1. Things haven’t changed much. Coming in, people might have believed that things have changed from last year, but look at the Quarterfinalist. Three NW? Check. Barrio? Check. Two NE? Check. Amp? Check. Add CLX historical plus Flaming Moe historical = Quarters, not semis. Check. Either the South or the Central with one quarterfinalist. Historical trumps all.

2. The wind is a lot more like the first day. It starts out mild – maybe 5-8. At times it may get up to 10 – which results in a bit of an upwind downwind – and a lot of scoring in the south endzones – but it doesn’t change the games as much as yesterday.

3. Where is the parity. Only one of the quarters games is interesting. The others are more or less decided at half.

Quarters

ACS v Barrio

Out of the ACS huddle, “Nobody’s guaranteed anything [at the Championships]. Nobody’s guaranteed any opportunity. You’ve got to take the opportunities when you have them.” Certainly true – for some – making the Championships is a rare opportunity. Even amongst those, getting to Quarters is even rarer. This is the first experience at Quarters for several of the ACS players – Barrio however was here last year – losing then to Shazam.

In a match-up of two athletic hard-running teams, ACS starts out pulling to Barrio. Jen Pashley, Jim Morrison Austin Gregerson start off handling for Barrio. Not surprisingly, Gregerson hits Grobe coming under, as Joe Brisbois makes a nice D bid. Robyn Fennig also brings a nice bid – Barrio scores though. The teams trade – at 2-2, a Barrio drop turns into an ACS conversion. ACS goes up 3-2. ACS looks pumped up – a far cry from their last game yesterday. They celebrate their goals – something I didn’t see earlier. Gregerson hits Penny going away (to some nice field space, but ACS forces a turn on a dump close to the goal line. ACS works it back down, and takes the hammer for their second break in a row. 4-2. Barrio then comes down with an error free O point – ACS doesn’t get a bid in. 4-3. ACS works it down, no problem. 5-3. A miscommunication on offense (cutters stops coming under, throw goes up anyway) and on a break around the mark, ACS Taiwo Anjonrin-Ohu hits a wide open receiver for 6-3. A few point later, Barrio is zoning with two women on and Gregerson in the middle – switching to the mark on the trap. ACS messes around with the handlers, not creating any opportunities for themselves, and turns. Barrio then scores without too much trouble for the break back. 7-6 and it’s a close game again. ACS handlers Alicia Hermes, Jon Staron and Jo Abramowski help work the disc down the field – but ACS turns the EZ with Erik Gafni putting some pressure on. Barrio has no one cutting on the open side – and ACS Ds the upline throw. Hermes goes across the field to Alex (Moss) Stanislaw for half. 8-6.

At half, Barrio tries to change things up. They came out a bit flat – and perhaps having looked too closely at the ACS point results from earlier – might have looked past ACS to the Flycoons. ACS meanwhile is maintaining its intesnsity. Out of half, ACS takes a bunch in a row – their defense is pumped. They get at least one layout D, but Barrio also makes some uncharacteristic turns. Usually the Barrio offense works pretty smoothly – and can get the disc back on turns, but here, ACS is taking a throw or two, jacking it, and coming down with the goal – Barrio isn’t able to stop the conversion. It’s 12-7 by the time I get back to the field. Barrio doesn’t step up as the breaks start happening. The rest of this game trades out, ACS winning.

Flycoons v Slow

Slow receives to start out. On the first throw, there’s a drop. This is a story that does not end well, and finishes like it starts. Flycoons score. Same thing different point. Etc. At 4-1 Flycoons, Slow finally starts to attack a bit more. Slow works it to 4-2 then throws on a traditional zone with two women in the cup – and the Flycoons cooperate by turning over near their own EZ. 4-3. In the next point, Flycoons have no trouble, and I should pay more attention to this game, but it’s 8-3 at half. Slow has had a tough couple days, and the Flycoons haven’t, and on top of that, the Flycoons are just much deeper than Slow this year. It’s great that Slow has made it this far, but they have too few weapons. Slow has gotten by based upon their experience on this stage – a 7/8^th place finish is pretty decent for the team this year. 15-5.

Puppet v Shazam

Mickey Thompson lays out into the lane to get a block, but Shazam turns. Shazam gets the disc back, and Eddie Feeley hits Megan Zdancewic for the break. Another Puppet turn. Another Shazam goal. Shazam shows some standard zone w/ two women in the cup, and gets another break. Puppet hucks as the zone transitions, but there are two receivers – there’s a turn. There’s probably another Shazam score – they go up 6-1. More goals –and there’s nothing really interesting in this game – the results are determined fairly early on. It is difficult for Puppet, whose offense easily gets stuck with no downfield cuts. Shazam runs to quickly and too efficiently for Puppet to adjust. All the tricks in Megan Randell’s basket won’t work. Shazam 15-6..

Amp v Mischief

Mischief pulls. Amp turns near their own EZ, but Mischief can’t get the disc from the dump. Amp scores. Mischief answers back.. Mischief sticks the defender on Amp’s woman handler into the lane. The Amp female handler wisely takes off downfield, and Amp has three guys back for a while. Their flow gets a bit interrupted, as no male really fills in for the downfield woman. They huck out of bounds. But have another opportunity for a turn. Both Amp and Mischief are working way too hard for their offensive goals – although both eventually get them. At 3-2, Tim Gaulton (all 6’4 of him) gets a big D on a Mischief huck, but then Amp drops the disc coming under. 3-3. The game is chippy as a couple of calls see significant disagreement – there was supposed to be an observer here – but the observers sent were refused. In any case, the teams are clearly unhappy with each other. Showing zone transition, Mischief’s Adam Leventhal gets a D over a shorter Amp receiver as Amp tries a cross field backhand into the endzone, but then Mischief throws to a poach (as the guy he is supposed to be defending streaks deep uncovered, but Mischief gets caught looking under). Amp keeps the lead, 4-3. Going the other way, Mischief turns and Gaulton gets just beyond one of the Smith brothers using his long body for what would otherwise have been a 50/50 disc – and Amp goes up 5-3. Amp’s D line gets another upwind off of some nice work by Jeff Laarz, Mari Oshiro, and Harrison Treegoob. 6-3 and Mischief takes a time out in hopes of stopping the run. Amp is excited – their cutters are getting open without much trouble – and Mischief looks flat. Amp gets a turn and has a chance to go up 7-3, but turns and Mischief scores 6-4. Mischief zones again. Parikh’s scoobers over the cup (Parikh uses this throw as an out quite against the cup – and occasionally vs. person), breaking the zone – but as Mischief transitions to person, Mark Smith gets a go to D – they finally convert after a few throws with Mark Smith catching the goal. 6-5. Parikh hits Amp’s David Brandolph in one long shot for 7-5. Mischief gets the downwind (wind is there, but it doesn’t dominate play), 7-6. Mischief is definitely getting their looks, but isn’t converting. What looks to be a goal results in disagreement on the field, as all the Mischief players firmly think Kyle Smith dragged his foot, and all the AMP players think his other foot/knee was also down out of bounds. Only men were involved in this discussion. In any case – what would have been a 7-7 goes back to the thrower, who makes the exact same throw, but with different results, and Amp keeps its lead, 8-6.

At half, Mischief’s Mark Smith (who threw both the disputed goal and the turn) says to the Mischief huddle, “The intensity is good on defense. I’m not a good example to anyone on offense.” The rest of the day – Mischief reminds Mark of this whenever he has the disc. Out of half, Amp scores making it 9-6. Then Mischief gets on its horse and turns things up a bit. Mischief scores. Amp turns – but it’s offense’s defense is pretty good – getting some nice bids. Kyle Smith, however, goes up over Jeff Loperfido to get a break off a risky, arcing forehand from Ryan Gerlach. 9-8. On the next point, AMP can’t get its offense started – they turn right away and Mischief ties at 9s. Parikh, who up to this point has been golden as a handler, delivering pretty hucks to mostly male receivers, throws to one covered by two Mischief defenders. Quinn Kennet hits Kyle Smith with a huck – and Adam Brown scores for the lead. Throughout this series of events – AMP is playing too tight – and doesn’t up its game as Mischief really puts a lot more effort into their D. Parikh’s scoober finally fails him, and there’s a turn near the EZ. Mischief takes at time out, then scores at a high stall count with a breakmark throw. 11-9 Mischief. Amp turns again – but Mischief throws too high to an under. Then Adam Brown gets a hand block. Brown throws an ugly forehand to Kyle Smith for 12-9. Cap comes on – hard to 14.

During this run, AMP takes too long to change up what it is doing. The offensive line is fairly similar for many of these points – and Mischief is able to use some of the matchups in the transition. Finally, Amp starts to blend their lines – putting in folks like Alex Peters, Jeff Laarz and Eugene Yum. This results in a multiple turnover point – as AMP has trouble hitting folks – but does a better job of stopping Mischief’s O. Peters upts a 50/50 to Yum, but a Smith Bros. gets the easy D. Kennet hucks the other way and the other Smith Bros. gets a hand on it – but a catch would be spectacular – turnover instead. Mischief scores eventually, 13-9, but Amp finally gets some flow and gets its second point of the second half, 13-10 (a 7-2 run). AMP’s defense – finally able to take the field takes away Mischief’s options – and there’s a turn on a high count. Sean Murry tries to hi Tim Gaulton who looks open, but Mark Smith makes the play. Amp gets the score a bit later despite a Mischief hand – which pops the disc up and makes it available for a goal, 13-11. Amp’s defense is still bidding strongly on under cuts – Amp’s Raha Mozaffarri gets a D and Laarz hucks to Gaulton for 13-12. Amp finally having figured out, with just a bit of life in them, that they are on the ropes. Amp calls a time out. Unfortunately, while Amp gets the D on the next point, Laarz overthrows a lady on a break mark, and Mischief finishes the game 14-12.

Semis

Three NW teams hog semi spots – and ensure that at least one finalist will be from the NW. ACS is the new kid on the block (sort of), but time will tell whether they have the staying power of Marky Mark (but which one?).

The mixed semis – normally staggered – were staggered even more than usual because of field use issues. Thanks to the staggering, the first semi and the second did not coincide. Also, the Mischief-Shazam game went by quickly.

Mischief v Shazam.

Mischief pulls to start. They show a standard zone – with a fairly flat stack. Shazam finds Pam Kraus at mid-field, and she hucks over the male deep defender to Jane Kaufman for an easy score (Does Mischief learn from this? Nope). 1-0. Shazam has a short pull – and comes out with person D. Mischief puts to Andi Coleman, but Carla Fowler is there – a call is made. Even though the game is observed – neither goes to the observer – and the disc goes back to the thrower. On O, Mischief’s Sunya Ojure ges some yards – later on a swing she makes a big layout to save a throw put too far. Later – Shazam’s Mike Schwindeller anticipates an up the line throw and steps in for the D, only to have Shazam turn. Shazam’s D does a good job of stopping the open side, but Kennett finally finds Ojure with a cross field hammer. 1-1. Shazam goes four women, but turns on a drop. Kennett hangs one up, and Smith comes down with it for a break. 2-1.

Mischief then zones and Schwindeller, Emily Grad, and Mickey Thompson handle. Thompson tries a (crazy) cross field to the far wing – this turns (as it should). There are a lot of calls in this time frame, especially from Mischief. A couple of travels, and some “disc space” calls followed by “violation” calls (all from one Mischief player – who is enforcing the disc space rule more technically than most – correctly of course). This stops the flow a bit – perhaps Mischief’s plan – alternately, they may just be trying to establish early on the type of game that will be played (a technically correct one). Shazam doesn’t do a great job of valueing – Nora Carr hucks to a male deep – but it turns. Mischief’s Steffi Wu drops a disc (the Steffi and Shirley Wu don’t have very good games – that makes a big difference for Mischief as they usually contribute a lot to Mischief’s success). Finally, Swindeller hits Hall Walker to tie, 2-2.

Shazam then brings the zone – a 1-3-3 that becomes a 4 person trap on the sideline – they have three women in the front wall much of the time (when zoning upwind). The 4 person trap stays very close to the disc – with the mark going to whichever side is the biggest threat. A Mischief dump miscommunication leads to an Eddie Feeley throw to Megan Zdancewic goal. Break for Shazam, who is now up, 2-3. Mischief then works it down – there aren’t any Shazam bids – and Mischief scores – 3-3. Shazam plays four women again on offense – there’s an early drop on a dump at midfield, and Mischief’s Leventhal hits Kyle Smith tog et the break. Shazam goes to three women – and works it up the field with Scott Causey hitting Erin Gallagher for the goal – the throw goes right by Gallagher’s defender – who is looking at Gallagher and not the disc (up call, anyone?). 4-4. Shazam again comes down with a 1-3-3. Mischief’s Ojure throws a big 20 yard loss as she tries to hit the dump from the trap position. Jonathan Loeffler uses his 6’5 frame to get an around break to Arnie Larson – as Shazam breaks back. 4-5. Obviously – the wind isn’t effecting things that much. Shazam stays with what works – they use the 1-3-3 (this time with men in the front wall) and there’s a drop on a wild swing. Zdanceic hits Schwindeller for 4-6 (Shazam) and Mischief takes a time. Mischief uses the time out to figure out Shaam’s zone – David Pickett of Mischief figures out how to throw through the cup – breaking it easily for 5-6. Shazam works it down – going to a vertical stack near the EZ – and Kraus gets a big break mark throw to Gallagher who hits Ladd 5-7. Mischief not challenging on D. Shazam then runs a standard zone – Mischief’s Andy Crews and Pickett handling – they break the zone – but an upline throw to Crews doesn’t get caught. Feeley tries to hit Charlie Ellis, but overthrows. Shazam runs a zone transition to person D – and a swing pass goes too far. Shazam then hits Zdancewic for half.

Shazam again uses zone transition out of half - and Annie Banks throws too high – Shazam turns without any pressure – but Mischief turns trying to go over the zone - Hall hits Zdancewic for 5-9 (Shazam). Shazam’s offense is very patient during much of this – they move the disc quickly (not allowing the stall count to get very high – automatically take their dumps at 3, and because the disc moves so much – the cuts are often open. Annie Plank and Arnie Larson work it back and forth a bit – finally Ben Secord gets hit for 5-10. Mischief’s offense gets on track – also working it nicely – to go to 6-10. Mischief tries zoning (and hopes to force more Shazam women touches), but Kraus gets the disc as a wing – and again takes half field throw into the EZ that Lindsey Wilson lays out for = score. 6-11. Mischief gets back on track with its offense, and manages to get a break back at 8-12, and another at 11-13. They don’t seem entirely out of it with the 11-13 break, but Shazam scores the next two to finish the game out.

Defensive run by both teams set the early tone – but once Shazam got a two break lead – they did a good job of not letting Mischief back in. Since Mischief had come back from down midway through the Quarters – they never really panicked, but Shazam really looks like they are peaking – their offense just moved too quickly for Mischief. There just weren’t enough turns for Mischief to possibly convert. Perhaps Mischief’s long (and tense) game against AMP hurt them too.

Flycoons v ACS.

Flycoons pull – they come out with a standard zone. ACS swings back and forth, then they go over the top. The first = good. The second time – not so good as Kevin Seiler gets caught not looking. ACS gets it back on a foot block by Alex Baker. A flurry of turnovers ensue (don’t these teams know what they’re playing for?), then finally the Flycoons downfield cutter Will Sutton hits Skyala Sisco for the break, Flycoons 1-0. The Flycoons zone again – but ACS moves it quickly with the Flycoons not even being close to any Ds – ACS scores no problem. 1-1. The Flycoons’ Mark Aagenes hucks, but ACS has Kevin Seiler there for the D. But a miscommunication by ACS results in a turn. Josch Hemmesch gets the disc back for ACS with a block, but then there’s an out of bounds huck. The Flycoons initiate from three flat handlers and a vertical stack. Several throws later and Andy Neill (formerly of Rhino fame) connects with Sisco (the only person that can stop Skyla Sisco is Skyla Sisco – although the Sisco-Zdancewic matchup should be interesting) for 2-1. Chris Mayne tries a huck – but Will Sutton is there. Off a contested foul, the disc goes back. Despite a Flycoons hand on the disc – Robyn Fennig pulls down the 2-2. goal. Aagenes answers with a deep throw to a streaking James Kennedy. Flycoons 3-2. The Flycoons play some zone transition – although it doesn’t look great. For ACS, Erica Baken does a lot of handling along with Joe Abramowski and here Chris Mayne. They hit Matt Ellsworth who finds Amy Sheldahl up the line – there’s a bit of a bobble between Flycoon defenders – but she holds on 3-3.

The Flycoons tall Sarah Meygesi (5’10) really dominates the middle of the field – taking yardage and quick dumps. Aagenes hits her over a shorter defender – 4-3. The Flycoons try a 1-3-3 with Tim Murray as the chase – this doesn’t work. Matt Ellsworth hits Joe Brisbois, 4-4 with no close D after transition to person. Kurt Brorsen for ACS gets a D on a low huck, but ACS turns it quickly. Sisco saves a throw put to space as Fennig laying out with her. 5-4. After a few yards gained by the ACS offense, Jeanine Kooman tries to hit Laura Steinkraus, but instead turns. Jen Nichols beaks the mark to Kat Neal, getting the first two point lead of the game 6-4. Lana Seiler hucks to Kevin Seiler (so cute!), but Sisco poaches over - Seiler calls a foul and the disc comes back off the contest. ACS moves the disc down the field but Alicia Hermes hucks the disc away (obviously, the ACS women aren’t afraid to put the disc out there). A bunch of under cuts – with James Kennedy doing some good work – and Conway hits Sisco for 7-4. Andy Neil catches a D (surprising the thrower after catching up after the pull). He hits Murray who gets it to Kat Neal for half, 8-4. For the Flycoons, Daphne Evans, Meygasi, Conway, Smith, and Eric Rassmussen get some mentions in the 2^nd half. For ACS, Joe Brisbois, Fennig, Abromski, Pat Niles and Erica Baken do good work. At 11-8, Brisbois gets a break mark assist for a break bringing it closer. Fennig is on the receiving end of a huck for 12-9. Abramowski crosses the field with a big throw to a lady for 12-10. During this period – ACS really steps up its dump defense – forcing the Flycoons handlers to work a lot harder to get the disc – but this isn’t enough. The Flycoons takes some chances that don’t work out – and ACS does a better job of converting. They also maintain positive energy throughout the game – even when down. They don’t, however, force the turns that they need, and near the end – the Flycoons get a couple breaks to take it 15-11.

Finals Preview.

These are clearly the two best mixed teams playing right now. The scores for their last three games were very similar – with two blowouts earlier and strong showings in semis. Both teams have Championship experience (the old Donner Party/Triggerhippy connection for Fly – two UPA championships and a World’s experience for Shazam). Both teams are peaking at just the right time – but maybe for different reasons. For the Flycoons – it’s a matter of having successfully incorporated their hired guns. For Shazam – it’s probably about re-invigorating themselves after a long season – and expressing their own identity after the departure of Steve Finn – of course there’s also the matter of the 9-15 loss to Fly on Friday – but that loss helped focus Shazam – they’ve really stepped things up perhaps partly because of the loss). The systems are different, but each works really well – each team does a great job of integrating all of their parts. Whether that be the more north-south game of the Flycoons – or the quick movement of Shazam - this has been a great Championships – the teams that they’ve played and beaten have been worthy – the foe here a respected one. And of course, the NW wins for losing either way.