Reaper Ultimate

Cat Fight 2014 - Kyle's Tournament Recap

Cat Fight 2014 
Lexington, KY

Like many times in the fall semester, Reaper brought a small group of guys to the tournament. Everyone got a ton of playing time and improved a lot. We proved this weekend that even with a small number of guys, we can still work extremely hard, put forth maximum effort and come out of the weekend having done extremely well. That being said, for those who want to get better, tournaments are the best way to do so. It's a different environment than practice and is far more intense. Plan accordingly so that you can attend the rest of the tournaments we have this spring so that we can grow as a team and do as well as possible!

Here's a recap of our tournament. We were in a weaker pool, but our goal was to make it into the championship bracket of Day 2.

Kenyon
Our first game of a four game stretch was against Kenyon, the number one seed in our pool. We went immediately into our Iowa zone (2-3-2) as well as flat marking some of their handlers based on some things we noticed in the previous game they had played. The zone worked well setting us up for opportunities in the red zone where the Kissel to Hinze connection was on point. There weren't a whole lot of mistakes made in this game other than allowing too many free resets in our zone on strike cuts that should have been cut off by a middle. Rookies Aaron and Ryan both did a great job setting up cuts in order to get open which contributed greatly to our success. I think this quote from a Kenyon player about Kissel sums up the game nicely, "I thought my mark was good, but he just high released right over me [for a score]".
Final Score: 13-6

Indiana Wesleyan
IWU is a relatively new team, but they matched up well against us during this tournament. We fell behind early due to them throwing a zone as soon as the game started. For these first five or so points our offense really struggled to get going at the pace we wanted. Once we started moving the disc at our tempo along with great defensive plays by Hinze and Nate Page, we were able to get a nice come from behind victory on an up-wind break.
Final Score: 9-7

Xavier
In my opinion, Xavier was probably the best team we faced Day 1. As this was our third game in a four game stretch, our legs kind of ran out on us (no pun intended). The guys who were able to play gave maximum effort (including Kissel, who had multiple defensive plays on a hurting ankle), but it wasn't enough to get any momentum going against a good team that took advantage of mistakes. A positive that came out of this game was not only everyone working together even when completely drained, but positivity remained high and everyone got a chance to play a lot of points.
Final Score: 5-10

MTSU
This game was not so much disappointing as it was frustrating. Our team had the will to win, but no gas left in the tank. MTSU ran their offense and we tried as hard as we could to stop them with man defense, but our energy wasn't there. We went into our zone a few times, but our rabbits couldn't keep up and our middles allowed too many unders. By the half we had about 8 people that were able to play. All that taken into account, our team never gave up. Forfeiting was never an option and we fought it out until the very last point. Part of this fight and determination is what kept us on the winning mindset for Day 2.
Final Score: 3-13

Day 2

ISU
This was probably one of the best games we played all tournament; just an absolute brawl from the beginning. We started off extremely hot, shredding ISU's defense and forcing a lot of turns with both our Iowa zone and man defense. We did a great job capitalizing on these turns early on, but allowed ISU to get back into the game when we couldn't get our cup offense going as quick as we would have liked to. ISU forced multiple turns then capitalized on them as we had done earlier. We were able to eventually get our zone offense working and the entire team contributed to that. Most of the time it got started with Hinze, Byron, Aaron or Ryan making great cuts to the open windows which allowed us to move the disc. Eventually ISU got frustrated, so we threw a cup at them, which resulted in a turn leading to a score to win the game.
Final Score: 13-11

Illinois
By the time we were ready to play U of I, many of us had hit our fatigue quota for the weekend. We played U of I with about 9 guys, trying to sub in and out as much as possible, but with injuries and exhaustion it was hard to do. We tried to implement some zone against their offense, but they were able to beat it relatively easily. George Jones played a great game both as a handler and defender and had a nice foot block on one of U of I's handlers. Guys like Clayton, Ryan, Aaron (who even handled a point), and George really stepped up this game to help keep us competitive. Ultimately Illinois' speed and numbers won them the game, but come conference, the outcome will be a lot different.
Final Score: 4-13

Here are some highlights from Cat Fight 2014

Tournament Highlights:
-Caleb's beautiful throws to the back corner of the end zone to Page.
-Alex Castillo's multiple layout D's
-Hinze goes #BeastMode on Kenyon scoring 5 and assisting on 2
-Ryan Brown catching a throw from Page on the sideline, leading to a score
-Byron's near layout cally off the pull, which ultimately resulted in a turn and score
-Aaron with the game winning score on an up-wind break against IWU
-George Jones becoming U of I's kryptonite with multiple D's including a foot block on one of their handlers.

I said it once already, but I am incredibly proud of this team and what we did this weekend. Each player left their heart on the field this weekend and each person contributed to each victory. We finished 8th this weekend with about 6 healthy players. We can go far if we keep working hard and working together to make each other better players. This is our spring season and it's only going to get tougher from here on out. Keep up the intensity and positivity. By the postseason we'll be a great team.

--Kyle B.