Reaper @ Glory Days 2012

New team, time for a new blog post I guess.  The boys made there way to Rockford IL to play in our 4th??? Glory Days tournament.  The conditions were cold, cloudy, and relatively windy day 1.  Day 2 was much the same with some sunshine thrown in.

Our first game was against a late Missouri S&T.  We agreed to let them warm-up for a solid 10 minutes then went to work against a tough S&T squad.  Unfortunately for us they came to ball and we came out flat.  They had some solid veteran handlers that loved to jam the disc up the force side and a real tall cutter they depended on down field to reset the disc under.  The game was mostly an up-wind/down-wind fight with them breaking up-wind first and not looking back. 12 to 9 Missouri S&T over Reaper.

Game 2 was against Michigan Tech.  They played with girls, we won 9-3.  Nuff Said.

Game 3 was against a regional rival - Chicago.  I was told Chicago only started practicing 2 weeks before Glory Days so I expect them to be a lot tougher next time we face off.  That being said we weren't showing all of our cards either and I expect it to be a similar game to this one which was nothing short of a dog-fight!  We maintained a short lead most of the game but it was always close.  Zach was a defensive monster this game, racking up multiple lay-out d's on there top player(s).  Including a HUGE lay out on universe point to get the disc back on Chicago's goal-line, which we would then punch in for the win.  Derric also had his play of the tournament this game, catching a pass that deflected up and immediately continuing it for a 10 yard gainer, hell yea!

Our fourth game was against Rock Valley College.  We came off a big win against Chicago and seemed to think we would be handed this game.  We were wrong.  We played down and turned the disc over to obvious poaches or just forced it way to often.  At the same time we were caught playing too far off our man and punished for it; especially on the long-ball which they used quite effectively and quite often.  I am sure Coffey and Kissel weren't happy with how close this game was but at least they were on the winning team.  Nate Kiss cleaned up the skies and original Nate kept the disc moving and shredded with the give and go all game long.

Honestly I was super cold and had to deal with my car, the battery died, so I am sorry but I didn't get to watch Kiefer (sp?) playing in the rookie all-star game.  Hope you had fun buddy, you deserved it!

Sunday game 1 saw us match up with a relatively familiar opponent in Rose-Hulman.  We have played some fun games against them in the past and this one kept that streak alive.  In many ways they play a similar game to ours but instead of running a zone the entire game as they have in years past they threw man d all game long.  The game opened with Zach S. cleaning up not one but a pair of deep shots by Rose Hulman with great awareness and help d.  Quote of the game was from the Rose sideline, "holy S**T that kid can get up!" after Kinsinger cleaned up a floaty swing pass.  In the end we would win in style, a come from the back universe point BREAK to win 13-12.

Next up... Michigan.  A team that CRUSHED us last year at regionals, mostly because we were exhausted after upsetting Illinois but regardless we weren't ready and didn't have the legs to back up our game.  Zach S and Nate Kin made sure Michigan would have to earn this game though, breaking to start and converting the o point to start 2-0.  Beyond that we played relatively solid ultimate this game.  They scored a handful of deep shots to space where our defender was 1 step behind his man.  They were the taller team and beat us in the air on more than 1 occasion but with some practice boxing out Kiefer, Lemon, and Chris all had some great runs deep.  For the most part we kept up with them and stopped the bleeding when they would start to work the break-side.  A closer game then the score lets on... 9-15 loss to MU.

I'll sum up the next two games together... we played Northern Illinois and North Park.  Both games we had the TALENT to win but lacked the LEGS.  This is a wake-up call fella's.  Tournaments are won on Sundays.  If you aren't doing everything you can to be prepared to play 3+ games on Sunday then changes need to be made.  Drink lots of water the night before, ice/heat/compress any injury or tight muscle that may need it the night before, try to eat something that will give you some energy the next day and avoid soda Saturday night.  Both of these games were significantly windier then the 2nd game against michigan.  In relatively clear-cut down wind up wind play.  We had a nightmare point vs NIU that involved us moving it methodically down the 70 yard field, taking our time and finding the holes in their zone only to force it the last second everytime, to which they would punt the disc and we would repeat the process.  North Park had a smaller team then us yet still had the legs to beat us come game 8, brutal.  The real match was decided by Bobby though.  North Park had the great idea to challenge our team at half time to a wrestling match, the winner got a point for his team.  Bobby pinned the kid on his back in like 30 seconds... then round 2 he got him in a headlock and as Bobby described it, "I could have snapped his neck like a twig."  Needless to say Bobby scored the hell out of that wrestling point.

Besides the let-down of having 10 out of 16 guys be unable to play by game 8 on Sunday, I did see plenty of great plays this past weekend.  Kiefer and Lemon who both weren't at Purdue played solid ultimate and showed a ton of potential.  Chris is almost always one of the fastest players on the field and gets open almost at will.  Josh Kluesssssssssendorf TOOK OVER some points, and needs to get on the line more often!  Kyle almost made me punch him in the face, and had a few nice skies.  Lore started to use his lefty breaks and played some quiet yet solid ultimate.  Hardie wore compression and actually dressed for the weather, still has t    We looked like an entirely different team then the 1 at Purdue.  We easily swung the disc twice as much, got it off the line faster, and had better continuations down-field.  We still need to pressure more with some layout's on defense and knowing the force/putting on stronger marks is something that we will get better with the more we play but once we brush off some first-tournament nerves I think we will start to make some BIG plays!

Remember we were missing some big guns this past weekend and still did quite well.  Not having Lovie, Rookie Brock, Brian, Caleb, Hinze, Manny, Byron, Page, or a healthy HR etc etc etc shows that when we do have all of our pieces in the spring we will be even more dangerous if we work on building that team-work at practice.

We are going into No Wisconsequences with low numbers but that doesn't mean we aren't going into it with low expectations.  The weather looks to be cold and rainy and is a great chance for us to work on our zone. Forget the score, that doesn't matter.  What matters right now is going 100% on the field and getting better at our offenses and defenses.

Let's have some fun, if you haven't read the write up for the tournament last year I highly recommend it.  We had some of our best games I have ever seen as a team last year including a hotly contested universe game with possibly the best program in college ultimate.

D.F.A.C

~James

Reaper Ultimate 2012-2013

I thought I would wipe the dust off the old blog before the season gets underway.  Boiler Breakaway II (http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/11432)  is coming up and Reaper is looking young and quite dangerous this year.  Everyone knows we graduated some serious studs that the team was built around last year; resulting in some impressive noise during conference and regionals.  Thankfully the returners did an excellent job getting word out about the team and recruiting some young guys who seem to have some serious potential.  The question now is: Are we going to achieve that potential?  First and foremost I want to give you new guys a rundown of what exactly you are getting yourself into if you stick with this team and a shortened version of how this team came to be.

History (keeping this as short as I can).

Reaper is a team that was built from barefoot 4pm pick up ultimate mon-fri in the south quad.  A group of friends who loved to throw a plastic wham-o around and play anything from 2v2 on a bad day to 10 v 10 on a good day.  Pick up has it's perks but a few of us were interested in pursuing something more.  I talked with some of the guys and asked some friends from other schools how they got teams going and even had some people I didn't even know contact me with tips for getting a program started.  Once we became an official EIU club we realized that the school didn't and still doesn't really help us with much at all, especially compared to other schools.  We don't get any funding (which is unheard of) or have any real options when it comes to reserving field space especially in the winter.  Thankfully we have the resources to host a tournament but that's about it when it comes to EIU's support of our team.  Next up we started to practice playing together under the team name DISCovery (Thank William Bearman for that one) while looking back it may be the most embarrasing team name ever but we did start to discover what it was like to be a team.

None of us had any high school ultimate experience and going into our first tournament - we didn't know how to use a stack, hold a force, or basically any of the rules.  We did however learn that ultimate is more than just a win-at-all-costs game, it's a sport with a sense of spirit and boasts a community full of incredible people who are fun to play against when there is mutual respect and understanding (spirit) between teams.  Every game our opponents generally were respectful to the fact that we were new to the sport and provided tips and understanding, a few players even picked up with our team and started to show us some basics.  We also found out that while we needed to learn the rules and fundamentals of the game, our team had some serious potential.  Easter weekend 2007 at ISU's tournament we went 0-6 with zero knowledge of how to play college ultimate and yet I don't think we lost a single game by more than 3 points.  From here many of us became hooked.  We would go on to win our first games at the next tournament and win a few more at the next and so on.  At the same time we learned how to play "real" ultimate from whatever resources we could find.  Looking back I taught a bunch of stuff that I had never seen or actually did before from online ultimate frisbee resources and vague write-ups from some of my friends playing on other college teams with established programs.  We were a bunch of scrappers that learned from our losses and played together A LOT!  After dropping the awful DISCovery name we became Reaper in the spring of the following year.  We traded in our cotton t-shirts and track shorts for some patagucci and five gear and started to notch some wins regularly while competing vs mid-level teams.  Our 2nd year as a team we attended sectionals for the first time (WRITE UP -> http://reaperultimate.blogspot.com/2010/04/so-this-past-weekend-14-handsome.html) and earned some wins vs solid teams, falling short of our regional goal by only 2 spots after breaking seed.  The next year the college format changed and Reaper made it to the final of the first ever Illinois Conference (WRITE UP -> http://reaperultimate.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html) falling short in the final to U of I.  We would go on to take 9th out of 16 at our first ever Regionals. Last year we would improve on that and absolutely smash our seed finishing 4th out of 16 with the biggest upset in our program's history, a quarterfinals win against Illinois. (WRITE UP -> http://reaperultimate.blogspot.com/2012/05/great-lakes-regionals-2012.html).

Reaper right now.

A new season has arrived.  The fall is all about learning the fundamentals and how to play ultimate both as an individual and as a team with the team aspect being most important.  Our goals right now consist of.

1.) Having fun. -- #1 priority, gotta love what you do.
2.) Learning how to play together.
3.) Throwing/watching/reading about/and playing ultimate as much as possible.

Notice that winning is not a goal.  Our record doesn't mean anything in the fall.  This year everyone will be playing a ton and getting experience vs strong teams.  Conference and IF we make it, Great Lakes Regionals, are in the Spring and we will worry about making goals for those tournaments later.

Reaper is a group of guys that are crazy enough about a sport that we have devoted an absurd amount of time, blood, sweat, hangovers, money, tears etc etc etc into something that will last.  If you get anything out of reading this I hope it's this: The team is what we make of it. If you want to become a good ultimate player you can do that.  If you want to be a part of a great group of guys that have a ton of fun both on and off the field then you can get that out of this as well.  What you are willing to put into this team is what you are going to get out of it.  I have met some of the most important people in my life playing ultimate on this team and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The frustrations of a bad practice, the blurry nights playing 28, the hard work of running a tournament, Kid Cudi playing non-stop, the adventures of traveling to far away tournaments, the pain of losing a close game, and the joy of winning on universe point.  This is what you are signing up for.  The pride of putting on the uniform stepping onto the field with your teammates and showing why Reaper has done nothing but get better since our inception.

I have the honor of officially coaching the team this year and while I cannot come to most practices I hope to give as much time as I can and help guide this years team to whatever goals we establish during the course of the season.  Right now guys it's all about learning, playing, and not taking anything too seriously.  I hope the veterans are actually throwing some respectable parties!  Work on that chemistry off the field as well muhaha.  Prioritize your schoolwork and be organized enough to get it done during the 22 other hours in a day.  Rage as hard as Hinze if you want but don't use that as an excuse to not show up at 4pm for a practice.  Continue throwing as much as possible outside of practice, it seems like a lot of guys have been doing this and I can't wait to see the results come game-time.

Fear the Reaper

~James


P.S - But feel free to fear the alum team, we are coming for you guys in the spring.  Ultimate, frunk, drinking, 28, pants off dance offs, Russian Roulette.  Pick your poison!

F.B.G.M

College Ultimate Finals - What can we learn???

https://www.leaguevine.com/games/27392/ - FINALS STATS

o Looking more at these stats...

1) Pitt had FIVE players with 10+ throws/completions (and three more with 5+). It's much harder to stop a team with 5-8 Nate Kinsingers/Michael Schwenks/Chris O'Connells than 2 or 3. Get workin' fellas!

2) TOs: Pitt - 13, WI - 17 ...Cherish the disc like it was your wife, mother, grandmother, best friend, newborn child, and last cold beer at the party all in one.

3) D points played: Pitt had 7 people that played a lot of points, all of them D points (ok, ONE guys had 2 O points...) to WI's 3 comparable players. Sure, everybody likes to play offense and start with the disc and be a hero with a big cut. But it's the guys that get their ass up and EARN the disc that put the W in the win column.

4) The big one: Defensive Efficiency. Games aren't won unless you've got something in this category. Only ONE player on Pitt had a D-Eff less than ANY WI player (and that just barely). Break points lead to morale boost (ours), pressure building (them), and puts you in control of the game. This is the difference between beating a team even as good as Wisconsin by 5 and coming down to a nail biter every time it's a big game.

Offensive guys, work on your throws/decision making. Completion > distance.

Defensive guys, work on your throws. IF YOU CAN'T THROW, WE CAN'T WIN. Plain and simple.

A Proud Reaper Alum Forever,
~Dan "Calrissian" Rolando

Great Lakes Regionals 2012

2012 marks our second consecutive year attending Regionals out of 3 total years of our team attending the series. Last year the team fell short of expectations in the brutal wind and cold and did not even make day 2 in Rockford. This year at the polo grounds in Naperville the weather decided to cooperate just a tad bit more with a steady crosswind day 1 and a more gusty but similar crosswind day 2. Brian, Alex L, Mike H, Drew, OC, Kyle, Steve, Ivan, Caleb, Alex C, Brock, Zach, Josh K, Nate, Chris, and Josh H all made the trek representing Reaper as the 11th seed out of 16 teams.

Skyd magazine wrote up a preview for the event here -> http://skydmagazine.com/2012/04/great-lakes-2012-open-preview-2/

Eastern got a small shoutout as we were set to play the 6th seed Western Michigan, a team Reaper defeated at Free State, the first tournament of the Spring. Game 1 opened with Western Michigan breaking first and looking fired up. From what I recall both teams traded for a while until we took the lead and maintained it for most of the game. Western Michigan was a tall team with a bunch of white guys and some talented throwers. They played very similar to us as they looked to jack the disc deep to tall athletic cutters as much as possible. A few adjustments on our end (straight up marks, forcing under more) caused all sorts of problems for the Western Michigan offense who continued to force the disc deep and give us possession. I would say we still hucked the disc a lot but overall our decision making on our deep looks combined with the fact that we made the effort to work the disc up more and keep possession won us this game. Reaper with the upset 11-9 over Western Michigan's Darkhorse. Highlights of this game include us doing what we do, SHREDDING ZONES with smart patient offense. Everyone making the effort to limit WMU's hucks and attacking the disc whenever it would hang too long. OC, HR, Nate, Traver doing a solid job getting the disc off the trap-side sideline and finally motherbird layout footblocking (this is kinda becoming your trademark) a Darkhorse guy who was approx 10 yards off our goal-line and then the whole team getting under the disc to complete the D. Lowlights include losing our most fearless captain, HR, to a knee injury. He would shake it off and prove an invaluable sideline and huddle presence the rest of the tournament though while being smart and not making his injury worse.

Game 2 put Reaper against the 3 seed and IL conference champ Illinois and in my own opinion the most overall talented and deep team at Regionals. I talked to Mike, HR, OC, and Nate before this game about conserving our energy if things got out of hand as we were bound to face a hungry ISU/Loyola team if things went to seed. I am happy to say that I believe this only motivated the core of the team even more and lead to Reaper opening with a HUGE 4-0 breaktrain! Honestly these 4 opening points and a lot of the Illinois offense was characterized by trying to jam it up the breakside every chance they could. This meant there was little room for error as the wind was very unforgiving and all throws that didn't turf, ended up hanging in the air and then absolutely eaten up by the boy's in black. OC had a huge layout D on one such pass and Mike, Brian, Kyle, Hinze and seriously EVERYONE on the team that got out there played excellent defense especially on the force side and at the same time realized that IL was looking break all day. We were tight enough on our guys that all those errant throws or anything that wasn't perfectly thrown was going to be contested by a layout or attacked in the air. I can't stress enough how much our marks and sideline talk helping those marks generated turn after turn. After getting 4 straight dropped on them Illinois realized they had a game on their hands and scored 3 straight right back. We trade for a bit and the game gets to 5-5 with Illinois mixing it up a bit more but continuing to depend heavily on break throws while we open up the field and stick with what we know (the deep look). OC in particular displayed some of the best decision making I have ever seen, including a huge high-count laser of a hammer to Hinze and smart deep shots and break throws all game long. While the deep shot worked for us quite often Schwenk and Zach did a fantastic job of taking the under whenever U of I would back them and open up the field for the rest of the cutters. Nate did an excellent job marking U of I's top handler and provided consistent and deadly break throws of his own, especially around the end-zone. Two players not named Michael Schwenk that stood out to me this game were Brian and Kyle. Kyle played rock-solid defense - nothing too flashy that I remember but contained some of the better U of I cutters and was always in good position while at the same time providing EXCELLENT and consistent offense along with Brian. Reaper takes half 8-5. Like any great team U of I comes out strong to start the 2nd half and the game gets to 11-10 us with softcap making it a game to 13. A huge huck to the corner that we come down with followed by a nasty break throw to a laying out Schwenk complete the win and the upset to give us the game! Honestly this is the best I have ever seen Reaper as a team play. Sure our studs and top guys played outstanding but EVERYONE played excellent, nobody had a bad game. As a team we valued the fundamentals and didn't depend on the deep shot but made smart decisions offensively. I think every single time U of I put a zone on us, except once, we worked it up and scored. Our sideline was loud and active and our defense was straight up HUNGRY. Perhaps they underestimated us, perhaps not, but the fact remains that we were up this entire game and never looked back. We wanted it more and had the legs under us to show it. Be proud Reaper.

Game 3 put us in the semi final's against University of Michigan's Magnum. We started off well trading until about 4-4. With our top guys playing nearly every point against U of I the fatigue began to show with a few players already starting to cramp. The first point of this game was absolutely brutal, something like 12 minutes long with us seriously blowing 3 chances to score in the endzone including a standing drop. They would eventually punch in the break sadly. After falling short in the first half 8-4 we played loose lines in the 2nd half and showed our achilles heel... depth. Next year this is honestly going to be the biggest challenge for you returners. Our program has never had the luxury of a full roster for the series and developing a stronger more well-rounded team has honestly got to be the game plan. Next year is a rebuilding year, captains and the core of the team this responsibility is going to fall to you to ensure that we have more than just 7 top guys that play 75%+ of the points for Reaper. I don't mean to be overly dramatic but even if it involves losing 90% of our games in the fall to make a better team come spring that's a worthy payoff and will make us a deeper + stronger team. Reaper would not score a point in the 2nd half against Magnum. I would say it wasn't as bad a showing as that might sound, we did have a few chances and still generated some decent turns but still we should be far from okay with the outcome of that half. If this isn't motivation for next year I don't know what is. We would be finished after this game and await the winner of Western and Eastern Michigan to start day 2. (Also it was hilarious seeing Chris and the 6'8 guy on MU match up after a turn... just saying).

Game 4 put us against Eastern Michigan. A team anchored by 3 overhaul handlers (a top mixed team in the country from michigan) and a core of athletes surrounding them. I wasn't there but apparently we got crushed by EMU at Chicago Invite and it was not a fun game. This time it would be different. The game opened with EMU coming out hot and scoring 3 breaks straight to put us in the hole 0-3. After a timeout and some much needed fire from the captains we got on board. The wind seemed to die down this game which really opened up the deep shots. EMU's deep game was impressive with multiple big skies and speedy EMU cutter's burning us deep. We responded in kind and once our defenders stepped up big on EMU's top guys I believe we tied the game around 5's. We proceeded to take half on EMU and from there we held a lead and maintained it. Schwenk did an excellent job on #2 from EMU (even after some north park guys tried to tell me that he was better/more athletic after chi-invite... tsk tsk). Overall we were the deeper team and once we adjusted and forced EMU to throw the disc more, the more unforced turns and turf'd throws they would have.

I'd also like to note that EMU's coach was extremely negative, yelling at multiple players etc etc. A few guys from our team mentioned this with laughs but I would like to point out that at chi-invite and from what I heard... earlier in the year... this was Reaper. I know from my time leading the team and from talking to guys this year, that at times things get incredibly frustrating and some of us get upset, especially captains/leaders (i.e me at regionals last year). I can say now that I will always regret how I acted then and how I ended my own college career. I don't want anyone on the team to follow that path. It's childish and not worth it. A leader needs to do just that... LEAD. Along with treating everyone with respect and setting the tone for how the team approaches games.

Anyway, highlights of the EMU game include Alex having an absolutely NASTY sky from a Schwenk bomb. More guys getting in and making plays, our team defense showing up for the 2nd half and not giving up easy points. I am sure there are more but ya'll know what you did!

Game 5 and our last game of the day was against Illinois again in the game to go to the game to go (yes that makes sense). Honestly the EMU game was a hard fought game, and after 2 days of playing our starters and top guys looked exhausted. They scored 6 straight to start and while yesterday our defense was able to eat up everything that floated today we just didn't have the legs and Illinois dominated the skies. Plenty of swill was still thrown up but U of I just had more hussle and depth and it showed. We didn't get on board until Caleb was able to bring down a huck while being fouled. He managed to hold on even after rolling his ankle during the play. Hinze got stepped on in the play before and had some nasty cleat marks on his leg but still managed to power through and get back in there. We would only score 1 more point as U of I shows why the best teams in the nation have full rosters ;). U of I over Reaper 15-2 and they advance to the game to go vs Michigan State. I would go on about depth and stuff but just re-read the Michigan write-up. Same point applies to this game and basically every tournament day 2.

Overall we came into this tournament with no expectations. The 11th seed finishing 4th is no small feat and you should all be incredibly proud of what you have accomplished this season and what our program has become and has the potential to do. Look back at the ups and downs. What worked for us, what didn't? Bring that knowledge into next season and the season after that and I truly believe that this will not be our highest finish. Those of you returning next year... I have said this before and I will say it again. This team is what YOU GUYS MAKE OF IT. Have fun, work hard, be patient and remember what it was like when you first learned the game. Take time to get healthy if you have any injuries and like we talked about in the huddle after regionals... get involved with the game over the summer at the highest level you can. If that's low-level pick up fine, if that's a decent club team, awesome! Worst case you have to go out with a bunch of disc's and work on throws alone (I can honestly say that this helps and I have done it many times, but it's always better to have some1 there to throw with and ideally push you to throw with better form etc).

Zach, HR, and Hardie are all excellent picks for captains and I know they will do a fantastic job. Start the season off right next year boy's. Returners... come to practice, help the rookies and show them why ultimate is an awesome sport and worth learning, why playing for Reaper is more than just a team, it's a group of friends that extend beyond ultimate.

-James


EDIT**** If you haven't commented on Steve Karlson's "Senior memory threads" on the facebook group wall I highly recommend it... Just scroll down and find them (traver, oc, braydon, mike). Takes 30 seconds to write a few sentences about those guys that have done so much for the team and I can assure you it means a lot to them. SO DO IT!

Illinois Conference - 3rd Place

This past weekend I made the trek down to beautiful Rantoul, IL. It was a last-minute decision on my part but I am very glad I chose to go! When I arrived Eastern was facing the #1 seed Illinois in a re-match of last years conference final. The weather wasn't nearly as bad as it had been the year before but it was relatively, chilly, wet, and a bit windy. The game looked sloppy from the start, Illinois dropped a bunch of open looks and Eastern did not look nearly as outmatched as the first half of last years conference final. OC had some solid high-percentage looks that our cutters were doing a great job of setting up and scoring on. Shortly after I arrived Reaper rattled off 3 breaks in a row and and the game was somewhere around 7-8 until Illinois cleaned up there O and Reaper just couldn't generate the turns on D. Someone also threw an awful callahan to end the game (ouch). A very solid game beside that last hiccup, considering Eastern was set to play day 1 without 2nd team all-region stud Michael Schwenk.

Next up was the reason I made the drive down to watch Conference. The 4 seed Loyola-Chicago vs The 5 seed Eastern Illinois. Any Reaper veteran knows what we have had something of a history with Darkwing. Back in the day we had some very chippy games that were highly competitive and closely matched. The exception being last year at conference when Reaper crushed the once again higher-seeded Darkwing 13-4 on our way to the conference finals. This year though Darkwing and Reaper appeared to be a closer match in score reporter results with many new faces on both teams and many veterans graduating from both squads.

It's pretty funny to note that Loyola opened the game with a cheer we did at every single tournament last year including our conference game AGAINST Darkwing last year! I assumed it was just a coincidence but many vets still found it hilarious that Loyola opened with Ray Lewis's pump up cheer.

Anyway you could tell that both teams knew this was going to be a highly contested affair right from the get-go. I am a bit disappointed to say that I think Reaper started off some tough calls and while some of them may be legitimate (like Braydon's strip call). The way in which some of you guys acted could have been far less dis-respectful. Being able to keep a level head and at least having the courtesy to hear someone's case and calmly explain your own is something we should be able to provide to all opponents we face. This game was tough to watch because of the low level of spirit, it's great to be heated and fired up but that in no way means that you should ever disrespect your opponents. That being said I don't believe that any calls this game were game-changers and I am also not saying that Loyola did not have any questionable calls either both teams were guilty.

While we traded early Eastern eventually broke first and held onto a 2-3 point lead into half. Nate Kinsinger #9 had a great game with his handles anchoring the offense and distributing the disc very well. Zach kept the offense moving getting the under cut 90% of the time and using his great throws to keep our offense moving forward with solid continuations! Brian, Kyle, Hinze (THAT WHOLE HOUSE!) provided solid deep threats and defense on this younger/athletic Darkwing squad and did an excellent job opening up the field! HR did an excellent job playing chilly low-turn offense and making the tough throw when needed, especially a few nasty I/O breaks. As a team we did a solid job of working the fundamentals better than our opponents. We didn't let ourselves get beat strike NEARLY as much as we did later in the tournament, our cutters did a great job of realizing when they were giving us the under cuts and taking the easy throws. Our deep shots were smarter than I have seen in quite some time and our defense was solid. This was also the MOST pumped up I saw our sideline all weekend. That's a good and bad thing boys, good as in this was an important game, bad because this wasn't our MOST IMPORTANT game. We have been to able to motivate each other and bring this type of intensity and talk to that Northwestern Game and to that Illinois State game day 2! You should know by now how much it helps to have someone in your ear and trusting them to help you on defense, return the favor! Anyway Reaper would break first and not look back, cruising to a 11-7 victory over Darkwing. I felt compelled to show off my new ink after this victory :).

Next up was Southern Illinois University's Full Tilt. Eastern jumped to an Early lead only to find Tilt creeping back into the game with 2-3 point runs. Tilt also utilized a clamy zone that tripped up our handlers to start and until we effectively found ways to work it up the sidelines past Southern's wing's we had a lot of trouble on offense. Brock, Traver, Chris D and hardie all played quite well this game. With Hinze doing an excellent job of stretching the field. Josh K also did a great job cutting, grinding it out and having the mental toughness to keep doing what he was doing to get open and eventually make the catch and pass for the score! Tilt looked tired as the game dragged on, understandably so as they only had around 10-12 guys I believe. Anyway Reaper takes care of business and finishes 2-1 on the day with an 11-8 win over Southern Illinois.


Sunday proved to be sunny and warmer but also much windier, with clear up wind vs down wind play. I arrived later than I expected but with Mike back on the field the wind played to our advantage as we appeared to have the stronger upwind hucks and the taller athletes to bring the disc down. Schwenk said that ISU broke us first then we responded right back by marching it up the field to get the game back on serve. Both teams still had a lot of drops and mis-throws that I saw because of the wind and ISU didn't give up so easily hanging tough all game long. They looked like a very young squad with a lot of talent and great flow. Every player on that team was comfortable enough with there throws to make solid upwind continuations but it wouldn't be enough as our smothering D just kept generating turn after turn. We would take the game 13-9 and get a shot at improving on our 3rd place finish last year vs Northwestern.

The wind felt like it picked up even more, or perhaps it was just because both teams were closely matched. Either way since ZACH lost the flip ;) we had to work it upwind to start. Whenever OC, Nate + alex/traver/brock worked it away from the windy sideline our chances and looks upfield improved dramatically. I would say during the first 5 points we had much more dangerous movement and looks upwind than NUT did. Mike and Zach did a great job working it up and keeping the disc moving forward whenever possible. Ultimately getting beat strike 4+ times upwind vs mis-matches was our downfall. Unfortunate to see but that gives you guys 2 weeks to fix mistakes. Marks which had been fine all tournament long also seemed lazier this game. Perhaps it was fatigue but most of NUT's downwind points seemed to be coming from the breakside.

Overall it was a great tournament and quite an honor to watch you guys break seed and qualify for Regionals. In my last blog post I asked you guys as a team to step up your game, to bring a different attitude to this tournament and to play Reaper ultimate. I saw all 3 of those things happen this weekend and it was AWESOME! That being said the season is not over yet for you guys. Work hard these two weeks and take care of your bodies and any injuries you might be nursing. Work on controllable things (you aren't going to be able to learn a 70 yard flick bomb in 2 weeks if you can't do it now..) things like, simple upwind 10yard passes with a friend (KYLE + HINZE!!!), pivoting more, working on your mark, or simply running through a disc at full speed etc!!! Regionals is the last college tournament for a core of seniors on the team and means a lot. Regardless of PT right now think about the future of the team and where you stand. Regionals is a tournament this team should strive for year round and next year there will be plenty of room for those willing to step up and fill big roles on the team. It all starts at practice and the mentality the TEAM takes. Get excited boys, this is our 2nd year out of 3 that we have qualified for regionals since we've become a legitimate program. No matter what happens next weekend you guys have done great this season, I look forward to seeing you all in Naperville!


James

Last Call III

Last Call III was this past weekend in ChuckVegas and I thought I would do a recap before conference this upcoming weekend in Rantoul. The handsome and talented alums + friends (Thanks Sarah, Rachel, Ben, Mike, made our strongest and most legit showing as a group this weekend, dominating the party, winning the bars, breaking the hearts of maidens, and showing how much older and wiser we have gotten, oh and playing a bit of ultimate I guess.

After getting plenty of rest (approx 4 hours) the alums scrapped together 8 people and played our first game against SIUE. The game was closer than it needed to be but ultimately we came out on top. Next up we played Knox women's team.. Scavo played like the champion he is with smothering defense and our 1-5-1 zone was the key to our success.

We then played Illinois Chicago and while we were up most of the game they strung together a few breaks towards the end of the game to steal the win. Regardless of the loss Evan had a MONSTEROUS horizontal layout D in our zone this game... still got it!

Last up was the game we were all looking forward to Reaper Alum vs Reaper. As I recall the first half was relatively close. Karlson managed to throw some bombs to Dan and Evan even after hurting his infamous hamstring, it wasn't enough to silence the Reaper boy's heckling in the end though as the young guns did a great job using there deeper and more conditioned roster to wait for the open throw and take advantage of our mismatches. Reaper also did an excellent job against our junk zone with great break throws through the middle from almost all the handlers. Dan N had a solid game, coming up with quite a few skies and kept our offense moving but also would make the really hard play then make a silly mistake in the redzone, a problem for our team all tournament long ;). Sarah scored at least 2 points this game showing the boys what's up and if MANNY didn't ruin our endzone celebration like a tool we woulda further capitalized on our awesomeness (Manny did have a few nice hucks this game, still not cool fer ruining our disc execution!). Will showed that not only does he still look damn good in his oakleys but also that he still is speedy as ever and often was able to beat his man on the under and keep the disc moving same with the original Drew T who even after not playing for something like 3 years still played remarkably well all weekend long. A drunken burlet also made a few plays in basically the only game he was able to play all weekend since apparently he thinks alcoholism is a joke, needless to say he lost that battle (see later comments on day 2). Beyond that it was nice to see a lot of the Reaper boys get in this game. Braydon and Traver played solid from what I saw not only in this game but all of day 1. I think the final score ended up being something like 13-10. It was both a hard fought game and a fun game from both sides, I look forward to next year!

Illinois Chicago forfeited day 2 so we ended up taking 2nd in the pool ne way.

Day 2 - Happy EASTER

We played ISU B and won 13-3 I think in a pretty darn windy game, picked up porter and rolando and lost will and mike :(. Burlet scored like 3 points but ended up puking in the corner of the endzone and then passing out for the next hour + before half.

Semi-finals we played ILLINOIS B... who was closer to ILLINOIS X as they had a few non-illini players, a coach or 2, and a few A team guys on the team. Either way this was a really frustrating game as we went up something like 4-0 off the bat only to lose by 3-5 points. They did two key things much better than us. They used and exploited the breakside especially when we were caught poaching and they adjusted to stop our huck game. After yours truly acted like a child and threw a tantrum during half illinois finished the job and moved on to the finals against Reaper.

Knox forfeited the 3rd place game which I think most of us were just fine with as it meant we got to play fantasy ulti and watch the current team face off against a solid illinois b/x-ish team. Reaper started off playing awesome with a great reset D, and a few layout D's on IL! If anything I think the sidelines coulda been louder and more pumped because multiple players were making great plays out there! Alex had a ridiculous full horzo layout in the middle of the field during the first half that was just nasty! Traver, Hardie, and Nate played solid all game long on both sides of the disc. Braydon, zach, alex, brock, hinze all brought nice pressure on D and made Illinois fight for every possession. After U of I brought the game within 1-2 points toward the end Brock had a FILTHY layout D in the endzone, one of the best plays I saw that game from either team. Motherbird got skied for like the 5th time in his life (probably because of his goofy tucked in shirt..) but still played like the absolute beast he is with multiple layout D's, athletic skies, smart and dangerous hucks, and a great smile to boot! Anything short of all-region 1st team would be an understatement as to how great a player and more importantly a teammate Mike has become, club scene... watch out! Anyway, Reaper pulled it out in the end winning by 3-4 and finishing the weekend undefeated as the #1 seed. I honestly didn't see anyone play particularly bad, clearing, fundamentals on defense, and keeping the stack well spaced are still issues that need to be better come conference but honestly as a team you guys played excellent and it was great to see basically everyone get some great PT and show some much needed depth! Congrats on the win boys!

Conference this weekend

The series starts tmrw Reaper. Being the 5th seed you guys are not SUPPOSED to qualify for regionals. You should feed on this fact and play with an underdog mentality every game because you guys have the talent and depth to ruin someones day and earn a spot. Note that I say EARN though fella's, nothing is going to be given to you guys and it's up to not only you as individuals but as a team, as a whole to come together and trust each other on and off the field this weekend. Want it more than your opponents every point, every game, don't get content! I'm telling you right now that mistakes are going to happen and teams are going to string points together against you guys. How you react to this is what's going to make or break it this weekend. Veterans, it's on you guys to set the tone for the weekend. No matter what role you have on the team everyone needs to be involved after points, stay positive even when someone messes up, be the 8th man on the field by talking on the sideline, especially on defense, etc etc etc!!! I thought Mike put up a very eloquent post on the facebook group, "Conference this weekend is the payout for all of the hard work from the past two semesters and for some of us four years. Get rest, relax, and come out ready to play on the first pull." Cherish your seniors guys, for some of you these games mean more than I can adequately describe. Conference and the series are some of the most intense and fun games I ever got the pleasure of playing and it's awesome getting to show off how good you've become as a team! Rise or fall together boys. You are fighting to play another day; show how much you want it every chance you get to step out there on the field! Trust in your captains and whatever game plan is laid out for each game, trust the team's style of play and above all else have fun Reaper!


-James


P.S. I should hopefully be coming Sunday at the very least, can't wait to watch you guys play. Good Luck! Fear the Reaper.

Chicago Invite 2012 - MY perspective

Been a while since my last post but I was able to make it out and see a few games this weekend at the Naperville Polo Fields. When I arrived Reaper was playing a very familiar opponent, Illinois State. Frankly both teams were playing quite sloppy and making drops + poor decisions left and right. We'd come up with big layout D's one point then the next a seemingly unmarked ISU player would score off an easy huck with no Reaper defender around. Offensively if anyone on the team dropped the disc or didn't run through all I would hear on the sidelines is disheartening remarks and negativity while on the field all I would see is useless yelling at each for messing up and players hanging there heads after mistakes instead of hustling to get back on D. It seriously looked as though half the guys out there didn't know which side was the force side and which was the break side while EVERYONE including veterans were poaching left and right and it often seemed to lead to nothing more than extremely open ISU players getting the disc deep.

After this game I didn't think it was our effort that failed us, I BELIEVE that everyone was simply not on the same page and didn't trust whatever game plan was laid out. I purposefully kept my mouth shut in the huddle for this game because I wanted to see how you guys would react. Instead of talking about things like bringing the stack in and actually setting up/starting cuts from the middle, defending the force side and trusting your marks all you guys seemed to do was continue to yell at each other and blame getting broken every now and then for your TEAM shortcomings. VETERANS, breaks happen... this isn't an excuse to poach 15 yards off your man sit in the lane. When we were marking on the correct side I thought overall our marks did a fine job. Down field was where you guys were losing the game in my opinion. Have a plan laid out and adjust in terms of how you guys are marking and team-defending. Are we playing tight on the unders and staying between our guys and the disc or are we playing a bit behind and containing, do they have certain players we are playing differently than others, if so what's the plan? Are we giving their handlers easy swing throws or are we playing tight etc etc etc I could go on. I feel like the effort was there, nobody was trying to lose there guy and let him go deep but without better field awareness and defensive UNDERSTANDING you guys fell short to a team that valued the disc better.

The next game I saw vs Wheaton was much of the same to start. Wheaton depended on 2 solid handlers with solid break throws to run the offense and feed off give n goes. We started out playing with the exact same shortcomings and attitude as the ISU game. Down something like 7-2 at half OC asked me to make some comments and I pointed out many of the things listed above. I would like to pretend that my tips were what caused you guys to play like a ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TEAM in the second half but who knows. Whatever the reason you guys played far better and brought the score to something like 10-8 Reaper. As a team with the personnel we currently have we like the deep shot... nate and oc in particular have excellent deep throws and brian, kyle, hinze and basically everyone else know this and love to go deep. That's fine but you guys need to stick to an offense and be dangerous on the under cuts as well. If I could practice with you guys I would say work super hard on setting up your under cuts better and utilizing the breakside more (especially when OC has the disc... CUT BREAKSIDE AND EXPECT THE DISC!). Handlers kept us in the game most of the time but consistently got in the habit of almost doing too much. I mean that in the sense that you guys need to improve on your timing and stick to the cut you are suppose to run. Which side does the wrap-around reset (cooter-cut) come from? Who initiates? Often the strike or dump would go before the handler with the disc would look for it and almost as often the handler with the disc would hold it for 6-8 stalls before even looking anyway... these are the basics guys. Hold each other accountable but don't put each other down what good is that really going to do? Reaper would lose to Wheaton on universe point after receiving the disc and working it all the way to the goal line, I forget exactly how the turn happened but once it did Wheaton jacked it deep to a wide open player for the upset and the win. You guys played like a team in the 2nd half and that's something to be proud of.

Day 2 playing in the 33rd place bracket was where we belonged. When you guys cleaned up your offense and spread the field you showed how dangerous Reaper can be. The sidelines were not only loud but constructive and helpful with talk and support especially Ivan, it was great to see everyone coming off the line and getting on the field after points, that is huge. Zach also brought fresh legs played like a veteran helping to keep the offense moving with dangerous under AND deep cuts and excellent continuation throws. You guys played like a team and valued the disc so much more than day 1, you can claim it was because you guys were winning but even when you guys were down you never seemed defeated as you did on day 1. Don't let your emotions cause you to forget how we run an offense or just huck the disc on stall 3 to marked deep look. You guys laughed at me once in practice when I said that our team is like a dog... we growl and bark at each other and play best when we are yelling at each other. That may have seemed true to me then but I don't believe it with this team. You guys play best when you AREN'T yelling at each other but when you are being having fun and being positive. Drops and mistakes happen, get over it and pick each other up.

I wish I could have seen your last game (a close 10-11 loss to a team I have never played) but I had to go to work. I hope you guys take more away from this weekend than the fact that you lost 5 games and won 2. Every player that stepped on the field in Naperville should take a step back and evaluate what they need to work on and what they did well along with what they need to improve on. To further simplify this I talked to Caleb about working on pivoting faster while he is being marked, and Manny on positioning himself between the disc and the guy he is marking to protect the force side better. Both of those players will be more dangerous at Conference if they put in the effort at practice. While on the flipside I thought Caleb had a solid mark overall, yes he got broken a few times by some of the opposing teams better throwers but his positioning was overall solid and he reacted well to sideline talk (no around vs no invert). Manny has a great forehand and likes to look deep and break when he gets the disc. Know your strengths and weaknesses and work on BOTH.

I hope to see improvement on those aspects of there game from both Manny and Caleb at conference and if they put in the time and effort at practice they will be even more dangerous as players. If the whole team does this... Reaper will tear some teams up.

Learn from your losses guys, it was great getting the chance to watch you guys play and regardless of what score reporter might show I saw great plays from basically every guy out there. Win or lose as a team and don't forget you aren't in this alone. Ask questions and practice practice practice! Gerlerlerler, Will, Myself, Dan, Nick, and the rest of the alums who couldn't make it are always here for you guys at the end of the day and will do what we can to help. Use what resources you have and I know this team will do great things.

(Except when the alum team crushes you guys at Last Call III...)

-James

No Wisconsequences 2011

I recently made the 1hr or so drive from Madison to watch the Reaper boys at No Wisconsequences. Upon arriving I didn’t realize it would be 20mph winds with strong gusts and quite cold. Either way this meant I would be watching plenty of zone and lots of sloppy low-percentage offense. The second and third games on the day seemed to be newer teams and Reaper didn’t have a problem. Unfortunately I missed the first game vs. a split UNI team that was a relatively close game so sorry about the holes in this write-up ha.

It was great to see the whole team playing, lines were not that tight when I first arrived and everyone seemed to be contributing. We still tended to force the disc a bit too much; working the disc all the way up the field with some solid handler breaks and dump swings only to throw a same-third laser into the wind requiring a layout or other really tough grab happened a lot when I was watching early on. We need to chill out and trust our red zone offense a little more by… 1) using it more and 2) transitioning faster and 3) making the right decision.
I ended up picking up with Depaul’s team against Michigan Tech and got to experience how fun it was to play in the heavy wind first hand so I missed the game that ended with us beating a bunch of bare-foot guys in jeans to go 3-0 in our pool. Game 4 however was against a semi-familiar opponent, St. Olaf. We played these guys last year at Southerns day 2. They were a tall, loud, and intimidating team (since we only had 11 guys) that we ended up coming from behind to beat them by 3-4. The captains did a great job making it clear to the team that this was our game and would be a whole different animal then the teams we just played.
We came out fired up, loud on the sidelines, and aggressive on D and in the air. Everything went our way in the first half. Handlers struggled getting it off the trap-side which lead to low percentage looks that we seemed to EAT UP! Nate/OC/Mike showed off how far they could put it and it seemed to take St.Olaf by surprise because downfield our cutters owned the air. Brian had one of the best 2 handed skies I have ever seen him pull off early in the first half and Hinze seemed borderline unmarkable on deep cut after deep cut. Schwenk showed off just how versatile a player he has become with solid handles and monster deep looks to streaking cutters. Our offense was not pretty but it worked. In the spring better teams won’t be as easy to take down if we can’t dump/swing FASTER and move the disc more off the trap side. Handlers need to be more comfortable with some breakmark looks to center and also dump for a few yards loss to a swing to regain yards and move it to the non-trap side of the field. Our defense is what won us this game by such a wide margin. We took half 7-1 because we forced early turns real close to St.Olafs end zone consistently and when they did score it was off bailout hucks that most of the game we did a solid job of contesting and stopping. Sideline also did a great job this game, lines were certainly a bit tighter but for the first half we were loud, talking, and on the field after each point which was huge and absolutely awesome to see! St.Olaf didn’t come back and we continued to take care of business in the second half but sideline needs to remain loud throughout the whole game. I feel like we got complacent after taking half by such a large margin. We have had issues with teams very similar to St. Olaf coming back from behind in the past. Awesome way to end day 1. Other random notable things I remember from this game… St.Olaf sideline calling Mike a douche for spiking, Alex making a disgusting layout catch (late in the game I think?) and maintaining his record of getting injured basically every game, Kyle getting 2-3 pointblocks, and myself hitting an injured Rolando with the disc while trying to throw it back to field.
Day 2 opened with a team we have never faced but have seen at many tournaments, Winona State. The weather was actually quite beautiful for this game which allowed for some much cleaner ultimate. I believe we broke them first only to give up a few breaks in a row and go down by 1 or 2 at half. I really liked how our team was running very loosely structured O and D lines with OC anchoring the handles for the O line and HR/Mike/Nate basically play as much as they could but seemingly not exhausting themselves (yet). Both teams played a very similar game. Winona took a lot of deep shots to mis-matches and consistently found success working it up the break side early in the first half. However late in the game we were able to pull out a solid streak of 3-4 breaks to secure the win. I thought Rolando and Zach did a fantastic job taking whatever winona was giving them offensively. Early on we didn’t value the disc enough and settled for deep shots to easily, as the game progressed though we found a rhythm and out-worked them on D grinding out the win. Great opening game.

Game 2 was against Iowa X or Y… I feel like we opened with a strong 3 or 4 point run before IHUC scored. This game the wind had returned to a 10-15 mph crosswind. Iowa had a few strong handlers that seemed to run their offense but downfield our man D was limiting options all game long. Offensively we worked the under a little better this game and were patient with our deep shots. After we took half both teams seemed to go on 2-3 point runs. Old problems seemed to arise with handlers not moving the disc and depending too much on cutters making huge plays downfield. HR was one of the only guys consistently getting the disc moving off the line. Regardless of that though downfield our cutters WERE making huge plays. I think Lovie had the most ridiculous sky of this game with a left-handed snag after going up big in the endzone from a MJ Schwenk BOMB. Nate, OC, and HR did a great job leading the handles with awesome support from Alex, Traver, and Mike. Once hard cap sealed the deal IHUC ended the game with a Callahan, I finished my bottle of champaign, and Reaper moved to the quarterfinals to play Carleton College, the defending college champions.

Game 3 was… rather interesting. We have never played a team of Carleton’s caliber and didn’t know what to expect. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how this game ended up being played. From what I remember the wind at this point was very strong 20+ with strong gusts blowing to the home sideline (crosswind favoring the far endzone). We ended up scoring our first O point in the semi-upwind-endzone to take the lead 1-0. Now I believe either 1 or 2 more points occurred but eventually with the score being around 2-1 Carleton’s lead they hucked a floaty backhand upwind that hung for enough time for Michael Schwenk to do what he does best and get absurdly high in the air and bring the disc down. Going up Mike didn’t touch anyone from my perspective, coming down there was both Reaper and Carleton players in a crowd that fell and apparently one of the smaller Carleton players, who I also believe was a captain got hit in the head and called injury. Mike had also happened to call foul because after he caught the disc and stopped rotation it ended up getting knocked lose when he came down. Carleton’s coach (or whoever the 6’4 guy was in jeans and a stat sheet) FLIPPED after this sky. He ran from the sideline onto the field and bumped mike all the while screaming at him about how that was such an insanely dangerous play. Mike did an amazing job keeping his composure while this ridiculous man was screaming, yelling, and honestly making a giant fool of himself and his team. Schwenk went up big for a disc that very well could have been caught otherwise for a break, it was a highlight reel defensive play yes, but it was far from overly dangerous. The fact that the Carleton guy got hit in the head and called injury (and was fine a few points later) was unfortunate and obviously an accident. Ultimate is not a contact sport in the same sense that football is but clearly there is a good amount of contact between players ESPECIALLY at higher level games. No team or coach would expect Mike to not go up and get that D and frankly the manner in which the Carleton coach reacted was one of the most unspirited acts I have ever seen in ANY sports situation especially coming from someone who is suppose to be leading his team. Anyway, back to the action. Both teams score a few more points. Then one of our rookies Nick I believe makes a semi-late bid that causes a Carleton player to fall and call foul. The bid WAS semi-late and it looked more awkward than dangerous. It was a late decision to lay out from a newer player who has a lot of potential and made the right choice, just appeared to hesitate a bit. Good teams expect their young guys to be hitting the ground and if not for the previous play I think this would have been a simple “foul” -> “no contest” situation; But because of the previous altercation with Mike both lines ended up rushing the field after Carleton’s NexGen player decides to chest up and basically shove Nick after the play. HR, myself, Mike and I am sure some of our other guys end up talking to various players on the team trying to avoid a brawl and actually get the game going. I am really proud of how well Mike and Nick acted after both of these plays, our guys kept cool heads regardless of how much a few of the Carleton players but mostly the Carleton Coach taunted and yelled. After those crazy events the game really started to heat up. We were mostly down two breaks the majority of the game with the wind really picking up towards the end. Carleton did a great job moving the disc off the line and we did a great job jamming it up the line. Defensively both teams looked solid, we did an excellent job with switches and when we were tight on the unders we had a lot of success. It has to be noted that Mike went off this game… I hyped up how good a few of the guys on Carleton were but honestly seeing Motherbird and the NexGen player on Carleton matchup was awesome to watch because frankly… Schwenk dominated. Mike set the tone early in the matchup with a massive layout D from behind on a downwind huck, had a filthy layout catch D from behind when the Carleton handler had 1 or 2 steps on him on a strike cut that had mike flying out of bounds with the disc in his hand and myself and whole sideline on the field next to us looking dumb with our jaws dropped. Both players seemed to run each team’s respective offense. With Reaper down 7-8, Nate caught the disc a little more than halfway up the field and launched a GORGEOUS 30-40 yard invert flick to a streaking cutter (I think it was Rolando) to send the game to universe point. I remember we forced at least 1 turn and had a huck to the endzone that didn’t pan out before Carleton did what they are known for, methodically working it up the breakside to the endzone via strong under cuts. They earned the win and advanced to the semi’s. This game was one of the most entertaining, ridiculous, funny, and awesome games I have ever watched.

5th/7th place game… we were up, then we were down, I got skied a lot. Our defense sucked and they burned us force side… over and over. 7-9 loss I think. Bummer.

It was awesome to get to watch you guys play so well. Honestly the team had many moments where I thought you guys looked better than we did last year in the fall. I think EVERY single player that wasn’t necessarily a starter last year showed a great deal of improvement and are really doing an awesome job keeping the team strong. At the same team look at the weaknesses in our team game, we have always liked to huck the disc but right now we seem to live or die on those deep shots which can be very dangerous come spring, our handles need to move the disc faster and our cutters need to work on flow and clearing out. You should know when and where to clear and when and where to cut, the less time you are standing still as a cutter the better. The fall is over now though and the spring is what counts. Everyone needs to understand and be on the same page with what the goals of the team are and what you are going to do to help the team fulfill that goal. Recognize what we were bad at and what we were good at and work on BOTH. Make individual goals to become a better player for yourself and your teammates. Think of what you need to work on this winter. Can you throw a continuation upwind? Do you get broken a lot? Do you need to move the disc faster, or look swing sooner if the disc is on the line? ETC ETC, be proud of how well you guys are playing and of the team you are on, it’s awesome seeing you guys continue the success we have had the last few years. Take conditioning seriously now because the harder you work and the harder you push yourself now shows come spring time. I don’t want to see us lose like we did at Regionals to Northwestern because our legs failed us. This team can be better than that team if you guys are willing to put in the effort now! Fear the Reaper.



#2

Glory Days

Day 1
The week building up to glory days offered some terrible practice conditions. Wednesday was possibly the worst day of the year; 50 degrees, 30 mph winds, and freezing rain. Thursday was only slightly better, 55 degrees and 20 mph winds. Even though the weather was less than ideal we still had pretty decent numbers and looked to improve on what I believe was our best tournament showing ever, No Wisco. A few vets and myself spent a lot of time discussing some of our weaknesses from the previous weekend and we wanted to work on these for Glory Days. These weaknesses included getting the disc off the line with dump swings, cutter motion from the line, and improving defense. With Zach running practice on Wednesday and Mike on Thursday we believed we were set for another strong tournament.
Pool Play- We entered Saturday as the top seed in our pool of four. Our first game was against Xavier University, a team we had never played before or so I believe. In the beginning of the game we came out flat. Fortunately for us we had better depth and high end talent to quickly build a small lead and maintain it throughout to win 13-9. Our next opponent was Southern Indiana, a team we had seen and played tough at our home tournament only a year before. It became quickly obvious that we were a better team. We emphasized tight man defense while spreading around the disc and eventually winning 13-6. The last pool play game came against Hope College, another team we had played tough in previous games. With only 9 guys on their roster Hope looked exhausted early and we took full advantage of this going up and early. We continued the run and gun style offense and took the game 13-4 to win the pool. One more test, a crossover game, stood before us before reaching the championship bracket. In the crossover against Ohio Wesleyan we wanted to win and win big. We had talked about playing down to our opponent’s level in many different instances and wanted to execute our game plan for the full game. Taking half 7-1 and eventually winning 13-2 showed that we are capable of winning large while getting contributions from a ton of players.
While we went undefeated on day 1 everyone was well aware that we saw very little competition. Our scores showed almost complete domination but from an internal stand point our play was far from flawless. Cutters had double and sometimes even triple cuts. Cuts were set up weakly or not even set up at all. Handlers were content with the disc on the line and hucking on stall 7 or 8. On defense many in-cuts were uncontested. Marks were loose and constantly broken. While it is impossible to have perfection, against the competition we faced, near perfection could have been demonstrated. Games like these are when we can work on areas of the game which need work. We all know that we can huck the disc consistently and score against lower caliber teams. Instead, work on swinging the disc from sideline to sideline, setting up hard in cuts with good deep fakes, and being in an athletic stance on the mark. If we want to be a top tier team, games against lower level teams need to be times to sharpen up weaknesses in our game.


Day 2
After our day 1 success we were awarded a day 2 first round bye, our first ever. We were matched up against a very talented Indiana team. Reaper came out with some fire and went up 3-1. Unforunately this is where the flame seemed to die down. Our sidelines started lacking, as well as our fundamentals such as holding a force and denying unders. Indiana went on a 7-2 run that thoroughly demoralized our team and was quite a reality check. It was gut check time. We fought hard the rest of the game with our sidelines being active, most of the time. The difference of points was too much to overcome though and Indiana beat us 13-10 as hard cap came on. Following a tough defeat that eliminated us from a chance at 1st place we knew it was still no time to check out and be lackadaisical: 5th place sounded better than 8th. The game ahead of us was against Purdue X, who we knew should be a solid team from past experiences. We came out with some fire, presumably from our loss to Indiana and jumped out to a 5-0 lead and continued to annihilate them 15-6. The 5th place game was against St. Louis University. They had wanted to play a shortened game because of their upcoming travel home and so a game to 9 was agreed upon. We had very loose lines and everyone had plenty of playing time. This was a good game to see what our younger guys were capable of and allow them to build: and build they did. Josh Kluessendorf, a 2nd year player, threw a flick for a touchdown and showed his defensive ferocity with his mark. Nick Allen, a rookie, also showed some good work by catching two scores and hustling everywhere on the field.

All in all, Reaper Ultimate went 6-1 and took 5th place out of 48. We had some flashes of brilliance and of folly. Fundamentals such as holding a force and shutting down unders definitely need improvement. Handler motion is another thing that showed improvement from weeks past but can always get better. Most importantly, playing within ourselves as well as never letting down on fundamentals will make us a force to be reckoned with not just by teams equal to us, but teams that are more highly touted. We have the talent to be a team who can play deep into day 2 of tournaments and make some noise. It all will come down to the work we put into this winter. We have a long winter ahead of us. It will be up to us what kind of team we want to be. What are you good at? What can you improve upon? How are you going to be able to contribute to our spring season? Put your game underneath a microscope, don’t be content.

Mike & Steve

Ohh Ahh

Hey Reaper,

I wanted to brush the dust off the blog and get a post up before summer is over. I really hope someone takes over the blog and updates it with new info/tournament recaps/funny banter etc. Being that I am now officially an alum I know I will be itching to hear about how Reaper is doing on and off the field.

This post is aimed at the team next year. A lot of great players are now gone and Reaper will need to figure out an identity for this upcoming season. You guys still have a ton of talent and potential, expectations should be high. Recruiting is going to be HUGE boys. Tim and HR did a fantastic job last year, but realize that I won't be there to put up flyers, Tim isn't going to be around campus chasing people down and telling them to come to practice. If you are a returner you need to do your part to help get word out about the team and recruit! Having 40-50 guys at the first couple practices last year was amazing.

Don't hesitate to try new things next year. Build an identity, I can't stress this enough. Think about what worked last year and what didn't. Build around what we have. Understand the fall is focused on rookies and making them better. The winter is about getting in shape and building off what we did in the fall, the spring is about the series and achieving whatever goals the team is aiming for.

The team can't depend entirely on just the captains to run practice and recruit. Returners who want to step into larger roles this year need to step up come pantherpalooza and practice. Zach, Josh, HR, Alex, Kyle, Brian and OC just to name a few... you guys are going to be key to getting the team started, to helping at practice, to stepping up if we are going to be a great team next year. I don't know what mike plans to do captain-wise but that's for you guys to figure out as a team when you get back. Other guys like Joe, Brock, Hinze and Chris etc.. who had a lot of work schedule conflicts last year I know have the potential to take on larger roles with the team if they can find the time.

The core of the team /// the returners that want it... set the tone for next year early! Come to practice on time, work hard, help the captains, help not only get the new guys there but take initiative in helping them grasp the game. Think about what helped you get better when you were first starting out and apply that.

I helped coach at a summer camp for ultimate this summer and it was really rewarding seeing younger High School players learn the game and improve so much over a short 2 week span. The first few weeks of practice are going to be huge in setting the tone for the year and for teaching the fundamentals to new guys.

We are a competitive team but never forget why we play this game... to have fun! Winning is a bonus of working hard at practice and striving to get better. Looking back at college and the amount of time and effort I put into the team I have no regrets, I only wish I could have done more. I look at the friends I made, the people I met, the hours of practice and drilling, the weekend tournaments, and the potential of this team and I couldn't be more proud to have been a part of this team.



Oh and everyone heckle HR to put up some more sweet HL videos.

-James