[TFDA] Kudzu recap -- WOFOIT holds onto Laurels won in 06
Christian Schwoerke
schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 1 08:15:03 EDT 2007
WOFOIT Repeats to Hold onto Kudzu Laurels
With the score tied 18-18, universe point, WOFOIT recovered the dropped disc in the endzone
without blinking an eye, while Bears players reacted slowly, still in shock, and two quick passes
got the disc to Beth Stagner who took a single quick look and launched the game-winning huck to
Katy Harris, waiting in the endzone, several yards away from her approaching defender, to take the
game--and the tourney--with a score of 19-18.
The weekend began with a marathon of games planned for the 15 teams participating in the 10th
Annual Carolina Kudzu Coed Classic. To ensure lots of play and to avoid the pitfalls associated
with determining which teams should advance to quarters when 15 teams are involved, the field of
teams was divided into two pools. The eight-team pool played seven games, with the seven-team
pool playing six games, before advancing into the semis of one of four divisions. Weather was
good both days, with a clear sunny sky and some intermittent zephyrs to hint at the possibility of
playing zone, while temperatures hovered in the low 90s throughout the afternoons.
Teams
1. WOFOIT Triangle, NC
2. Bears Triangle
3. Big Winston Winston-Salem, NC
4. El Diablo Triangle
5. Too Much Mustard Triangle
6. Axis of C-ville Charlottesville, VA
7. Pepe Lopez Columbia, SC
8. Cubs Triangle
9. Green Goes... Triangle
10. Bootleg Triangle
11. Red Tide Norfolk, VA
12. Nekkid DC
13. Heckle or Flow Clifton, VA
14. Nomads Boone, NC
15. CHUF Chapel Hill, NC
This years field of teams comprised eight squads from the Triangle, one of them the UPAs NC
State Championships high school runners-up, Chapel Hill High Schools CHUF. Traveling teams
included Axis of C-ville (Charlottesville, VA), Nekkid (DC area), Heckle or Flow (DC area), Red
Tide (Norfolk, VA), Pepe Lopez (Columbia, SC), Big Winston (Winston-Salem, NC), and the ASU Nomads
(Boone, NC). The Triangle squads were a diverse lot, each possessed of some powerhouse players
from the Triangles several club and college teams, including the perennial finalists WOFOIT and
Bears, each with rosters that included Ring, Backhoe, Black Molly, and Olio players, as well as
those from Boneyard and Sweet T.
Pools
Pool A Pool B
1. WOFOIT 1. Bears
2. El Diablo 2. Big Winston
3. Too Much Mustard 3. Axis of C-Ville
4. Cubs 4. Pepe Lopez
5. Green Goes... 5. Bootleg
6. Nekkid 6. Red Tide
7. Heckle or Flow 7. Nomads
8. CHUF
Pool play extended across both days, with each 90-minute game tucked into 1:45 rounds to ensure
some travel time. This year the 2-point cross-gender huck rule was attenuated by setting games to
first-to-19, a change introduced to ensure that even blowouts lasted longer than an hour.
Pool-play results held pretty much according to seed, with only one team in each pool defying its
initial assessment: in pool A, it was Green Goes..., formed at the last minute, which jumped from
#5 to #4; and in pool B it was Pepe Lopez, tumbling from #4 to #6.
Close games in each pool were WOFOITs victory over El Diablo, a 12-11 victory that came as a
result of an El Diablo player dropping what would have been the winning point. Another
universe-point game was CHUFs 13-12 victory over Red Tide, the high schoolers only pool-play
victory. One more close game in Pool A was Big Winstons day-ending round against Axis of
C-ville, with Big Winston, after numerous possessions by both sides, finally getting a 2-point
huck off to co-captain LT (Lauren Tompson) to come from behind 12-13 to win 14-13.
Pool Play Results
Pool A Pool B
1. WOFOIT 6-0 1. Bears 7-0
2. El Diablo 5-1 2. Big Winston 6-1
3. Too Much Mustard 4-2 3. Axis of C-Ville 5-2
4. Green Goes... 3-3 4. Bootleg 4-3
5. Cubs 2-4 5. Red Tide 2-5
6. Nekkid 1-5 6. Pepe Lopez 2-5
7. Heckle or Flow 0-6 7. Nomads 1-6
8. CHUF 1-6
Elimination Rounds
D-Div
Play-in
Heckle or Flow over Nomads 13-4
Finals
CHUF over Heckle or Flow 14-12
The Nomads had been playing with only about 11-12 players all weekend, and they were running on
fumes in the play-in game. Heckle or Flow connected on a series of female to male two-pointers,
which got them to 13 in short order. In the finals, Heckle or Flow and CHUF were largely working
single digit scores, the high schoolers adjusting with straight up marks. At the end, with the
score tied at 12s, the high schoolers got off the games only two-pointer to take the D-division
laurels.
C-Div
Semis
Cubs over Pepe Lopez 12-7
Nekkid over Red Tide 12-8
Finals
Cubs over Nekkid 11-4
Nekkid has played in all nine of the previous Kudzu tourneys, and it was good to see them again,
with captain David Epping in charge once more. In their semis game, they took care of business
against the Norfolks Red Tide (playing with a relatively small 14-person squad), winning 12-8.
On the other side, the Cubs, with many new Triangle players and some players returning after years
of semi-retirement (eg, Sanya Carley and Andy Ray Von Kelly, respectively), dispatched the
Columbia, SC, squad 12-7. In a finals game shortened to allow for some beer drinking and
A-division finals viewing, the younger Cubs were able to run over the unclad ones, 11-4.
B-Div
Semis
Axis of C-ville over Green Goes... (forfeit)
Too Much Mustard over Bootleg 15-9
Finals
Too Much Mustard over Axis of C-ville 13-9
Axis of C-ville, with a squad of only 12 players, was able to rest during their semis, as the
Green Goes... team could not field enough players, due to injury, fatigue, and job obligations.
Meanwhile, Too Much Mustard took on Bootlegwhich lost two of its mainstays due to a
weddingwinning 15-9. Mustard had a deep, young squad, and they were able to control the finals
against the young, but short-handed Axis team from Charlottesville, finding ways to connect with
several two-pointers, leading all the way to a shortened 13-9 victory.
A-Div
Semis
WOFOIT over Big Winston 15-8
Bears over El Diablo 16-12
Finals
WOFOIT over Bears 19-18
Big Winston was using Kudzu as an opportunity to try out new players for their upcoming fall
season, and they kept the rotation wide open, even against WOFOIT. The players on WOFOIT took
advantage in those situations and were able to control the game throughout, winning 15-8. The
Bears, on the other hand, found that they had to tighten their rotation as El Diablo quickly
asserted itself as the toughest team theyd faced the entire weekend. Going down 1-6 against El
Diablo (on two two-pointers and singleton score hucks from Taylor Pope), the Bears took a time out
to regroup. Tim Brooks oratory fire had the Bears back in the game by half, though still
trailing, 8-10. The tighter Bear rotation gave them a chance to match up against the younger
players on El Diablo, and by games end one too many El Diablo errors gave the Bears a 16-12 win.
The finals were a repeat matchup of WOFOIT and the Bears, marking the 4th time theyd met in the
finals. WOFOIT had a 2-1 edge over the years, and the Bears were thinking it was their turn to
reclaim the Kudzu laurels. Tim Brooks, Augie Kreivenas, Sandy Hartwiger, Dave Snoke, and Sam
Carroll were the big men for the Bears, with Thuy Brooks, Frannie Goodrich, Rebecca Silberstein,
and Amy Morrison leading the women. Meanwhile, over on the WOFOIT side, it was Tuba Benson Ja-ja,
Kris Bass, Joey Connelly, Garrett Dyer, Chris Shepard, and Phil Pruditch, with Backhoe stalwarts
Beth Stagner, Sharon Tucker, Katie Harris, and Mel Proctor, with Melanie Morgan and Lesley
McCormack anchoring a strong womens rotation.
It was, in fact, several plays by the WOFOIT women that kept them in the game, as the men were
held to short continuation or re-set passes. The game was light in two-pointers, with the Bears
getting one off in the first half to take the lead at 3-2. While WOFOIT was able to go up 4-3 in
the first half, that was the last time they led, with Bears taking the half 10-7. With two-point
strikes always imminent, the Bears knew that a three-point lead was not inviolate, and perhaps
because the Bears were guarding too much against the two-pointer, WOFOIT was able to run off two
singletons to bring the game within one point. After the Bears answered with their own
singleton--a long shot that Rebecca Silberstein pulled down in a crowd that included Tuba--WOFOIT
got the first of their two two-pointers, tying the game. The second two-pointer came shortly
after, and the WOFOIT was now in charge, 14-12.
Both teams took turns making two-point surges, with the Bears again tying then reclaiming the lead
at 18-17. WOFOIT answered to bring it to 18s, next point wins. The Bears received the pull,
advanced the disc beyond midfield, then took a time out. Augie directed the play at this point,
though it took several passes to get it back into his hands, giving him the crossfield hammer shot
to Dave Snoke, who, upon catching the disc just outside the endzone cone, came up throwing a soft
high-release backhand to a wide open Sandy Hartwiger. As one commentator said, it was matter of
odds, for with more than 15 years of nearly stellar ultimate performance, Sandy Hartwiger was due,
and unfortunately, it came at this point, as he bobbled and dropped the disc.
While the Bears were slow to respond to the fact that theyd NOT won, WOFOITs players were in
action immediately. The disc was scooped up and within two passes was in Beth Stagners hands.
With a quick look downfield, she found Katy Harris and launched a 50-yarder for the final point,
giving WOFOIT back-to-back Kudzu victories.
Congratulations to the WOFOIT crew, whose names all appear below the box score!
Bears 1 *3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
WOFOIT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 *11 12 *14 15 16 17 18 19
Mel Proctor
Beth Stagner
Karen (Pepe) Hawley
Katy Harris
Sharon Tucker
Claudia Barrett
Melanie Morgan
Lesley McCormack
Brian Zuercher
Mark Britt
Jon Proctor
Tuba Benson-Jaja
Chris Shepard
John Kitchens
Garrett Dyer
Kris Bass
Phil Prudich
Joey Connelly
Nick Crawford
Tain Collins
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