[TFDA] Sacre Bleu Wipes Up Field at Post-Turkey Day Hat Tourney

Christian Schwoerke schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 27 12:42:06 EST 2006


Sacre Bleu Wipes Up Field at Post-Turkey Day Hat Tourney

One team stood head and shoulders above the rest at this year’s Thanksgiving hat tourney: Sacre
Bleu.  While other teams floundered and lost legs through the grueling 5-game round-robin pool
play and 2-game elimination play, Bleu held strong and seemed hardly to have waned, defeating its
finals opponent, Black Friday, with a whopping 11-1 score.

Friday began with nearly all 66 players showing on time to begin the 9:30 games at UNC-Chapel
Hill’s high-tech, turf IM fields.  A couple of players were late and two were unaccountably
absent, causing their teams to lose parity with others.  Paul Whitener showed up, without having
registered, and he was drafted to serve as a utility player for at least two different teams.  

The tourney format was modified to accommodate the smaller team rosters and the small field space:
games were to 11, with teams of 11 playing 6on6, alternating gender each point between 4/2 and
5/1, on fields 65 yards long by 32 yards wide, with 10-yard deep endzones.  The intent in having
smaller rosters was to promote more playing time, which, by day’s end, was confirmed by the
weariness of teams still in contention during the semis and finals.  (In fact, the consolation
game between the #5 and #6 teams [Green and Red, respectively] was not played, as
players-turned-spectators were more interested in heckling from the sidelines.)

Team Red began the day short-handed, as their #1 and #2 males were both absent.  The #1 male never
showed, but Paul Weeks was phoned in time to remind him that the games were on Friday and not
Saturday.  Team Red’s fortunes never did turn around during the day, but they finally exacted some
revenge on the TD and his team as they ran over Black Friday 9-4 in the final round.  Team White
also began the day short-handed, and the same phone call that brought Paul Weeks from the malls
also served to bring Kelly Weeks to the fields, but only after Yellow player Anne Burroughs had
played the first game as a White sub.  Nonetheless, after two initial losses, White (dubbed by
this time Miracle Whip) went on to win three in a row, each a one-point victory.

Scores for each of the rounds follows:

Round 1: Blue over Yellow 11-9
         Black over White 9-6
         Green over Red 11-4
Round 2: Blue over White 9-1
         Yellow over Red 8-3
         Black over Green 9-6
Round 3: Black over Blue 8-7
         Yellow over Green 9-7
         White over Red 9-8
Round 4: Blue over Red 11-1
         Yellow over Black 10-9
         White over Green 7-6
Round 5: Blue over Green 9-4
         White over Yellow 6-5
         Red over Black 9-4

This set up standings like this:

Blue 4-1
Black 3-2
Yellow 3-2
White 3-2 
Green 1-4
Red 1-4

Head-to-head results had Green over Red, but the three-way tie had to be settled with point
differentials, Black having a +2, Yellow a 0, and White a –2.  The semis rematches were Blue
versus White (first encounter going to Blue 9-1) and Black versus Yellow (which initially was a
10-9 Yellow victory).  

In the White/Blue game, both teams seemed equal on paper: White’s two women, Tracy Cate and Kelly
Weeks, matched up well against Blue’s Leslie McCormack and Janna Coulter, and Blue’s short
speedsters Chris Shepard and Dave Beller (controlling the play underneath and moving the disc well
to taller, skilled throwers Kevin Himberger, Wendell Wilson, Cameron Cockman, and Victor Maneilly)
appeared to be no more formidable than White’s Baker Pratt and Joshua Murphy (who anchored the
team with able disc movement from Dan Parrish, Keith Lewis, and Mike Nuckols, along with some
powerful full-field hucking from George Wilder).  The score, however, showed something different,
and while White was able to improve on their earlier performance against Blue, the final score
favored Blue 11-4.

Similarly, the second semis game, Black versus Yellow, looked like it could go either way, with
each team having its share of skilled players.  Black’s Taylor Pope stood out as the heavy-hitter
in the game, but his support was variable, depending on who could drag her- or himself off the
Black bench into the game for a given point.  Yellow seemed to have a more evenly distributed set
of skilled players still able to run, including Dennis Nield, Chrystian Plachco, Kevin Calgano,
Ben Pagano, Chuck Yu, Raoul Rubin, Ana Plachco, and Anne Burroughs.  The game was neck and neck
till 5s, when Black was able to string together two in a row with a patient goal-line offense. 
The cap went on as Black scored point #8, forcing the game to 9.  Yellow answered, making it 6-8,
but the final point finally fell to Black, winning 9-6. 
     
The finals pitted Blue and Black for what spectators hoped would be a game as good as their first,
when it went Black’s way 8-7.  The first three points went to Blue, and in the fourth point Black
finally got on the board after 8 turnovers between the two teams.  At 3-1 in favor of Blue, it
still looked like there might be a game if Black could simply muster another point.  However, many
more turnovers ensued, and it was always the Blue team that recovered more quickly and continued
to make the long runs to set up easy passes for scores.  With half at 6-1, Black could do little
during its huddle but contemplate some way to succumb with dignity.  While the second half
featured a few close long shots for goals by Black, none took, and the subsequent possession or
re-possession by Blue turned quickly into another score, as Black defenders lagged farther and
farther behind.  Blue’s final score was based on another Black turnover, a first-pass defensive
block by Cameron Cockman, who continued into the endzone to receive the game’s final pass, giving
Sacre Bleu a blowout, 11-1 tourney victory.

Congratulations to Sacre Bleu for their solid play!  Thanks to everyone who participated and gave
above and beyond their entry fees, the ultiplex coffers grew by over $700.

Rosters for all participating teams:

Team A  - Blue         Team B - Yellow         Team C - White
Lesley McCormack       Jennifer Coon           Tracy Cate
Janna Coulter          Anne Burroughs          Kelly Weeks
Kevin Himberger        Ana Plachco             Dan Parrish
david beller           Dennis Nield            Mike Nuckols
Wendell Wilson         Chuck Yu                Joshua Murphy
Peter Akeley *         Kevin Calcagno          Baker Pratt
chris shepard          Ben Pagano              Ian Pratt
Victor Maneilly        Dusty Hoefer            Ben Parees
Tom Munoz              Thomas Kehl-Fie         George Wilder
Cameron Cockman        Chrystian Plachco       Leith Lewis
Butch Konneker         Raoul Rubin            

Team D - Black             Team E - Red         Team F - Green
Michelle Gross             Amy Morrison         Becki Cleveland
Jennifer Rogers            Anne Maness          Severine Patat
Martha Pentecost           Michelle Reader      Ben Greene *
Brendan Bulik-Sullivan     Jeff Martin *        Lucas Darden
Michael Ghim *             Paul Weeks           Nick Crawford
Taylor Pope                Trey Askew           Johnathon Stevens
Mitch Talley               Paul Damer           Jonathan Miller
Daniel Powell              Nick Parks           marty newman
Scott Beichley             Jason Tan            Lane Wigley
Jessiah Mellot             Jeff Faulkner        Erik Jolles
Christian Schwoerke        Douglas Ivers        Joe O’Brien *

* injured or no-shows






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