[TFDA] White Keeps Cool to Win Heatstroke Hat 09
Christian Schwoerke
schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 6 09:55:20 EDT 2009
White Keeps Cool to Win Heatstroke Hat 09
In their second match up (the fifth 13-point game of the day for each team), White was able to hold off Blue in the finals of the 2009 Heatstroke Hat Tourney, winning 13-8. This year’s Heatstroke Hat fell squarely on July 4, 2009, which proved to be very temperate, with a moderately high 85-degree temperature and humidity in the 50% range, far short of the usual 80+% common in NC Piedmont summers. Providing even more relief was a slight 8-10 mph breeze that appeared intermittently throughout the day.
Four teams began to appear at Cedar Forks Park in Morrisville at 9am, ready to play at 9:30 on the complex’s two central fields. With 50 participants in this year’s event, teams were 13 or 12 in number, and the format had been altered to make it a 6-on-6 game, with alternating gender ratios each point: 4/2 and 5/1, thus giving all participants a chance to play exactly 50% of all points. With the fields still regulation size, the 6-on-6 format enabled more room on the field and thus served, theoretically, to reduce the effectiveness of zone play. Nonetheless, Blue was able to use an effective zone in several of its games, while other teams eschewed its use altogether.
The tourney involved three pool play games to create seeding for elimination play involving semis and finals (and a potential consolation game). In pool play, these were the results:
Round 1: White over Blue 13-10
Green over Red 13-12
Round 2: White over Green 13-11
Blue over Red 13-9
Round 3: Red over White 12-11
Green over Blue 13-9
This resulted in these standings:
White 2-1
Green 2-1
Blue 1-2
Red 1-2
The semis was a repeat of round 3 matchups, with the results in both cases overturned.
White over Red 12-6
Blue over Green 13-9
The Red and Green squads decided that four games had been enough and they became spectators to the finals between White and Blue.
The Blue squad, led by Ring of Fire’s Taylor Pope, had used a hucking game to good success throughout the day, and it was White’s intent to make that game as difficult as possible for them. White’s task was made especially difficult as Pope was able to both throw and receive the deep shots, as 6’3” Matthew White was able to launch several long shots to either side of defenders who marked him straight up. White’s team was headed by Ring vet Brian Lang who patrolled the deep on defense and controlled the disc on offense. White’s MVP through the day, however, was young Elon phenom Chip Cobb, who skied much taller players and was willing to both throw the long shot as well as run long for the deep shot.
Both White and Blue had solid lines every point, whether on offense or defense, but Blue was able to make the series of short passes count for more, and they took half 7-4. Despite their long game being somewhat stifled, Blue was able to use it again effectively at the start of the second half, reeling off two long bombs to come within one, 6-7. White’s Kevin Calcagno had the unenviable task of guarding Blue’s Pope, and while never making any overt defense stop, he kept Pope to a “lethal” rather than “fatal” level of play. White’s Lang, meanwhile, typically sandbagged in his matchups against Blue in order to switch off that man to make some larger defensive play. White and Blue’s women played to a standoff, each pretty well neutralizing the other.
As the second half played itself out, Blue could not adequately alter its long game to counter White’s force-middle, switching-deep defense. Hence, in the process of trying to play a shorter game, Blue’s errant throws and drops led to White possessions and scores. The second half had begun with a Blue explosion, but White came back strong at the end of the half with a 3-point run to seal the game, 13-8.
Participants in this year’s Heatstroke featured many college players from UNC-G, Elon, and elsewhere beyond the Triangle, as well as the usual solid base of Triangle participants. Everyone’s participation netted the Triangle Flying Disc Association over $600, all of which is earmarked for continued development of the organization’s dedicated set of playing fields, the Ultiplex.
The following are the rosters of all the teams:
Blue team Red team White team Green team
Brady Jerry Rosenberg Anita Schimizzi Emily Gotwals
Rachel McCarthy Liz Stewart Laura Manson Erica Wilson
Valerie Mason Melanie Harvey Pae Wu Jaime Schnurr
Matthew White Abram Harder Aaron Wiener Mel Proctor
Nate Byrd Ian Cluggish Brian Lang Arnett Brown
Nathan McGraw Joe Carley Chip Cobb Brian Sherry
Nicholas Crawford John Stevens Chris Venters Dan Snoke
Nick Williams Joshua Murphy Christian Schwoerke David Miller
Robert Luedeman Mark McEntee Chrystian Plachco Ian Aadland
Taylor Pope Mason Bass Jacob Bonenberger Jason Fortner
Trey Askew Nick Poore Jason Rosenberg Jay Parker
Wendell Wilson Paul Corbett Kevin Calcagno Jeff Faulkner
Jon Proctor
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