[TFDA] Hunny Pass Takes Possession of Buzz Mgt Inc. in Hostile Takeover

Christian Schwoerke schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 27 13:30:43 EDT 2009


Hunny Pass’ Hostile Takeover of Buzz Management Inc. Succeeds

Meteorological factors over the 2009 Summer League tourney weekend:

Temperature: high 90s both days
Humidity: high 80s both days
Wind: light 2-5 mph breezes on Saturday, 2-9 mph breezes on Sunday
Storms: at the end of play on Saturday (c. 4:30), a thunderstorm blew through, and during the finals on Sunday (c. 3:20), a thunderstorm blew through, interrupting the game for approximately 25 minutes.

When the morning dew finally evaporated from the Womble Park fields on Saturday morning, the first round was nearly over and all jerseys were soaked.  Mild breezes through the rest of the day kept the temperature tolerable, but were not enough to justify any wholesale use of zone defenses.  

Pool A consisted of Chris Shepard and Lesley McCormack’s Hunny Pass, the season’s regular season champs, with a 6-1 record; Jonathan Miller’s Day Bow Bow, 3-4 overall; Wendell Wilson and Carla Haslauer’s Six-Foot Leprechauns, 3-4 overall, and Derrick Marcy and Laurie Williams’ Everything Rhymes with Orange, 1-6.

Pool B was topped by Grant and Heather Gardner’s Royale with Cheese, second place overall, with a 5-2 record; Garrett Dyer’s Super HITS, 5-2; Victor Maneilly’s Buzz Management Inc., 3-4; and Jon Bolding’s the team that must not be named, 2-5.

Hunny Pass showed in the first day of pool play why they were the season champs, amassing 45 points to their opponents’ aggregate score of 14.  The entire pool held seed, with no surprises along the way.

Results in Pool A after pool play were:

Hunny Pass 3-0
Day Bow Bow 2-1
Six-Foot Leprechauns 1-2
Everything Rhymes with Orange 0-3

Pool B’s day was characterized by upsets, inconsistencies, and closer games, with Buzz Management Inc. climbing from 3rd seed to the #1 finisher, with a 3-0 record.  All the other teams amassed 1-1 records against each other, requiring point differentials to sort them out.

Results in Pool B after pool play were:
Buzz Management Inc. 3-0
the team that must not be named 1-2
Super HITS 1-2
Royale with Cheese 1-2

Sunday’s quarter matchups:

Hunny Pass over Royale 13-10
Buzz over Orange 14-7
Super HITS over Day Bow Bow 15-11
the team that must not be named over Six-Foot Leprechauns 15-14

Royale with Cheese gave Hunny Pass a tougher game than had Saturday’s opponents, mainly, no doubt, because it was do or die in this tourney’s unforgiving single-elimination format.  Buzz Management consciously strove to keep a full rotation of players on the field so that the “horses” would be fresh for later games, and they were able to work effectively to stifle Orange’s chances at a second Sunday game.  Super HITS pulled off an upset against Day Bow Bow, using an effective deep game that relied on their youngsters, Kelly Weeks and Shellie Cohen, snagging hucks in the endzone.  The team that must not be named also used a hucking game to keep the Leprechauns at bay, though the game ended with a universe point, both teams tied at 14s, nameless eking out the 15-14 victory.

Semis pitted Hunny Pass against the team that must not be named, and Buzz Management Inc. versus Super HITS.  Buzz again sought to keep the horses from galloping away with too many points, trying to keep the rotation open for everyone to get some PT, while Super HITS seemed to do the same, allowing everyone opportunities to play.  Buzz went up at half 8-3 but faltered in the second half as Super closed the gap to within two.  With the score 14-12 in favor of Buzz, Super came out with a zone defense, obviously meant to slow Buzz’s propensity for sending the disc deep to waiting receivers.  The tactic nearly worked; after 30 passes that zig-zagged precariously across the field, Buzz had worked the disc within 8 yards of the endzone.  Apparently Buzz had reached the limit of its patience at this point, and John Allan Hinds of Buzz, launched a cross-field hammer to Sarah Allen, at that moment standing unguarded.  The disc hung, then began to flatten and
 swing back as Super’s deep defender Joey Cretella leaped and whiffed, allowing the disc to fall into Sarah’s ready hands, giving Buzz a 15-12 victory. 

Meanwhile, both Hunny Pass and nameless were trying to outgun one another with deep downfield shots.  Sion Brooks of Hunny Pass was throwing long passes on either side, while Alex Trahey of nameless threw big backhands, especially the inside out.  This game came down to the wire, with play that was bigger than the time allotted.  The game ended with another universe point for nameless, though this time the results favored their opponents, 12-11.

Finals pitted white versus yellow, Buzz versus Hunny Pass.  Buzz’s chief playmakers were those forementioned horses, the 4-person ECU core consisting of Mark and Joey Saba, Joey O’Bryan, and John Allan Hinds.  Filling in for Buzz’s absent #1 draft choice was Brian Sherry, who helped to anchor any of the O or D squads he worked with.  And Buzz’s chief weapon, of course, was the deep throated bellower Victor Maneilly, who was not afraid to tell his team what he wanted.  On the Hunny Pass side, Brook and Sion Stone were the deadly fraternal pair, each capable of pulling in deep shots, though it was typically Sion throwing them.  Captain Chris Shepard anchored either squad with solid play and hard running. Co-captain Lesley McCormack was Hunny’s strong female handler, capable of throwing the big huck when it was called for, as well as running deep when covered underneath.  Hunny’s Virginia Henry played well too, especially in combination with
 Lesley, often working a series of give-and-gos.

The game started on serve, with Hunny taking the first score on a huck from Lesley to Sion.  The next point was on serve as well, with a big upline flick getting caught just outside the endzone by Mark Saba who faked then threw a short backhand to Sarah Allen for Buzz’s first score.  The next five points were all breaks, as Buzz found its mojo with long shots, short throws, and everything in between, going up on Hunny, 6-1.  A run of three points by Hunny brought them back in the game, 4-6, but then a 2-1 run by Buzz had them taking half, 8-5.  Buzz continued to attack after the half, going up 9-5, but Hunny was ready to answer back, and they ran off three points as the skies began to darken and rumble.  Lightning was sighted, and the game was delayed for 15 minutes, the score now 9-8, in favor of Buzz.  Rain and wind roared through the field site, sending players to shelters during the lightning delay.  After 20 minutes, the rain had subsided and the
 call was on to resume play within five minutes.  

Buzz took the pull but turned it over in the red zone and Sion was able to get a forty-yard flick to Steve Sojka for another Hunny score, tying the game at 9s.  Buzz’s John Allan Hinds scored in the next two points, putting Buzz up 11-9.  With Hunny getting in two 2-1 runs during the next 6-point stretch, it was again a tied game, 13-13.  Both teams traded points, and it was again tied, this time at 14s, which signaled overtime, each team now possessing a single time out.  The game was to 15, win by two, with a hardcap of 17.  After a turnover in the endzone, Buzz was unable catch up with Hunny’s quick disc movement, and the game tipped in favor of Hunny, 15-14.  And yet again, having reached the redzone, Buzz lost control of the disc.  Strong Buzz pressure on Hunny’s Brooks Stone resulted in a foul as Brooks tried to release the disc: the resulting erratic backhand release somehow crossed the field horizontally and was snagged by brother Sion who,
 without the nuisance of defense on him, was able to hit Sean Childers for the Hunny Pass victory, 16-14.

Line score:

Buzz....1.2.3.4.5.6.......7...8.9.........10.11....12.......13....14
Hunny..1............2.3.4...5.....6.7.8.9.......10....11.12....14....15.16

...................... Hunny.. Buzz

Lesley McCormack/Sion Stone 1
.............................. 1 Mark Saba/Sarah Allen
.............................. 2 Mark/Valerie Mason
.............................. 3 Joey Saba/Katie Irons
.............................. 4 Mark/Brian Sherry
.............................. 5 Mark/Joey O’Bryan
.............................. 6 Brian/Katie
................Sion/Lesley 2
................Sion/Lesley 3
............Sion/Kerry Ossi 4
.............................. 7 Joey/John Allan Hinds
..............Tim Lupo/Sion 5
.............................. 8 Christian Schwoerke/Victor Maneilly 
.............................. 9 Joey/Sarah
..Terry Kramer/Victor Smith 6
........ Lupo/Sean Childers 7
 Chris Shepard/Brooks Stone 8
........ Sion/Stephen Sojka 9
.............................. 10 Christian/John Allan
.............................. 11 Eric Davis/John Allan
................Terry/Lupo 10
.............................. 12 Christian/Eric
................Lupo/Terry 11
................ Sion/Lupo 12
.............................. 13 Joey/Eric
..............Terry/Lesley 13
.............. Sion/Brooks 14
.............................. 14 Joey/John Allan
................ Lupo/Sion 15
................ Sion/Sean 16

Some additional highlights: Ring of Fire, financially assisted by ultimate apparel makers 5 Ultimate, and with personnel assistance from TYUL and Backhoe, hosted a clinic for nearly 50 middle school and high school players after Summer League semis.  Additionally, TYUL did some fund-raising cooking and beverage sales for the two local Youth Club Championship teams participating in this year’s national championships, to be held in Blaine, MN, August 8 and 9.  A raffle drawing in support of the YCC teams was held during halftime of the Summer League finals. If interested in financially assisting these teams, TFDA is sponsoring a matching donation fund, located here: 
https://www.futuracreative.com/~tfda/secure/tyul_donation.php

A full list of the 2009 Summer League Spirit/MVP winners will appear in an email tomorrow!




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