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