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2004 College Championships: Open Division – Saturday 29 May

by Craig 'Roga' Remillard

Day One Coverage

The second day of the UPA College Championships was clear, with only a few rain showers and even some sun poking out. 12 teams battled to be the last two standing heading into tomorrow’s finals, and the remaining four were back looking to prove themselves for a regional strength bid. The day delivered on its promise of many close games in and unprecedented deep field of teams.

Pre-Quarters (8:30)

Regional rivals Carleton and Iowa start the morning with a replay of a game that has occurred innumerable times. The emotion is thick as Iowa’s Andrew Edwards goes deep, defended closely by Chase Sparling Beckley. Chase gets the disc, but not enough, and Edwards lays out for the deflection to give Iowa a one point lead, 7-6. Carleton calls a timeout, but “Let’s make some history!” comes from the Iowa huddle in a restrained voice. They want this.

Another team with something to prove is making a point a few fields over in the morning sunshine. Led by intrepid sophomore Chris Darrouzet-Nardi, the UC San Diego Air Squids are up 4-3 on Championship veterans William and Mary. Darrouzet-Nardi gets a poach D underneath on an in cut, and after a D by Matt Jackson of William and Mary doesn’t pay off, San Diego’s Matt Parisi rips down a goal. Ryan Farrell can’t get to a forehand for William and Mary, they’re missing their connections. Squids are up 8-5 at half.

Two teams aiming for respect are trying to play upset to two old hat programs, as Kansas takes on Wisconsin and Illinois aims to defeat North Carolina State on adjacent fields. Matt Stupka makes a stretch grab for Illinois to go up 3-1, but Andy Jones connects short with Dave Snoke for the answer. NC State has the talent, but Illinois is doing all the little things right. Handlers Mike Clarke and Nick McDuffee are taking care of the disc upfield and taking good risks downfield. NC State, for its part, is relying on its potent deep game. Jack Galloway trails a huck and scores when his teammate misreads, to tie it at 5’s. Fist answers right back as Brian Schmidt hits Matt Welsh with a soaring backhand looper over the stack.

Kansas is trying to play the same game that almost got them the two seed in the pool yesterday. Wisconsin is ready for it. The Hodags’ offense is anchored by a handler corps that just refuses to turn the disc over. They’re just as comfortable hucking to a streaking receiver as they are working it 65 yards with short passes. Brian Frederick, Matt Ley, and Dan Heijmen pattern a beautiful weave into the goal for the 6-3 lead. Kansas’s Austin Gangel finally breaks free of the baby blue defense for a huck, but Kansas is struggling to get a rhythm. They had better find it quick, or the defending champs will ride on.

William and Mary is not saying die, mounting a comeback against the Air Squids. John Tew gets a goal line D, and Dan Burkly flips a high backhand break to Phil Kiracofe to get within two at 9-7. Tied at 11’s, San Diego’s Andy Ferguson links up with Scott Davis, who elevates for the score. “SQUI” – “D” comes from the sideline. Davis turns around to get a floaty swing the next point, which San Diego scores. Burkly finds Jason Brooks in the endzone one more time, but Darrouzet-Nardi jams a short forehand up the right sideline to Ferguson for the final goal, 15-13. “Everyone said we didn’t belong,” a Squid later said, referring to his teams qualification due to UC Santa Barbara including an ineligible player on their roster. On to the quarters for the team that doesn’t belong.

Kansas still can’t seem to find its game. Callahan nominee Valley Renshaw is not making the plays like usual, and teammate Jerrod Wolfe seems to have expended his magic skying dust in pool play. Wisconsin is content to swing until Kansas’s shorter line is too tired to defend the downfield cutters, then jack it to a wide-open receiver. Wolfe makes a big deep D after 5 minutes of swinging handler cuts by the Hodags, but then the HorrorZontals don’t have the legs to punch it in. Wisconsin pulls away, 15-9. “We’re still at Nationals, we’ve still got some games to play, we’ll still go drinkin’ tonight,” says a ‘Zontal in the post-game huddle. Kansas plays an exciting game, and it was a pleasure to watch them do it.

Illinois is somehow staying with NC State. Matt Welsh is everywhere in this game, getting open for hucks and picking them out of the air on defense. But at 15-14 Wolfpack, he can’t handle a disc at his ankles, and tosses the 15 yarder to Mead Willis for the game, 16-14.

Iowa, on the other hand, is still well in control with the 12-9 lead. “Light the fire, baby,” shouts someone from the CUT timeout huddle, and Jimmy Chu puts it just within 12 feet of the arms, body, legs, and air of Chase Sparling-Beckley. Iowa is the big fundamental to Carleton’s showtime, though, and Mike Francis grabs a floater that goes just by the fingertips of Sparling-Beckley’s layout to push it to game point, 14-11. CUT scores two in a row, and it looks like another mighty comeback for the books as IHUC coughs it up again at 14-13. Enter Iowa’s Ross Cram: the grad student gets a layout block that will resonate in Central Region history, and Francis dishes it to Tim Kresowick for an emotional upset, 15-13, Iowa over Carleton. Let me repeat: Iowa over Carleton at nationals.

First Round Consolation (11:00)

The consolation rounds match up the prequarters losers against the previous day’s pool losers. Despite the name, the games are very good; the fourth place finishers in the pools stew all night about what could’ve been, matching up against tired prequarters finishers still in shock, but still out to prove something.

Michigan State, unlucky enough to be in the tough pool A on Friday, carries the trend with the misfortune of drawing an angry Carleton team. They open up still working out the kinks, as a long pass glances off the fingers of Zack Hickner. Perhaps fearing a break in intensity, Carleton’s Jeremy Carr makes several plays to keep the red team’s adrenaline flowing, forcing a bad dump and breaking for a 3-0 CUT lead. Aaron Bongard is once again Michigan State’s key answer, going deep to Adam Bruck. Chase Sparling Beckley gets his team together in a timeout, “Number eleven’s [Bongard] the key. Prevent his hucks.” Carleton does a good enough job of it to eke out a 16-14 victory.

George Washington University gave it’s best all Friday, being the annoying team that no one could shake all day. It pays off early Saturday against Illinois, as Jack Gaynor goes long for a 60 yard goal. GW wants this one, and they’re taking advantage of Illinois’ fatigue by laying out the D’s. Ben Faust launches it to Willis Bruckermann, who toes it in the back of the endzone just before taking half 8-7. Fist never wakes up quite enough, and the Hippos win it, 15-13.

William and Mary has its hands full with Delaware. Sideshow was streaky on Friday, getting blown out twice but taking Colorado to 15-10. William and Mary loses track of Delaware star Mike Berseth, who is wide open for the huck 10 yards out of the endzone. But Delaware never quite twist the sword enough, and William and Mary’s Phil Kiracofe is there at 16-15 to D a floaty huck intended for Andy Conklin, then sprint back for the final goal to win, 17-15.

Kansas gets down early 5-3 to a Tufts E-Men team that is starting to gel. Tufts freshman Chris Skipper gets a standup D on Austin Gangel, followed by a deep layout by Sam Kortz a few points later. Valley Renshaw tries to keep the ‘Zontals in the tournament with a layout catch one-on-one to pull within three near half, but Tufts is stewing on their Friday performance. Tufts’s Zach Geller, playing on a torn hamstring in his last college tournament, dishes a goal and screams with a mix of pride and pain. Tufts takes the game, 15-9.

Quarterfinals (12:00)

The defending champions Wisconsin take on a stacked Colorado team. Josh Ackley plays big early for Mamabird, getting way up to wrist grab a floating forehand from Beau Kittredge for the first goal. Kittredge, for his part, shows up big in his first championship elimination play, juking his defender hard to get wide open in the goal on a cutback for a 3-2 lead, and going deep for a Parker Krug huck. No one can stop him, it seems. Colin Gottlieb for Boulder is stepping up big, handling the disc a lot on defense, and capping it off with a hammer to Eric Hutton for a score. The Hodags are having lots of trouble running their offense. Their usually flawless handlers turn over dump and swing after dump and swing, and they’re down 9-5 midway through.

Iowa comes off the adrenaline high of a win over Carleton to face a Brown team that rolled on Friday. But Brown looks sluggish early, and Ross Cram runs a circle around big man Colin Mahoney for the 6-3 score. Iowa’s offense lends itself well to being tired. They hit in-cuts as they turn, not giving defenders a chance to make the play, working it down the field five yards at a pop. Their marks are flustering the usually sure Brown handlers, as CJ Hoppel punts one. Iowa is still in command late in the game, up 11-8 and starving for a second taste of upset pie.

San Diego may have proved it belonged at the Championships, but it took all they had. Stanford’s Brandon Hyde sneaks by Squid Nathan Meyer’s layout for a 40 yard first score, and Bloodthirsty never looks back. Even their infamous four-man cup zone defense is shredded by the mark-breaking skills of Stanford handlers Josh Wiseman, Tim Warden-Hertz, and Nick Handler. It only gets worse as James Herbert point blocks Kristofer Sherry on the goal line and places a high release backhand over two Squid defenders to Handler. Stanford rolls to the 15-4 victory.

NC State has drawn the athletic California team. Ryan Smith takes advantage of Cal’s morning grogginess, walking it through a loose zone to tie at twos. Cal tries their patented long bombs, but Meade Willis knocks a huck down. State knows that game well. Instead of trying something else, Ugmo and NC State start an artillery war. Gabe Saunkeah finds Dan Stein deep for Cal, but Jack Galloway answers by barely outrunning Cal’s George Mittendorf for a score to pull within two, 7-5 California. Stein gets another one deep, but here comes Smith for the Wolfpack with a deep D on Gabe Saunkeah and a big looper to Dave Snoke the other way. The extra game of fatigue begins to wear on State, as Jack Galloway, then Smith, barely miss well-placed hucks. NC State refuses to change the game plan, but can’t keep up. California wins 15-10.

Iowa’s date with destiny is beginning to look more like a fantasy, as they’re beginning to jog. “Leave it on the field, IHUC!” exhorts the sideline, but they already have. Josh Ziperstein of Brown pops into the lane to pick up a pass that an Iowa handler never sees, tosses a one yarder to Paul Vandenberg, and the game is over, 15-13. The extra game is showing in Wisconsin’s game, too. Colorado answers a nice 30 yard put from Greg Severin to Joe Dombrow with a 55 yarder from Parker Krug to Ackley. “These guys cannot run with you!” say Colorado coach Catt Wilson in a timeout huddle, and Colorado pulls away to a 15-9 victory.

Second Consolation Round (1:00)

Tufts takes on a tired William and Mary squad. They come out with some fire, as Matt Jackson skies Tufts’ Matt Abbrecht to put to 3-4. But Tufts keep getting stronger, and Abbrecht answers by finding Chris Skipper for a cross-field goal. A William and Mary player highlights the hell confronting pre-quarters losers, saying “I just don’t feel like playing Frisbee anymore.” Tufts wins, 15-10.

Carleton is facing George Washington. The matchup is a blowout in favor of CUT on paper, but GW is staying with every throw. Jack Gaynor and Dave Codre get some major D’s, but CUT’s Chase Sparling-Beckley puts a forehand right in the number 73 on Seth Cooper’s chest. The Hippos take half, 8-7. Despite Codre’s crafty control of the flow, though, they can’t match Carleton’s finishing power, as Carleton takes the game, 15-13.

Semifinals (3:00)

The semifinals are a production these days, and they draw a crowd with the unofficial billing “better than the finals.” The thankless UPA volunteers cordon of the sidelines, and the College Sports TV cameras roam the clear sidelines. Players used to being asked about dogs are put in front of video cameras. The players are almost an afterthought, until they take the field to warm up. Stanford will face Colorado, and California will take on Brown.

Stanford has come here with a short, fast, extremely skillful team. Coach Dan Maidenberg takes stock of his chances before the game. “We have depth, experience and quickness,” he says, “We’ll try to neutralize [Colorado’s] height advantage with hard marks and help D’s. We have seven or eight players who were on the 2002 championship team, and I think we’re peaking at the right time.” Captain and Callahan Award nominee James Herbert puts it more poetically in the pre-game huddle: “We’ve got desperation. Desire. We’ve taken the level up – and up – and up.” Stanford’s greatest of equals James Herbert starts off the game strong, picking up a score and an assist to a streaking Zack Wyatt for a 2-0 lead.

Colorado, for its part, is listening to coach Catt Wilson. Colorado’s huddles are low on emotion and high on strategy. “These guys are fast, they’ll run us. We’ve got to play big, jump around on the mark. Everywhere you go , there’ll be a short guy there. Be ready for it.” He confides that his team’s advantages are “Maturity. We’ve been here before, they’re younger. We hope we can fluster them, like they’ve done to us in the past,” he adds with a diplomatic smile. Colorado’s superstars start the run in this game, with middle Josh “Richter” Ackley looking for every other throw and finally picking up a toss by Adam “Chicken” Simon from his knees, and freshman phenom Beau Kittredge tipping a D and floating a high forehand to fellow freshman phenom Jolian Dahl to pull even at two’s.

UC Berkeley is full of first timers at Nationals, not having been here since the early nineties. “We’ve been in a lot of tough games. I think that’s more important than just random games in some tournament. We have great athletes, but they’re really smart,” he says, acknowledging the advantage of having a club champion, a college champion, and a high school champion on the squad. Everyone on the team makes plays in this game, starting with senior George Mittendorf for the first goal, then Matt Pasienski catching a banking 30 yard flick from Jake Cooper, then a Dan Hodges to Gabe Saunkeah over very close defender Dan MacArthur of B-Mo for the first three answered goals.

Brown assistant coach Tom Matthews thinks his team has what it takes to see Sunday. “I like some of our athletes,” he says in response to a suggestion that Cal has mother nature on its side. “We’ve got intelligence. We’re deep, consistent, and we can work it with out hucking.” Head coach Nathan Wicks just heads out of the pre-game huddle with a crescent smile that belies how many times he’s stood in this situation. Brown shows its strengths early, answering everything Cal throws and pulling out some very reactive zones in the first few points. They also quiet their criticisms, as everywhere specialist Josh Ziperstein shows his versatility for two hucks against a man D and one against the zone to bring it to 3-3.

Colorado’s defense is swarming, and Martin Cochran does his job, swatting a throw way out of the air. Richter lives up to his Callahan billing, connecting with Kittredge on a pair of goals, then skying Doug Allen and weaving it upfield in Colorado’s active zone offense. Stanford answers back with perfect, slowly plunging outside-in forehand hucks by Danny Cox, Josh Wiseman, and Herbert down the sideline to hit receivers in stride, and keep close at 5-6 and 6-7. Colorado closes out the first half, though, with an offensive combo that won’t quit, of smooth handler Parker Krug, Richter, and Kittredge. It goes in that exact order to take the lead, 7-5. Kittredge then plucks a 45-yard laser beam from between Robbie Cahill and Brandon Hyde. Why win with 7 when you can do it with three?

Brown and Cal are engaged in a game of chicken, waiting to see who flinches first. Ugmo virtually ignores the middle 50 yards of the field, choosing to work it among handlers Gabe Saunkeah, Jake Cooper, and Bart Watson until downfield cutters Dan Hodges, George Mittendorf, or Brian Garcia get open. Brown counters with a balanced attack, sticking on lots of zone-to-man transitions and valuing yards with a stack offense. Occasionally Ziperstein or one of the tall Mahoney brothers (Neale, older, 6’3” and Colin 6’6”) will go deep for hucks from CJ Hoppel or Will Arnold, but the usual M.O. is to work it up patiently, hanging on the edge of a turnover but making the plays when necessary, like Ben Sprung’s backhand flip to Neale from one knee. Cal takes half 8-7 on a Dan Stein catch.

Stanford sets a cup out of half, but Colorado works their weave up the field, until Junior Keith Huntzinger lays up a backhand to Dahl to go up 10-6. James Herbert talks to his Bloodthirsty troops, but there is an edge in his voice that tells you he’s about to reach another level. He scores the next two Stanford points. Colorado’s Kittredge picks it over Brandon Hyde’s head from the side. The Mamabird supporting cast, namely Zach Freeman, Keith Huntzinger, and Adam Simon, is making big plays now, too. But the headline is still Colorado’s crown jewels, as Krug throws an improbable forehand blade for a goal, and Richter lays out and catches a tipped hammer, then flips to Kittredge for the 13-9 lead.

The California – Brown game is beginning to slow down, as Brown figures out California’s pressure points and shuts off the obvious hucks. Plays aren’t as easy to come by. Cal sets a cup, and challenges Brown to find a hole in their cup of Hodges, Garcia, and Nat Kinsky. Brown’s Paul Vandenberg has some luck with low backhand to CJ Hoppel, but Alex Bowman barely misses a Vandenberg hammer, and Cal gets a break to go up 9-7. Brown brings it even at 11’s, winning a marathon point when Ben Sprung rips a goal out of Brian Garcia’s hands.

Stanford’s last stand comes when they turn it over 15 yards out of their own endzone the next point. As though daring them to regroup, Colorado calls time. Then, Colorado scores. Robbie Cahill hauls down a fast backhand from Brandon Hyde next point, but Richter gets wide open and toes it in on the goal line for the final count, 15-10.

Adam Scow of Berkeley gets a backhand over CJ Hoppel in a big height mismatch, but some good popping by Ziperstein and a floaty hammer grab by Reid Hopkins to Alex Bowman takes it to 13-13. Dan Hodges jumps over a limping Will Arnold to bring it 14-13 California. Despite a crazy hammer sky by Josh Ziperstein, Brown turns it over to Cal’s zone one too many times, and Garcia sails a 50 yard forehand to George Mittendorf to close it out, 15-13.

Saturday’s play proved to be outstanding, and tomorrow promises a great game. Both Colorado and California have a handful of superstars and a supporting cast that knows how to step up and make plays when called upon. Both can handle anything, but prefer to huck and run. Congratulations to all the teams that played today, it’s been an excellent tournament so far.