Masters Division Day Three - submitted by Brock Stevens
Masters: Semis and Final
The masters semifinalist all came from the A pool. The match ups featured a pair of pool play rematches that went to the limit, 17-16. Above and Beyond’s Adam Zagoria said, “It looks like DoG against Troubled Past is the marquee event but the other game should be great fun. I give Mileage the edge over Surly.”
Mileage vs. Surly: Mileage was either going to live or die with their deep game. After a Surly brick pull “John Boy” Grzywinski hucked it long to Matt Krei that fell incomplete. Surly came back with Steve “Peaches” Ridgely threw a put to Phil Bowen who made a nice grab and a quick flick to Fritz Burkhardt and went to the end zone for the return pass for the score. Another Mileage turn and Surly again swiftly went in the score with the Bowen –Burkhardt combo connecting again in reverse fashion.
John Boy then connected with Matt Kreis with a deep score, 2-1 Surly. Surly’s offensive line then took the field for the first time and they quickly clicked with Eric “Turtle” Lonsdorf signaling Jeremy Alden to the far corner and threw the hammer score. John Boy then hit “Big Tom” Etchison, 3-2. Surly’s offense came right back with a score with Dan Rydel juggling a pass before bringing it in, 4-2. Burkhardt came up with a d’ and Bowen connected with Eric Carr to make it 5-2.
A couple exchange of points made it 7-4. The game was moving quite crisply but this point went on through two time outs and eight turns before Mileage was able to connect for a score, Lenny Correl to John Boy. Mileage called time out to set up their defense for the next point, deciding to go with a zone. Surly was up to the challenge with Alden running down a Turtle put. Surly takes half 8-5.
After an exchange of turns Surly’s offense converted, Turtle to Chris York, to extend the lead to four. They were well on their way to the finals. Carr D’s another deep Mileage throw and Randy Gage connects Chris Reynolds, 11-6. Surly eventually closes out the game with a Carr to JJ Kuhn score. Final score Minnesota 15, Texas 10.
“We had a plan coming in to stop Mileage’s deep game,” Surly’s Dan Rydel said. “We put our best marker, Gage, on their top thrower (John Boy), and were very aware of their deep threats.”
“They were on fire and our game was cold,” Mileage’s Rex O’Quinn said. “They are great guys and played a real clean game. We know a lot of them from playing against them at Poultry Days.”
DoG vs. Troubled Past: The old Boston boys get off to a quick start going up 4-1. Alex de Frondeville throws for two of the scores. It stays a two or three point margin the rest of the half, 8-5. Aaron Switze is the dominate force for Past with two scores and one assist. While DoG’s big lefthander Steve Mooney is a big part of Boston’s offense with two assists and one score.
To begin the second half Past’s picks up its always high , with Switze, Mike O’Dowd, and the Monohan brothers, intensity level another notch. They go on a four goal run to take the lead 9-8. Chuck HJohnson has two big d’s and Switze hits Keith Monohan for the go-ahead goal.
DoG comes back with a run of their own scoring the next three points with Mooney throwing one and then receiving one. Brian Cameros then hits Rick Kenyon to make it 11-9. Past battle back with two of their own to tie it at 11. The offensive lines then take over with both teams fairly easily moving the disc up the field. Jim Parinella throws two scores to put DoG at game point at 14-13, and 15-14. Past responded with Walter Van Der Schraaf throwing and catching a score. At 15-15 after a couple of turnover exchanges DoG converts with Parinella passing to Mooney passing to de Frondeville. Past then has a quick turnover with a miscommunication between the passer and cutter. DoG pounces on the chance and moves it swiftly up field and one short pass from Simon Verghese to Dan Fassina ends the game.
“We had opportunities to win,” O’Dowd said, “but we had a couple of unforced errors at the end and we came up short.”
“It was a very exciting game,” Parinella said. “It was a little bit chippy but a lot like the first game we played against them.”
Finals: DoG vs. Surly: Thus we come to the championship game with a trip to Vancouver and the World Championships next year. Surly wins the toss to get to wear their red jerseys. The game then gets off to a big bang with de Frondeville throwing a hammer score to Alec Ewald. Surly quickly responds with Rydel hitting Turtle from midfield, 1-1. Ewald then comes up with a d’ to set DoG up ten yards away from a score. Mooney throws to the front corner for Ewald. Surly’s Burkhardt goes for the d put doesn’t quite get it and comes up a little lame after a collision, 2-1 DoG.
On the ensuing point a Turtle huck sails out of the back of the end zone with Josh Quaas having no chance to run it down. A smoothly running DoG O smartly marches down field and Bobby Stoddard hits Matt Montgomery for the score. Surly then maneuvers its way through the DoG zone and Dave Boardman puts one up and Jeremy Alden comes up with a hot full out diving score, 3-2.
 Paul Greff of DoG fires of a pass guarded by Joe Stocklein in the finals win against Surly. (Photo by Scobel Wiggins) | DoG then goes on a 3-0 run. Parinella hits Mike Coope first, then after a Surly drop Bill Stewart hits Ewald, and finally after a Stewart point block Jeremy Seeger connects with Jay Watson. Surly then comes up with three quick scores Alden hits Turtle and after an Eric Carr interception in the end zone and a quick pass to Peaches, he heaves a backhand down the line that Chris Reynolds runs down for the score. Then Parinella just throws a hammer out of reach of Watson out of bounds and another Surly quick huck, Boardman to Bowen for the score, 6-5. The offenses make no mistakes on the next three points with Ewald pulling down two score for DoG and a third long score for Surly, Rydel to Turtle. |
With the Sockeye-Jam semifinal over the crowd picks up looking for an exciting second half battle between the upstart brew team against the legendary Death or Glory. Fueled by the home town brew the Minnesota fans hope to cheer on their favorites to one more upset victory. Things don’t start out well with a turnover on the third pass of Surly’s opening possession. Seeger then hits Cameros for the score, 9-6. A Rydel hammer over the top of the DoG defense opens up the field and Boardman then hits Quaas, 9-7. To give the rest of the story away, this will be as close as Surly will get the rest of the way. After a de Frondville to Verghese connection, Dan Fassina comes up with a big point skying over Turtle on one end of the field and scoring at the other while colliding and taking away a score from a teammate.
There were no turnovers on the next four points. Turtle hucks to Boardman, Greff hits de Frondville, Alden connects with Boardman, and Mooney hucks to Verghese.
DoG then closes out its tenth big title with d’s from Lenny Engel and Fassina leading to scoring combos of Engel to Cameros and Montgomery to a laying out five-foot-three Larry David, final score 15-9. It was a quick well-played, spirited final. Afterwards the second place team awarded the victorious team with a can of Surly brew, either Bender or Furious.
“I think our offense was a little over aggressive,” Boardman said, “You can’t turn it over against these guys. They are so consistent on offense it’s hard to make up a break.”
“I think we finally played a full game, a complete game,” Parinella said, “we had a key block to start the game and Stewart’s point block at the beginning of the second half and that was it.”
DoG is back and is once again ready to take on the world.
Masters Division Day Two - submitted by Brock Stevens
The day began with a forecast calling for 70 percent chance of showers in the late afternoon and some big time in your face Ultimate all day.
Pool A: After day one the only question mark that really existed was the fourth quarterfinalist from the pool and the placement of the pool seeds. Surly with a win over 0-3 Ironwood would clinch a spot in the quarterfinals and DoG with a win over Boneyard would clinch the top spot. That came to be—Dog winning 15-9 and Surly 15-8.
 Kip Weatherwax, captain of Mileage, gets off a pass in the upset against Troubled Past. (Photo by Scobel Wiggins) | The final game of the morning, Troubled Past vs. Mileage, would decide who finished in second place. Past, once again, played another close game but Mileage came out on top 15-13. There was nothing at stake going into the final round. Sixth seed Boneyard pulled its second upset of the tournament with a 15-12 win over Mileage and tried to figure out some way they could move past Surly for the final spot but all scenarios led to the head-to-head tiebreaker that they would loose either to Surly or Troubled Past. Final Standings: DoG 5-0, Mileage 3-2, Troubled Past 3-2, Surly 2-3, Boneyard 2-3, Ironwood 0-5. |
Pool B thus had all the excitement. The only team that was clearly advancing to quarters was the undefeated Old and in the Way. Realistically four teams; O.L.D S.A.G., Miami, BIGS, and Above and Beyond, were vying for the other three spots. Winless Real Huck needed a miracle run, victories over the two and three seeds, to advance.
The only fourth round game that matched the “four that would soon be three” against each other was Miami against Above and Beyond. “This is pretty much an elimination game for us,” New York’s Adam Zagoria said.
With Eric “EO” Olson added to the New York mix Above and Beyond got off to a fast start going up 5-2. The two teams were getting on each others nerves with their brash and aggressive styles of play. After a time out Miami started to play a four-man cup and began to battle back into the game. Above and Beyond got a little more irritated with Miami’s tactics and things almost came to blows on the the field. Cooler heads prevailed and the game got back on track. Miami got to within one point, 6-5, from a score set up by a big D from Eric Peterson. Arnold Sanchez’s cross-field hammer again put New York up two. Miami then got an offensive offsides warning on the ensuing pull. Miami runs off two straight but New York then takes the half 8-7 on a layout score from Matt Davis. The two teams kept battling and arguing into the second half. At 12-10 New York Miami is called for a defensive offsides and Above and Beyond gets the disc at midfield. Miami’s Larry “Butch” Brown just misses a layout block on the first A and B pass and New York then moves it swiftly down field for the score, 13-10. The teams trade points and then Blake Holland puts it away for New York with a layout on one goal line and then the score on the other end of the field.
In the other two games Old and in the Way and O.L.D. S.A.G. have a great battle with OAITW ending up on top 16-15 and BIGS beats Real Huck 15-7.
In the final round match up of BIGS and Above and Beyond both teams assume they are in the quarters and it doesn’t matter who wins. But then they find out the halftime score of game on the next field Miami 8 OAITW 3 and their wins over Miami don’t matter anymore. BIGS, however, has the upper hand with a four-point lead at half. Miami goes on to beat a -resting-up-for-the-quarterfinals OAITW, 15-9 and BIGS knocks Above and Beyond out of the championship bracket 15-9.
“We thought they would have a big incentive to win against us,” BIGS Layne Davis said, “We beat them in the Semis last year so we thought they would have a revenge factor but they just didn’t step it up.”
Final Standings: OAITW 4-1, Miami 3-2, BIGS 3-2, O.L.D. S.A.G. 3-2, Above and Beyond 2-3, Real Huck 0-5.
The Quarterfinals: There was a delay in play due to lightning during this late afternoon round. Two games had finished up and two had play suspended for 45 minutes.
A1:DoG vs. B4:O.L.D. S.A.G.: The long time rivals have a battle Royale. The team from Philly takes the half 8-6. DoG then starts to get its game in gear with a 5-2 run at the start of the second half. Philly scores the next point and then there is a suspension of play with DoG leading 11-10. There is no ill affect in play after the delay and Philly ties the game at 11. The offenses can’t be stopped for the next five points and DoG reaches game point, 14-13. At midfield two DoG players, Brian Cameros and Matt Montgomery collide making a diving D. They leave the field and are replaced by Jim Olson and Scott Goodrich. After a couple of turns by both teams another DoG player comes up lame and with DoG with the Disc Jim Parinella enters the game. DoG then moves the length of the field and scores the game clincher. A Pool one team into the semifinals.
A2: Mileage vs. B3: BIGS: It’s close game through the first 19 points but with Mileage up 10-9 Dallas picks it up and goes on to win 15-11. Some one on the BIGS sideline asks don’t we have anyone who can stop 21 (John Boy Gryzwinski). A Pool two teams into the semifinals.
A3: Troubled Past vs. B2: Miami: A hard fought first half gets Troubled Pasts fires burning and after being tied at seven the west coast team runs off the last eight points of the game. “We said if they wanted to start a fight will get just as crazy and kick some butt, and when the rain came just before half we were in our element” Past’s captain Mike O’Dowd said. A Pool three teams into semifinals.
A4: Surly vs. B1: Old and in the Way: Another nip and tuck battle closed out the quarterfinals. A not so surprisingly strong Surly team took the half 8-7. Surly quickly reeled off three more points to make it 11-7. Colorado came back with two straight. Then came a monster point. One could have checked out all the other quarterfinal games going on and come back 20 minutes later and the game would still be at the same spot. One would only haved missed a flying monster D by Surly’s Eric Enge on a huck into the Surly end zone. It was a momentum turner. Surly goes up 12-9. The teams then trade points to 14-12. Surly then closes it out with a big-bending-backhand huck from Eric “Turtle” Lonsdorf to Dave Boardman. A Pool four teams into the Semifinals.
“We finally made it over the hump,” Surly’s Russ Adams said. “Adding a couple of younger players who have played at the elite level has gotten us to the next level.”
Five out of the last six years the Minnesota Masters’s team has made it to the quarterfinals but were never able to get to the semis. Four times they lost to the eventual champions. They now join three other first time Masters semifinalists. The match-ups: DoG vs. Troubled Past and Mileage vs. Surly.
Masters Division Day One - submitted by Brock Stevens
Pool A: This pool featured four regional champs: Troubled Past, DoG, Mileage, and Surly. Thus, there wasn’t much of a surprise that barn-burners from the get-go in Sarasota were the order of the day. | |
| In the other two first round games in the pool DoG has little trouble with fifth seed Ironwood and top-seed Troubled Past has a little trouble but beats Boneyard 15-10. There is more excitement in round two from Mileage and Surly. They fight hard but they both lose to the top two seeds 15-13, Mileage to DoG and Surly to Troubled Past. Past finished off the game with an Aaron Switze Callahan score Past’s second of the game Mike O’Dowd scored the earlier one. In the five-six game it was Boneyard over Ironwood 15-11. |
That gave those four teams a chance to see the second big battle of the day number one seed Troubled Past against number two DoG. DoG has control most of the game leading 11-8 and 14-12 but can’t seal the deal. They finally pull off the win 17-16. "I don’t think either of us wanted to play those extra six points,” DoG’s Jim Parinella said. So after Day one DoG is 3-0, Troubled Past and Mileage 2-1, Surly and Boneyard 1-2, and Ironwood 0-3. If DoG doesn’t stumble badly they should take the pool. The first game in the morning between Mileage and Troubled Past should decide second. Surly has a shot at third but needs to beat both Ironwood and DoG. Boneyard also needs a big win(s), over DoG and/or Mileage, to advance. Pool B: Top seed Old and in the Way dominated Pool B and is well on its way to the quarterfinals. They started the day with a 15-6 win over Real Huck. They then beat Above and Beyond 15-7. They ended the day with surprisingly easy 15-9 win over number two seed BIGS. In the first round O.L.D. S.A.G. took awhile to get up to speed against Above and Beyond. They were down 10-6 and 11-7. They then stepped it up a notch and pulled out a 15-13 win. In the two-three game against BIGS it was another nip and tuck battle. In a well-played game the guys from Philly prevailed 16-14. “I think there was only one turnover in the first ten points of the game,” O.L.D. S.A.G.’s Jim Brose said. Above and Beyond won the battle of 0-2 teams in the third round. Real Huck kept it close in the first half, only behind 8-7, but didn’t have enough to boost the second city over the Big Apple losing 15-9. So the standings in Pool B look like this: OAITW 3-0, O.L.D. S.A.G. and Miami 2-1, BIGS and Above and Beyond 1-2, and Real Huck 0-3 and probably out of contention. OAITW should have a couple of tough tussles left against the two 2-1 teams but it looks like they will likely come out on top in this pool. That leads to four teams battling it out for the three remaining spots to the quarters. Who knows who will be left without a seat when the music stops. Tune in tomorrow and find out. | |
Masters Division Preview - submitted by Brock Stevens
When last we left the playing fields of Sarasota, Throwback (Seattle, WA) had just beaten BIGS (Boise, ID) on a double game point Callahan score by Steve Finn to take the 2006 Masters Division title. Finn is playing in the mixed division with Shazam Returns this year while his old Throwback team is at home in Seattle after being taken out of the series by BIGS in the tough Northwest Region.
Not seeing the returning champs back in Sarasota is not the biggest news for the Masters Division, but that almost the whole storied ‘90s DoG team has come back to Florida to compete in this division. DoG is only the third seed in this year’s tournament so you know it is a deep and talented field.
The top seed in the field is another new Masters team, Troubled Past (Santa Cruz, CA). They beat Throwback twice (13-12 pool play, 15-7 championship) and BIGS once (15-14) at the Northwest Regionals. The team members have multiple Canadian, Japanese, American, National, and World Championship titles on their resumes. Mike O’Dowd says, “We are loud and pretty much having a fun time with each other. We sold our souls to the devil to come play. Our wives are
not happy. So we mean to make the best of our three days away from our families.”
The next two seeds in Pool A are the aforementioned DoG and Mileage (Dallas, TX). Jim Parinella hopes this masters DoG edition will have the stamina to compete all the way to a championship. “It’s hard to predict how we’ll play in the sixth tough game” of the weekend. We, you, and everybody else are sure they will be competing just as hard as when they won numerous Open championships in the ‘90s.
Mileage is made up mostly of old Hang-Time players. They dominated the ten-team South regionals giving up no more than six points in any one game. Mileage’s Kip Weatherwax says, “The competition is loaded this year across the board. Our first two games will be tough with Surly (Minneapolis, MN) having a large contingent of ex-snowmen and BAT players and a fully reformed DoG.”
The final three teams in Pool A are Surly, Ironwood (Phoenix, AZ) and Boneyard (Durham, NC). These three teams have been here before and are sure to at least put a scare in the top-seeded newcomers if not pull some upsets and come out on top in Pool A.
Surly has high expectations hoping to make it at least to the semis if not all the way. They have Phil Bowen flying in from Africa and another newly minted Masters player Eric Lonsdorf to fill out a deep and talented roster.
Ironwood will be another tough team to beat. They fought back from the loser’s bracket in the Southwest regionals to make it to the big show once again. Faded (Los Angeles, CA) found it is tough to beat them twice.
Boneyard will make their title run from the 12th seed in the field with the help of three former Ring of Fire players: Augie Kreivenas, Tim Brooks, and Jon Proctor. With a deep and fast defense and an offense that can handle the Sarasota winds it will be hard to keep these guys out of the quarterfinals. It shows the depth of this year’s field that Boneyard is seeded so low. It may come down to tiebreakers to see who reaches the quarterfinals from this pool.
Heading Pool B is the number two seed in the field: two-time champs, four-time runner-ups, and at least a semifinalist in the past eight years, Old and in the Way (Boulder, CO). Captain Bob Pease has the philosophy that, “there’s nothing like going to battle with a bunch of your buddies.” If past results are any indication of things to come it will be tough to beat them out of another great run for the championship.
BIGS and O.L.D. S.A.G. (Philadelphia, PA) are the next two seeds in the pool. BIGS’s Chris Eaton says “if we make it to semis, we think the SKY is the limit for us.” It may well be, they had a great run last year losing the championship game 14-13 to Throwback.
O.L.D. S.A.G. has a solid team with a very large roster. Jim Brose says, “This is probably the deepest and best field in Masters history. Our pool has former champ Miami and three time reigning semi-finalist New York and those are two of the three teams seeded behind us!”
Above and Beyond looks to make another trip to the semis with, “just a hard working group of guys dedicated to getting it done as a team” says AdamZagoria. They will miss former teammate Steve Mooney who is playing with DoG this year.
Weatherwax says, “I expect they (Miami) will be a challenge for every team and if the wind blows, watch out.”
Rounding out the pool is Real Huck (Chicago, IL). This relatively new team is looking to play some close, hard-fought games. Captain Johnny Hock says they have the smallest roster but hope they will gain the advantage over some teams
with better team continuity.
Top to bottom it does indeed look like this is the deepest, most talented Masters field ever. Eaton says, “I will be surprised if any team actually goes 5-0 in their pool. Boy I think there are eight or nine teams that could win it. Surly is good , Troubled Past, O.L.D. S.A.G., Old and in the Way, DoG, Miami, NY, Dallas it’ll be interesting to see who wins what in their
pools.”
If reality lives up to the hype this year’s Masters Tournament may well top last year’s highlight real ending with every disc and every game up for grabs who will make it to the quarterfinals, semis, finals or on top is anybody’s guess.
