took the half 8-7, and took advantage of a few offensive miscues to build their lead to 11-8.  Their D team forced a turn as a big huck went up and Steve O' Lare got up for the big D.  They worked it to 20 yards out of the endzone and then took a timeout.  A 12-8 lead would be basically insurmountable against this team' s offense.  But they couldn' t convert, as Joel Wooten' s swing pass was just out of his receiver's reach.  Condors converted quickly to make the score a much more manageable 11-9.  Points were traded to 13-11.  Out of sheer desperation, the Condors unveiled a whole new formation, the "vertical stack," which was rarely seen indeed outside of the Masters division this year.  But, again -- success is what works for ya, and they scored to get back within 1.  Then the end of another long point brought a 13-13 tie, with the game hard-capped at 15.  Pike scored to take the lead as Danny Clark caught a Bailey Russell huck.  Adam Glimme put up a flick that Rhett Nichols brought in to tie it up at double-game point.  Danny Clark caught a big up-the-line pass and hit Dan Heckman for the score to win and end the Condors year a bit earlier than they probably expected.

Semifinals

You have to hand it to the Northwest Region -- putting 3 of their 4 teams in the semis was certainly an impressive accomplishment.  Kaos is no slouch, either, although clearly a few steps behind the top 3 team in the region.  But especially given the parity this year, where it seems that any team can beat any other at a given time, to have this much consistent high-level play is certainly impressive.  Some of it comes from the competition-playing against each other all the time certainly has to help maintain that edge.  All 3 teams have also done a good job recruiting, and they are all undoubtedly turning away players left and right, which is a nice position to be in.

But anyways.  To the games.  First up, Furious/Jam.  A Regional rematch, which Jam won last time.  Furious had not been playing their best disc all tournament, although Jam had been less than stellar in their last big game, against Ring on Friday.  Furious pulled out to the 2-0 lead, but Chris Coco' s D/huck catch tied it up at 2' s.  Furious' Jeff Cruickshank hit an uncove

red Al Nichols with a huck, then got the disc back and threw it away.  Jam worked it for the score.  Then Furious threw away a dump in the endzone, leading to another quick score and a 4-2 Jam lead.  Furious took a timeout and scored out of it, and Jam answered.  Jam was running a mix of string plays, isolations, and horizontal stacks.  Furious was running exclusively a horizontal stack, and both teams were playing only man defense.

Furious had several miscues the next point, including a huck into double-coverage and a disc slipping out of Mike Grant' s hands.  It just didn' t seem like Furous' day-too many mistakes, and no breaks went their way.  Furious climbed back to 6-5 on the strength of a rare deep throw to Cruickshank, but Jam took half 8-6.  Jam scored out of half for the 9-6 lead, and Furious'

 Marc Roberts dropped an open huck.  But Kevin Cissna threw away a swing, and Furious capitalized to climb within 2, 9-7. 

The teams traded points to 12-10, the last one coming on a rare deep shot to Damien Scott of Jam.  Damien, as I think I mentioned before, could be one of the dominating deeps in the game, but injuries have slowed him a bit of late, and he thinks he can do the most for his team by working as a mid.  But on this play he made his usual cut, breaking long and then turning and coming in.  But then a hesitate-and-go turned into a hesitate-and-go-deep, and Idris Nolan hit him easily for the score.  Furious' Jonathan Woolridge had a flick slip from his grip, and Jam picked it up and scored for a 13-10 lead.  A too-long huck for Furious, and Jam sent a huck back to Chris Coco who held of an onrushing Mike Grant for a 14-10 lead. Furious scored, then Damien sent a huck to Ron Kubalanza, a real standout for Jam this weekend, who was wide open after an

in-and-out move that dusted his defender.  Kubalanza caught it and threw a quick strike to Idris Nolan for the 15-11 win. 

Jam wasn' t at their best today, but they were much closer to it than Furious.  With both Condors and Furious underperforming their expectations, you have to wonder if the "worlds hangover" was still a factor.  I tend to think not-I think it' s a little more that everyone else has caught up to the top dogs a little bit, and the games are close enough now that a little break one way or the other can change the outcome of many of the games out there.  It seems that the top 8 or 10 players on most teams could play on almost any team here.

In the second semi, offense would rule the day.  Pike scored a break on the first point, taking a quick 1-0 lead.  But Sockeye would get the game back on serve a few points later, taking their first lead 2-1.  Neither team would turn the disc again for the remainder of the half. 

Sockeye runs a combination of vertical and horizontal stack sets.  In their vertical sets, they do a good job of working the disc across the field and attacking with the big shot.  The most frequent receivers are Chase Sparling-Beckley and Alex Nord.  In the horizontal stack they do a lot more dumping and swinging and moving the disc laterally to attack the far sideline with in cuts.  They' re not afraid of the big shot, to be sure, but are more likely to break the mark rather than attack the open side. 

Pike runs a variety of motion-type offenses, mostly from the horizontal stack set.  They try and open up spaces for their big men to come in and gain yards, and then take off for the huck. 

Suffice to say, both teams' plans were working to perfection in the first half of this game, which Sockeye took 8-7.  Things would tighten up in th

e second half, as the defensive intensity picked up and the offenses began to tire a bit.  Ryan Seguine from Sockeye called a timeout on stall 7.  After coming back in he found nothing quick, and lofted a 40-yard high 30-yard long blade to the endzone.  Alex Nord rose over a group of people awaiting it to stick the one-handed catch and give the first 2-point lead of the game at 9-7.

Points would be traded until 11-10, when Pike showed zone for the first time all game and Walt Kalicki got the layout block in the cup, which Pike converted for the 11-11 tie.  Again points would be traded to 13-13.  A huck goes up to Chase Sparling, who pulls it in 10 yards from the endzone and calls timeout.  Two I/O flicks later and it's 14-13 Sockeye.  Sockeye comes out in a zone for one pass, just to try and halt Pike' s flow.  It works, as Pike's offense stalls after 2 passes, and a desperation stall-9 huck is D'd by Andrew Fleming.  Then Pike puts on a zone, and Sockeye throws right to one of the defenders.  But on the ensuing possession, Dan Heckman is being marked by Ben Wiggins.  Wiggins calls the stall, but it is contested.  The disc comes back in on 9, and Heckman can't even get a throw off.  Sockeye disc, and two quick passes up the open side lead to a leading forehand to Chase, who runs it down for the catch and the 15-13 win.

So the final is a regional rematch, Jam vs. Sockeye.  Jam isn' t nearly as flamboyant as in years past, adopting more of a hard-nosed attitude from some of the more recent college pickups like Jeff Eastham and Mike Zalisk.  Sockeye plays the game pretty simply, trying to outrun their opponent and win on intensity.  Should be a good game.  I don' t think I have a prediction in me at this point -- you'll have to decide it for yourselves.  More tomorrow.

-David Samuels