[TFDA] Blue over Black @ Heatstroke Tourney

Christian Schwoerke schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 6 10:16:38 EDT 2007


Blue Defeats Black for Heatstroke Victory

Forty-five players (see below) showed up at the Cedar Forks District Park on Wednesday, July 4, to
participate in the dauntingly named “Heatstroke Hat Tourney.”  Players had been “randomly”
assigned to different teams, with the idea being that all would be of equal strength, at least on
paper.  Wednesday’s play was to determine how wrong the notion of on-paper parity was, and Blue
did so going away, winning every game.

Because the rosters were relatively small, the tourney format had everyone play 5 on 5, with each
successive point alternating between a gender mix of 4/1 or 3/2.  Additionally, the fields were
narrowed to 31 yards and the endzones compacted to 10 yards in depth.

A slight 7-mph wind blue obliquely across the side-by-side fields, prompting some teams to
experiment with a zone (nope, doesn’t work), some junk (nope, doesn’t work), and some standard
man-on-man (that’s better), and man-on-man with a rogue poacher (best of all, as Victor and Troy
will testify).  The breeze did help to keep playing conditions somewhat comfortable, permitting
the stand-by EMS personnel to relax and finish some summer reading.

All games were to 9, within 1:10 rounds, and most games were played out before or just after the
one-hour time cap took effect, with the result that there was generally about 5 to 10 minutes
downtime between each game.

At the end of pool play, Blue was atop the standings, 3-0.  Game results and standings follow:

Round 1: Blue over Red 9-3
         White over Black 9-8
Round 2: Blue over Black 9-7
         White over Red 9-5
Round 3: Blue over White 9-3
         Black over Red 9-6

Blue 3-0
White 2-1
Black 1-2
Red 0-3

Red was suffering the loss of two players who’d signed up, both OOC due to injury or illness, but
the team plugged along with the attitude that every game was a chance to improve.  This positive
attitude set up a good semis match with Blue, in the 1 v 4 game.  The 2 v 3 game was a replay of a
Black v. White matchup that White had won at universe point, 9-8.

By this time, in this Red v. Black rematch, the Red team had finally worked out some offensive and
defensive strategies.  Nonetheless, despite the formidable handling skills of Sharon Tucker and
the strong D and O from Matt Ball, the Red squad found themselves on the short end, 7-9.  In the
rematch between White and Black, the White Gardner squad could not contain the hard-running Black
players, in particular Wes Hunt and Rocky Payne, and the game ended with Black up 9-7.

There was a 3/4 game in the final round, pitting White and Red, and both teams were up for the
challenge.  Red ran off 5 points to White’s 2, and it was giddy being up by more than 1 for the
first time all day.  However, White bore down, and the game, after several long points, was tied
at 5s.  Trading ensued, but at 7s, White got the advantage, going up 8-7.  Red mustered a strong
defensive line with Dillon Wyatt, Cheech Lee, Elizabeth Terrell, Xian, and Krishna Karra, but the
White team would not be deterred, distracted, or duped, and they moved the disc into the endzone
flawlessly to take home a final-round victory.

Meanwhile, in the 1/2 game, Blue was inexorably wearing down Black, though the points were long
and the turnovers many.  The short endzones allowed for a jam-up/clog defense that permitted only
the most accurate throws to connect in the limited space.  Blue worked the swing and cross-field
hammer score several times.  One such hammer was caught by Blue’s Keith Hodson soaring above
everyone; he turned and threw a soft 3-yarder to Thomas Wicker who quickly sent another short pass
into the endzone for a score.  It was an unlikely combination of passes and personnel, but it
represented Blue’s multiple means for scoring, besides simply relying on Troy or Mike Resnick
hitting JC running deep.  Despite the best efforts of Wes, Marc Kessler, Rocky, Jessup, and Mimi
to move the disc effectively, Blue’s poachy defense on these narrow fields yielded several
turnovers.  The final score: Blue 9, Black 6.

Congratulations and thanks to all for their participation.

Red chose as its spirit disc winner Benjamin Reinhardt, and Blue chose as its spirit winner Linda
Zier.  White and Black did not tell this reporter who’d been given their spirit discs.  All
members of the winning team received trophy discs.  No one suffered a stroke, and only a single
person even had a muscle cramp.  The EMS squad was much put out.

Teams & Personnel

Blue              Red               White            Black
Linda Zier        Sharon Tucker     Holly Czuba      Sandy Pham 
Denice Cunningham Elizabeth Terrell Heather Gardner  Ellen Mitchell
Jenny Cornejo     Cheech Lee        Lauren Gardner   Mimi Phan 
Chad Rende        Xian Schwoerke    Ron Hunter       Marc Kessler
Troy Revell       Ben Reinhardt     Bryn Forbes      Ruffin Bailey
Michael Resnick   Matt Ball         Kevin Calcagno   Rocky Payne
JC Osborne        Dusty Hoefer      Jason Fortner    Jessup Ferris
Dan Speiser       Arnett Brown      Martin Newman    Wesley Hunt
Victor Maneilly   Krishna Karra     Jessiah Mellott  Mark McEntee
Thomas Wicker     Dillon Wyatt      David Miller     Scott Spillias
Keith Hodson                        Mike Riley       Jason Tan
                                    Grant Gardner    Brian Williams



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